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An unusual day for us here in Exmouth - we had overcast skies almost all day! A few drops of rain and a bit of humidity, too. But overall it was lovely with fairly calm seas and lots of marine life. It also didn't get nearly as hot as it could have!
We started at Keyhole and were treated to tons of fish over the whole site from the moment we put our heads under. Painted sweetlips, emperor angelfish, white tip reef sharks, blue spotted stingrays, surgeonfish, lots of big parrotfish, moorish idols, barracuda...great dive!
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 10m & a little cloudy
CURRENT: none
SURGE: moderate
DEPTH: 11m
The west side of the Island was getting a little choppy, so we cruised to the other side for nicer surface conditions. North East Bommies was awesome again today! Huge painted crays, cleaner shrimps everywhere, cute porcupinefish, a big green turtle, more white tip reef sharks, several different nudibranchs, moray eels, anemonefish, lots of butterflyfish and more!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 12m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 11m
We enjoyed lunch and a big snorkel at East Side Bommies. Lionfish, trevally, sea pike, turtles, rays, damsels, convict surgeons, blue-green chromis, Christmas tree worms, sailfin catfish - tons to see!
What a gorgeous Sunday to be out at the Muiron Islands! Keyhole was first up for us and the water was so blue and the sun beams were streaming down on the brightly coloured soft corals like spotlights - it was magical! Plenty of sea creatures cruising around, too: many spotted sweetlips, white tip reef sharks, barracuda, emperor angelfish, yellow trumpetfish, green turtles, sailfin catfish, ornate surgeonfish, batfish and tons of sparkly damsels. Best find today was a ginormous potato cod that adopted us - he would float right in front of us and just stare into our masks. Very cool!
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 12m
North East Bommies was up for dive two and again the fish & marine life was great. Bannerfish, sea pike, lionfish, snapper, white tip reef sharks, moray eels, monocle bream, rankin cod, coral cod, squirrelfish, nudibranchs, blue spotted rays, slingjaw wrasse - the list is almost endless!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 8-10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 11m
We had lunch and a big snorkel around East Side Bommies. Schools of convict surgeons, lots of big parrotfish, more turtles, lionfish, lots of little groups of balling catfish, sergeant majors guarding their nests - it was a perfect afternoon!
Blizzard Ridge, Baby! Our new friend Mr Anglerfish was on the same bit of coral, but head down, bum up and all tucked in so not very cooperative at the beginning of the dive. Patience & perseverance paid off as throughout the dive he'd move his little (big!) feet a few millimeters at a time - so fun to watch them walk! - and eventually ended up kinda on top of the coral - at least enough so we could see his cutie face!
A phenomenal number of fish in the schools today - they'd swarm over us and it would go from sunny bright to almost black as they blocked out the sun: sea pike, five lined sea perch and scads. There now seem to be three big groups of threadfin pearl perch. Numerous rankin cod, giant estuary cod (several getting cleaned, gigantic mouths open while cleaner wrasse darted in and out of their gills) and aggressive trevally shooting through the schools. Coral trout were patrolling and taking a time out at the cleaning stations, too.
An enormous remora was getting cleaned while resting in the sand on top of the ledge and a black bull ray hung out right at the end of the site. White tip reef sharks were being lazy and lionfish were soaking up rays in midwater. A nice hawksbill turtle came in for a peek at the bubble-blowers but didn't hang around too long.
Best sight today? A mating pair of blue spotted stingrays tumbling round and round each other right through mid-water and before our eyes! Incredible!
We had dolphins and whales on the trip back to the boat ramp and it was a great way to end the day!
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 15-20m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: very mild
DEPTH: 14m
Lighthouse Bay rocked!! We started at Blizzard Ridge and had all of the usual critters: school of threadfin pearl perch, olive sea snakes, honeycomb cod, fusiliers getting cleaned by attentive cleaner wrasse, moray eels, banded pipefish, estuary cod, lionfish, white tip reef sharks, wobbies, longfin bannerfish... And the ANGLERFISH is back!! Yippeee!
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 14m
Labyrinth was also packed with fish: estuary cod, coral trout (hunting!), many spotted sweetlips, pink anemonefish, sailfin catfish, monocle bream, batfish big & small, white tip reef sharks, barracuda, trevally, many different angelfish, big school of convict surgeons...and green turtles sleeping and swimming. Our best find today? A Ward's Wobbegong shark. Don't see these guys very often!
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 10-12m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 14m
We also had humpback whales and dolphins on our trip out and back. Great day!
We had such a great trip on Sunday that we decided to head out a day earlier than usual again! We started at Keyhole and had just tons of fish life. Trevally, barracuda, drummers, surgeonfish, parrotfish and rankin cods. White tip reef sharks, turtles, moray eels, cleaner shrimp and hermit crabs. We always love this site, but today it seemed to be extra active!
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 10-12m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 14m
Whalebone had a lot to live up to and we weren't disappointed. There were some great curtains of baitfish, tons of bright pink & purple anthias, more butterflyfish and angelfish than we could keep track of and our dear little reindeer wrasse was flitting happily along the sand. Another couple of green turtles and a white tip reef shark circling then crash landing on the sand for a bit of a snooze. Some rankin cods that were even bigger than those on dive one and bright orange coral cods lined the ledges in the swim thrus.
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 12m
We popped around to East Side Bommies for some more snorkeling and the water was super blue! It really made the colours of the corals, sponges and fish jump out. Absolutely stacks to see here today: barramundi cod, lionfish, blue spotted sting rays, sea pike, neon damsels, trumpetfish...
A breezy day today for our Muiron Islands trip! Dive one was at Cod Spot and it was fish, fish, fish! It looked like the rankin cods were having a big party as they were everywhere we looked. Gorgeous tiera (tall fin) batfish flitted here and there. The sandy parts of the site were covered in gobies standing guard while bulldozer shrimp worked tirelessly to clean their homes - down the hole, pop back out, spit out the debris, pause, back down the hole,repeat! So fun to watch. Lots of splashes of colour from the wrasse, parrotfish, butterflyfish, damsels and angelfish.
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild - moderate
DEPTH: 16m
Whalebone was up next and despite slightly lower than usual visibility, it was still a delight. It's such a colourful and interesting site with its swim-thrus and soft coral gardens! And tons of fish, of course. White tip reef sharks, a juvenile reindeer wrasse, huge orange and green parrotfish, a big school of sea pike, green turtles, brilliant blue neon damsels, bannerfish, moorish idols and fat scorpionfish. We love it!
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild+
DEPTH: 12m
We headed to East Side Bommies for our snorkeling. Turtles, blue spotted stingrays, a school of big southern drummers, estuary cod, lionfish, sailfin catfish, anemonefish, Christmas Tree Worms and so much more - beautiful way to relax in the afternoon!
Lighthouse Bay was a little choppy on the surface today but jam-packed with fish action underneath. We started at Blizzard Ridge and there were so many individual fish in the schools that it was almost hard to see your buddy as we swam through them! Five lined sea perch, threadfin pearl perch, trevally, fusiliers, nor'west snappers, rankin cod, sea pike, estuary cod, longfin bannerfish, lionfish, wobbegong sharks, batfish, flutemouths, pipefish - all shapes, colours and sizes today! We also had a green turtle swim with us for a few minutes and the whole time it looked like he was laughing at us before he effortlessly headed for the surface. Fun dive!
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 810m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 12m
Gulliver's had lots of fish but they weren't swimming too fast! It was great as everything just hung out and watched us and we were able to get very close to all manner of fish. A couple of very large green tusk fish were lolling on the sand while cleaner wrasse picked them clean. The resident school of five lined sea perch seems to have grown - it stretched from the sand almost all the way to the surface today. There was lots of cleaner action and tons of little shrimp were out and about trying to bring in customers. The tiger cardinalfish are carrying eggs in their mouths again, which is always cool to see. More green turtles and white tip reef sharks here - the sharks were super lazy, barely moving a meter before settling again. Another super dive for really getting close to critters!
WATER TEMP: 25C
VISIBILITY: 8-10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 12m
It was a little windy first thing this morning but as we headed out the wind calmed and we ended up with a lovely day! Whalebone started us off with masses of baitfish around the reef and in the swim-thrus. A 3m black stingray was camped out on the bottom of one of the swim-thrus, his wingtips almost touching the walls on either side. Potato cod were hanging near the exits, just keeping an eye on things. Mating octopus, four kinds of angelfishes, cute morays, colourful nudibranchs - including a mating pair of neon marked Nembrotha purpureolineatas - and tons of reef fish really put on a show. We also had a grey reef shark cruise by a few times!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 6-8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 12m
We headed around to the east side of the Muiron Islands to snorkel at Turtle Bay - and it really lived up to it's name with over 20 turtles all in a tiny area, all trying to find a special friend to mate with! It was awesome!
Keyhole was action packed with cobia, trevally, barracuda, turtles, schooling surgeonfish, roughback stingrays, white tip reef sharks and all colours of parrotfish zipping this way and that. We have a new juvenile reindeer wrasse pretending to be a bit of drunken weed weaving all over a little patch near a rocky outcrop - he's mesmerizing to watch! Big batfish were getting cleaned near the bottom and smaller batfish followed us all the way up the mooring line at the end of our dive.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 10-12m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 12m
Now this is the way to start the week! We headed for Blizzard Ridge for dive one as we wanted to try to find the new anglerfish that we'd seen on Saturday, but, alas, he was no where to be found. We were very sad. But the crazy amount of fish, sharks, sea snakes, eels, and nudibranchs helped us get happy again! We even had a grey reef shark checking us out. Two different lionfish were showing off their fins in mid-water: there's something stunning about a red and white firefish with all of its bits spread out against a blue background! We had two mating octopus today, too. The female was BIG and she was making the male work pretty hard - dragging him all over the reef, swimming away, tucking into small holes, sitting up high on the reef edge and all the while both of them are showing off a breath-taking array of colours, patterns and textures. Best mating display ever!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 14m
We had a hunch about Gulliver's so made it our second dive site. The place was hopping with a huge school of five lined sea perch, smaller groups of snapper, a big rolling school of convict surgeons and a dizzying school of southern drummers buzzing & circling us several times during the dive. One of the small magnificent anemones was rolled up into a purple vase and its resident pink anemonefish were weaving in and out of the mohawked tentacles. And we had two manta rays! One of them took over the cleaning station for about half an hour - back and forth, coming right over the divers' heads, circling around, getting a wing massage from our bubbles. AMAZING!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 8-10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
We started our day at Cod Hole today and it really lived up to its name with tons of rankin and estuary cod all over the site. The dive started with a big shovelnosed ray lazily swimming past right at the bottom of the mooring! The fish life was excellent: lionfish, coral trout, six banded angelfish, all sorts of butterflyfishes, 100s of neon damsels & blue-green chromis, masses of red squirrelfish and lots of sea pike cruising around. Quite a few colourful nudibranchs and a few moray eels dotted the reef scape and a huge roughback stingray blew great plumes of sand up and over himself. Along the tops of the reef we had numerous green turtles. It was a gorgeous dive.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 12+m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 18m
Keyhole was up next and the colours were outstanding. There were even more angelfish covering this site than we'd seen on dive one, no mean feat! Barramundi cod, batfish, blue spotted rays, sailfin catfish, small porcelain crabs, cleaner shrimp, more turtles and some white tip reef sharks gave us plenty to look at as we enjoyed the warm, blue water. We were having such a great dive that we had to hang out for a few extra minutes!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 12m
The afternoon was perfect for a big snorkel at East Side Bommies. Turtles, sharks, rays, anemonefish, lionfish, emperor angelfish, octopus, nudibranchs, schools of trevally, coral trout, Christmas Tree Worms...this site is awesome every time we visit!
FANTASTIC diving today! We started at Labyrinth and it was just truly amazing. Where to start? Manta ray? Check! Group of TEN white tip reef sharks hanging out together? Check! Turtles on every ledge and swimming alongside us? Check! Huge wobbegong shark smiling out from under his ledge? Check! Tiniest mantis shrimp ever? Check! Batfish, cleaning stations, coral trout, scorpionfish, nudibranchs of every hue, olive sea snakes, blue spotted rays... Check!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Blizzard Ridge had a lot to live up to after such an incredible first dive. Happily it seemed every fish for a mile was hanging out for our viewing pleasure: rankin cod, coral cod, black-tipped rockcod, octopus, banded pipefish, estuary cod, firefish, fusiliers being cleaned...and a Queensland Groper!! Better than all those things (in this author's humble opinion) a new anglerfish (aka frogfish)! Woohoo - we adore our anglerfish!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 12m
Another stunner of a day and we headed to Lighthouse Bay for some diving on two of our favourite sites. Blizzard Ridge was jam packed with fish from the sand all the way to the surface. Our pair of banded pipefish are getting big and are sharing their hidey hole with three varieties of shrimps, coral cod and a juvenile olive sea snake who had stopped by for a little nap. Big, chunky estuary cod were cruising the top of the ledge and a good-sized roughback stingray kept an eye on us from the sand at the bottom of the ledge. Our resident school of threadfin pearl perch had some new members today - two small Nor'West Snapper and a stars & stripes pufferfish were floating along with them. So much to see!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 10+m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Gulliver's had even more action today than Blizzard did! Masses of bullseyes, glassfish and convict surgeons. Coral trout everywhere. Octopus out and about. Sailfin catfish snuffling the sand here, there and everywhere. A googly eyed porcupinefish snuggled under a ledge and kept doing circles while staying place - not sure if he was pretending we weren't there or just having a bit of a game! Turltes, white tip reef sharks, many spotted sweetlips and lots of action at the cleaning stations. Such fun!
Oh, and we forgot to mention the TWO enormous Queensland Gropers!!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 15+m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
What a perfect day for our first day back diving after our short break in October and after our long blogging break!
We couldn't have asked for bluer skies, nicer temperatures, more perfect light breezes or better diving that our tour to the Muiron Islands gave us. We started the day at Jaws and were surrounded by an incredible amount of marine life before we even got to the bottom! Green turtles, schools of trevally and barracuda, coral trout hunting & hanging under ledges, colourful nudibranchs, curious batfish and adorable tiny yellow boxfish were just some of vast variety on this site.
WATER TEMP: 25-26C
VISIBILITY: 15+m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 12m
Whalebone was next up and it had all of the usual suspects set against a backdrop of gorgeous blue water and stunning soft corals in red, yellow, orange, pink & purple. This is such a beautiful site it wouldn't even matter if there were any fish! Happily, there were plenty: barramundi cod, scorpionfish, white tip reef sharks, flowery cod, rankin cod, sailfin catfish and roughback stingrays. The octopus were out and about enjoying the beams of sunlight, too.
WATER TEMP: 25-26C
VISIBILITY: 15+m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 12m
We stopped to snorkel around at Turtle Beach and there were plenty of turtles for everyone. Our gentle drift showed us anemonefish, bluw-spotted stingrays, small eels, multitudes of neon damsels & sergeant majors, cascading schools of convict surgeonfish, Nor'West Snapper, lazy estuary cod and more angelfish than we could count!
Not enough for you? We also had humpback whales to keep us entertained both on the trip out and on the way back. All in all a pretty perfect day!
