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Out to the Muiron Islands for a special Thursday trip and we saw tons! Cod Spot was showing off masses of baitfish, tiny eels, wobbegong sharks, tuskfish, emperor angelfish, rankin cod, white tip reef sharks, honeycomb cods and lots of small parrotfish. This site was very active with feeding, cleaning and territorial displays today - so much to watch!
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 8-10m
CURRENT: very mild
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 17m
Whalebone also had lots of action and even more densely packed fish life. Schools of convict surgeonfish, five lined sea perch, trevally and sea pike. Huge 6 banded angelfish and green parrotfish. Tiny colourful nudibranchs. A good-sized roughback ray partially buried in the sand. Goatfish, snapper, damsels, anthias, wrasses...fish, fish and more fish!
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 8-10m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 12m
Oh what a glorious Sunday! Gulliver's was first up and we were greeted by a trio of mackerel darting back and forth as soon as we put our heads underwater. The white tip reef sharks were being cheeky: allowing us to creep up close then flicking themselves forward a few feet causing a big sand storm between us. A huge loggerhead turtle kept pace for a while before heading off into the distance. Schools of five lined sea perch, goatfish and bulleyes; many spotted sweetlips & rankin cods at the cleaning stations; crazy shrimp & bouncing anemonefish; moray eels; blue spotted rays; semi-circular angelfish and stacks more. Fabulous dive that we didn't want to end!
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 15-20m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
The water when we pulled up to Blizzard Ridge was insanely blue. When we dropped over we discovered it was filled with tons of floaties (all food for the fishies!) but the blueness went on forever. Masses of glass & baitfish, a big roughback ray in the sand, wobbegong sharks under ledges, white tip reef sharks patrolling, olive sea snakes getting frisky with each other and us, nudibranchs, octopus, more cleaner shrimp action and clouds of bright pink anthias. A++ dive!
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 20-25+m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Another glorious day here on the Ningaloo Reef!
We dived and snorkeled at Central Station and the conditions were pretty nice. Blue water set a nice background for the unicornfish, trevally, small barracuda, snapper and cods. Moray eels, cleaner shrimp, nudibanchs and hermit crabs dotted the reef while blue spotted rays and one big cowtail ray took to the sand.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 10-12m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 17m
The whale sharks were enthusiastically playing the game today and we had multiple drops on multiple sharks from very early on in our search! Most of the whale sharks we swam with today were from 4-7m and almost every one of them was swimming at a pretty leisurely pace which made tit perfect for spending lots of time with them.
A couple of the whale sharks we saw today did do the up and down thing a bit and it's so amazing to watch them move. They would swim along the surface, then dive gently & effortlessly disappearing into the deep...only to just as easily glide right back up in front of us again! Wonderful day out!
Woohoo!! Exmouth's whale shark season is starting with fantastic sharks popping up everywhere!
It was a little swelly first thing this morning, so we postponed our scuba dive and snorkeled on the reef instead. The Ningaloo Reef put on great snorkeling with all manner of reef fishes from tiny to huge. Afterward, we headed south towards where the whale sharks have been over the past few days and it wasn't long until we were on our first whale shark of the day.
We ended swimming with six different whale sharks ranging in size from about 3.5m - 8m! We even swam with Chompy, a returning whale shark who is missing most of its dorsal fin thanks to an attack several years ago.
A couple of the whale sharks were happily sucking down plankton with their mouths wide open and heads bobbing. Almost all of them were swimming pretty slowly today which made keeping up with them a whole lot easier after we'd been doing it a while.
We has awesome, long swims on almost every drop with every whale shark and, boy, were we tired by the time we left the whale sharks to head home!
On the way back, we stopped for a relaxing snorkel on the reef and the scuba divers jumped into much calmer and clearer conditions than we'd seen in the morning. Central Station was buzzing with parrotfish, scorpionfish, threadfin pearl perch, blue spotted lagoon rays, octopus, white tip reef sharks, mantis shrimp, convict surgeonfish, cardinalfish and tons more.
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 10-12m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 17m
An awesome day out on the Ningaloo Reef!
Magical day! Indo-Pacific Humpback and bottlenose dolphins escorted on our way out to the Muiron Islands today so things were off to a fantastic start before we even hit the water.
Cod Spot was teeming with big and little marine life today. Wobbegong sharks, white tip reef sharks, moray eels of all sizes, leatherjackets, parrotfish, baitfish, sting rays, schools of convict surgeonfish, barracuda, a stonefish...it was a feast for our eyes!
WATER TEMP: 28C
VISIBILITY: 8-10m
CURRENT: very mild
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 17m
Whalebone was also filled with fish and critters from top to bottom! Six-banded angelfish, Emperor angelfish, several species of butterflyfish, trevally, shrimps, drummers, many spotted sweetlips, snapper, perch, nudibranchs, scorpionfish, humbugs and bright neon damsels were just a few that we saw. Great dive!
WATER TEMP: 28C
VISIBILITY: 10-12m
CURRENT: very mild
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 13m
We also had a terrific snorkel on the east side of the Islands, finally the visibility has gotten a whole lot better in this area. The Coral Gardens were amazing with the quantity of reef fish, blue spotted rays, Christmas tree worms, sea pike...but our best sighting of the snorkel site was THREE LEOPARD SHARKS!! So cool.
And then more dolphins on the way home. Fantastic!!
Another beautiful day here on Ningaloo Reef and we headed for Lighthouse Bay. We decided to check out Razor's as we haven't dived it since the cyclones have come through and wanted to see how the sea fans have held up. Not well. Most of them are only a fraction of their size pre-cyclones, which is sad, but it will be interesting to see how quickly they grow back. There were still plenty of fish - parrotfish, honeycomb cod, goatfish, anthias, surgeonfish, angelfish, butterflyfish, trevally, squirrelfish and lots more! Eels, small crabs, shrimps and tiny nudibranchs were tucked in every nook. The best sighting on this dive was a beautiful tawny nurse shark swimming past us!
WATER TEMP: 28C
VISIBILITY: 5-8m
CURRENT: very mild
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 12m
Labyrinth was over-run with turtles again today! We love our green turtles. Octopus, nudibranchs, coral trout, rankin cod, batfish, anemonefish, moorish idols, white tip reef sharks, blue spotted lagoon rays...this site was pretty active today and everyone had a fabulous time!
WATER TEMP: 28C
VISIBILITY: 5-8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: very mild
DEPTH: 12m
Our first Whale Shark Adventure for 2011 was fabulous!
We started our day with a snorkel & dive at Central Station. The conditions were lovely and there were lots of fish to entertain us. Bluebone, Coronation Trout, Estuary Cod, Queenfish, Batfish, Threadfin Pearl Perch, Trevally, Sailfin Catfish, parrotfish, buttrflyfish, angelfish, anemonefish, moorish idols... Small reef octopus were also pretty cool!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 6-10m
CURRENT: mild
DEPTH: 18m
The first couple of whale sharks we found were doing the bounce thing -up and down, up and down - so it was tricky to get any good time with them. But then the next whale shark we found was happy to stay up with us and we had some excellent swims! And the next two whale sharks we had were great, too! Most of the whale sharks we saw today were in the 4-6m range and all were beautiful - yay for whale shark season again!!
We had an excellent snorkel on the way back to the mooring, too. A big roughback ray under a ledge, gorgeous nudibranchs, lionfish, bright Christmas tree worms and lots of small reef fish. After the dive, while we were cruising along, we saw some dugongs - an awesome end to the day!
Attention all PADI Dive Masters & Instructors on the Ningaloo Reef!
The 2011 PADI Member Update is happening next Monday - 28 March at the Novotel Ningaloo!
6.30pm for drinks & chatting before the Update begins.
This year the format is slightly different as we will have a drink & canapes before the one hour update and then another drink afterwards - so now there are two great reasons to attend: getting all the gos' about the new PADI stuff you need to know and having a free drink with some great people!
David Oliver has asked if you can please let him know if you will be attending so he can organize catering. You can contact him directly or drop us a note with ATTENDING PADI MEMBER UPDATE in the memo line - EMAIL US HERE.
What a beautiful day to be out on the ocean!
We headed out to the Muiron Islands, confident that the visibility was finally clearing up and were rewarded with great blue water on dive one at Whalebone. The colours of the soft corals were vibrant blues, yellows, oranges, pinks and purples. A big school of drummers spun a flashing silver funnel from the bottom almost to the surface as we hovered nearby trying not to get dizzy. The swim thrus had a little bait action and some medium sized cods hanging out in the shadows. Nudibranchs, sailfin catfish, yellow flutemouths, mangrove jacks and blue spotted lagoon rays caught our eyes and a funny batfish weaved back and forth across the sand. We had a lovely dive!
WATER TEMP: 28C
VISIBILITY: 12m
CURRENT: mild; current & chop on surface
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 12m
The breeze started to come in, so we tucked around to the other side of the Islands for the rest of the day and did dive two at East Side Bommies. Unfortunately, the visibitliy wasn't as great, but the water was still blue and there were 1000s of small things to see up close: eels, Christmas tree worms, damsels, anthias, firefish, blue spotted rays, shrimps, porcelain crabs and anemonefish. We also had some white tip reef sharks, pairs of moorish idols, lots of bright yellow butterflyfish, purple, orange & green parrotfish and many other pretty reef fish. A relaxing & enjoyable dive!
Gorgeous day to be out on the ocean!
Labyrinth greeted us with green turtles everywhere! This has been a very good year for turtles, it seems, and we've got every size imagineable. Batfish, cleaning stations, hunting coral trout, tuskfish digging in the sand, blue spotted sting rays, tiny mantis shrimp, octopus and a big, fat cowtail ray were just the tip of the iceberg on all we saw today.
WATER TEMP: 28C
VISIBILITY: 6-12m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
Blizzard Ridge had more consistent visibility and excellent creatures. Wobbegong sharks, lionfish, anemonefish, olive sea snakes, trevally, barracuda, snapper, more octopus, nudibranchs, banded cleaner shrimp and lots of rankin cod. In one of the crevices four enormous estuary cod hunkered down, their eyes rolling up to keep an eye on us as we cruised overhead. Great dive!
WATER TEMP: 28C
VISIBILITY: 12m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
After some nice water close to the Cape this week we thought we'd head out to the Muiron Islands for the first time in a long time. Unfortunately, the clear water didn't quite make it out here!
We stopped at Whalebone for dive one and it was dirty. Very dirty. Luckily there were masses of fish - trevally, surgeonfish, bluebone, damsels, parrotfish, butterflyfish, angelfish, sea pike, various wrasses - but you had to be pretty up close to see them! The brilliantly coloured corals couldn't compete with the murky water and looked like muted blobs of oranges, pinks and yellows. It was still an OK dive thanks to the marine life, but we would like it a bit clearer for next time!
WATER TEMP: 30C
VISIBILITY: 2-4m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 12m
We trekked around to the other side of the Islands to see if the water was any better. It wasn't much. Nor'East Bommies was active with lots of zooming trevally, some barracuda, lionfish pressed up against the bommies and blue-spotted stingrays trying to make things even dirtier as they kicked up sand looking for afternoon snacks.
As so often happens here on the Ningaloo Reef, even on a really yucko viz day we were treated to something awesome - a brilliant yellow & electric blue ribbon eel!! Definitely not something we ever expect to see and once again proves that it can never be too dirty and you can never dive a site enough times!!
WATER TEMP: 30C
VISIBILITY: 2-3m
CURRENT: none; slight surface chop
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 8m
Rumor had it that the water in Lighthouse Bay was clearing up so we headed out with positive spirits. We weren't disappointed as we found the clearest water we've had in weeks!
Dive one took us to Blizzard Ridge and the clear blue water set off all the lionfish, olive sea snakes, schools of snapper & threadfin pearl perch, wobbegongs, sting rays, white tip reef sharks, moray eels, nudibranchs, rankin cod, anemonefish, damsels, anthias and other fishies very nicely, thank you! Can't wipe the smiles off our faces after this dive!
WATER TEMP: 28C
VISIBILITY: 15+m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
We checked out Labyrinth next and it was super active! Turtles, turtles and more turtles. Batfish everywhere - in schools and at the cleaning stations. Coral trout shooting this way and that, tormenting small shoals of baitfish. Nudibranchs, octopus, morays, shrimps and tiny crabs adorned the reef. A huge estuary cod watched us without much interest from the comfy hole he'd carved in the sand. If possible, we were all smiling even more than we were after the first dive!
WATER TEMP: 28C
VISIBILITY: 15+m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 12m
The reports on the water conditions out at the Muiron Islands were not good, so we headed into Lighthouse Bay today instead. On the upside, the reef was active; on the downside, you had to get pretty close to things to see them - luckily our marine life seems to love divers!
Blizzard Ridge had lots of schools of trevally, threadfin pearl perch, snappers and baitfish tucked in tight formations today and mostly they just swayed in the water column as one. The octopus seem to love these conditions and there were countless number of them out and about, bravely standing straight up and even walking proudly across bits of reef. The nudibranchs weren't as diverse as normal - we saw five different species - but there were quite a few scattered here and there. Olive sea snakes, lionfish, white tip reef sharks and blue spotted rays went about their business as usual. Best find today was a gorgeous big whiptail ray - unbelievable how long those tails can get!
WATER TEMP: 28C
VISIBILITY: 3-5m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m
We had a good surface current at Labyrinth for dive two, but it disappeared as we reached the site underwater. The turtles were everywhere again and we ended up losing count about half way through the dive! White tip reef sharks were alternately lazing on the sand ignoring us or swimming small, seemingly aimless circles before crashing back into the sand. An unusually pretty wobbegong shark was hanging out under a ledge and tiger cardinalfish wafted over his head and in front of his nose with impunity. Trios of butterflyfish and duos of moorish idols added little spots of bright yellow throughout the dive.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 2-4m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 12m
