Exmouth Diving Centre report - Lighthouse Bay Sunday 6 March 2011

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