Showing posts with label lighthouse bay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lighthouse bay. Show all posts

Friday, May 20, 2011

Exmouth Diving Centre report - Lighthouse Bay Friday 20 May 2011

Labyrinth was fantastic today! One of our groups saw two manta rays as they were coming down the mooring line - nice way to start a dive! There are almost solid walls of baitfish in several spots along the site and tuna, mackerel, trevally, coral trout and rankin cods were shooting through gobbling snacks and scattering the glittering fish everywhere for a few seconds before they reformed. And turtles. Too many to count and almost all of them very mellow and willing to let divers get up close for some great shots. One turtle swam with me for 15 minutes, it was amazing!
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: very slight
DEPTH: 15m

Blizzard Ridge didn't have the schools of baitfish, but had huge schools of slightly larger (but still juvenile) snapper, fusiliers and sea perch. The fish were packed so densely you couldn't see another diver only 2m away! Wobbegongs, white tip reef sharks, olive sea snakes, goatfish, batfish, coral cods, pairs of lionfish, moray eels of all sizes and a showoff octopus putting on a very cool display - great time underwater!
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 10-15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 15m

We saw a few dolphins on the way out and on the way back, too!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Our newest PADI Open Water Divers

Congratulations to our eight newest PADI Open Water divers!

They had an awesome dive course with two dives out at the Muiron Islands and two dives in Lighthouse Bay - all four dives were filled with so many different sea creatures there wasn't enough room in the log books to record them all!

One of our students has fallen so in love with diving with us here on the Ningaloo Reef that she's committed to several months of diving every day and training hard to achieve her PADI Dive Master certification - way to go, Constance!!

Thanks to Andreas for sending us this great group shot of Exmouth Diving Centre's newest PADI Open Water Divers - we hope you all get to dive again very soon!

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Exmouth Diving Centre report - Lighthouse Bay Tuesday 5 April 2011

You know it's going to be a good diving day when you are on the way to the dive sites and bottlenosed dolphins are leaping 20' into the air in your wake!

Gulliver's was hopping with shark action today - white tip reefies everywhere we looked and wobbegongs trying to pretend they were rocks. Turtles - hawksbills and greens - were popping up on the surface, swimming alongside the divers and giving themselves a good scratch on the reef. A couple of turtles were snacking away on some of the (overly) abundant red bell jellyfish. Barracuda, trevally, 6 banded angelfish, pink anemonefish, batfish, hawkfish, neon damsels and tons of gobies were just some of the fishes we enjoyed. Super dive!
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 10-15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m

Blizzard Ridge was also full of good stuff. The giant moray eel made an appearance and swam along for about 30m before weaving his way through some gaps in the reef. The schools of glassfish and baitfish are starting to increase and there was some feeding action by a few predator fish. Looks like the Emperor Angelfish have been busy - there were heaps of psychedelic coloured juveniles flitted about as well as a few adults. Cutest juvenile firefish with the most delicate fringe on his fins. Mating nudibranchs. More wobbies, white tips and turtles plus all of the usual schools of perch, sea pike, bullseyes and clouds of anthias. We were all smiling ear to ear and talking over one another about the cool stuff we found on this dive!
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 12-15m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Exmouth Diving Centre report - Lighthouse Bay Sunday 27 March 2011

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

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Exmouth Diving Centre report - Lighthouse Bay Tuesday 22 March 2011

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

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Exmouth Diving Centre report - Lighthouse Bay Saturday 19 March 2011

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

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Exmouth Diving Centre report - Lighthouse Bay Wednesday 9 March 2011

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

Sunday, March 6, 2011

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

Monday, January 24, 2011

Exmouth Diving report - Lighthouse Bay Monday 24 January 2011

We finally have a real internet connection back after almost two weeks of it being so slow we could barely check the mail! We'll be getting to some of the backlog of dives soon we hope.

Another beautiful day here on the Ningaloo Reef! We headed to Blizzard Ridge to get the action started and all of the fish came out to see us. Lionfish were scattered along the entire site and there was one group of four snugged up on a ledge while another floated just above them with his fins spread right out. Huge estuary cod floated behind us as we checked out the masses of schooling threadfin pearl perch, snapper and sea pike. Several octopus were out and about putting on a show, colourful nudibranchs displayed their garish colours and juvenile sailfin catfish wriggled just outside their lairs. A friendly olive sea snake adopted our fins and poked around from diver to diver for several minutes before getting bored and wandering off on more interesting business. Great dive!
WATER TEMP: 30C
VISIBILITY: 6-8m
CURRENT: mild to moderate on the surface, mild underwater
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 14m

Green turtles were everywhere on Labyrinth from the time we stopped the boat to the time we left! Underwater they were getting cleaned, scratching their shells on bits of reef, swimming along lazily beside us and snoozing as we came in for a close up. A 2m leopard spotted whiptail ray was half buried in the sand right where we dropped in and a fatty wobbegong shark draped over the reef just a few meters further down the reef. Bannerfish, emperor angelfish, 6 banded angelfish, raccoon butterflyfish, pink anemonefish, neon damsels, blue-green chromis and hot pink anthias added color to the deep blue water. Nudibranchs, hermit crabs and white mouth morays were tucked in here and there all over the site. This dive was amazing for the amount of things we saw everywhere we looked!
WATER TEMP: 30C
VISIBILITY: 8-10m
CURRENT: mild
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 14m

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Exmouth Diving report - Lighthouse Bay Saturday 22 January 2011

Labyrinth was an excellent first choice for us today! White tip reef sharks were cruising, green turtles were abundant and curious, batfish of all sizes were crowding the cleaning stations, blue spotted rays were making a mess in the sand and various brightly coloured wrasse were darting in to help tidy up. Octopus were being coy and peeking out of their holes and extending a single tentacle before wildly changing colours and zipping their arms in close again. Tuskfish, coral trout, Nor'West Snapper, cardinalfish, trevally, barracuda, mackerel, parrotfish and many spotted sweetlips were out to be seen. When we stopped to take a closer look we found bubble coral shrimps, tiny hermit crabs with bright yellow antennae, multi-hued nudibranchs, little moray eels and gobies staring at us as they defended their territory. Fabulous dive!
WATER TEMP: 29C
VISIBILITY: 12m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: none
DEPTH: 14m

Blizzard Ridge was just as active, but the visibility was about half. No matter, there was more than enough to see up close and we didn't even miss the clearer water! Rankin cod and snapper were zooming through small congregations of baitfish, a porcupinefish bobbed along beside us for a few minutes before twirling his fins and motoring off back the way we'd come, longfin bannerfish waved in formation and fusiliers opened their mouths wide so the cleaner wrasse could get in deep for a thorough clean. Every ledge held something cool: nudibranchs, eels, crabs, juvenile fish. Several of the tiger cardinalfish had mouths filled with eggs. Everyone had a very nice dive and came back eager to check the books as we tried to remember everything.
WATER TEMP: 30C
VISIBILITY: 6-8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 14m

Friday, December 31, 2010

Exmouth Diving report - Lighthouse Bay Friday 31 December 2010

Two awesome dives to end 2010! We started at Blizzard Ridge and were escorted down the line by a pair of inquisitive batfish, their yellow fins glowing bright. At the bottom, a plump roughback ray kept one eye on us as cleaner wrasse gave him a scrub & he blew sand into a big cloud. An olive sea snake coiled in and out of the group, checking out fin tips carefully before meandering off. Not bad for the first three minutes of our dive! We also had a giant moray eel waving his head side to side as small clear shrimp picked bits off him, octopus snaking their arms around themselves, trios of bannerfish hovering just inches from our masks, semi-circular angelfish scrounging for tasty treats and wobbegong sharks sleeping under ledges. Fish, fish and more fish today!
WATER TEMP: 28C
VISIBILITY: 10-12m
CURRENT: very mild
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 14m

Labyrinth had a lot more food and floaties in the water which reduced visibility but certainly didn't deter mobs of fish putting in an appearance! Lots of green turtles, a huge painted crayfish, batfish, trevally, barracuda, pink anemonefish, parrotfish, butterflyfish, cardinalfish, lionfish, blue spotted stingrays, cleaning stations, wobbegong sharks, white tip reef sharks, five lined sea perch, sharpnose snapper, stars & stripes pufferfish - a feast for the eyes every minute of the dive!
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 5m
CURRENT: mild
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 14m

Monday, December 27, 2010

Exmouth Diving report - Lighthouse Bay Monday 27 December 2010

Oh so clear and blue underwater today! The sea breeze came in super early so we had a little chop on the surface, but underwater was divine.

We started at Labyrinth and before we even hit the water we'd seen more than ten turtles and the turtle action continued underwater - they were everywhere! The super blue water really made the purples, oranges, yellows, reds and greens of the massive number of fish stand out. Big trevally and mackerel were cruising and coral trout were hunting. Pink anemonefish were enjoying easy meals and swimming quite a ways away from the safety of their anemones. A good sized wobbegong shark snoozed under a ledge at our entry/exit point - completely disinterested in anything around him. Today was one of those dive days you dream about!
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 20+m
CURRENT: mild-moderate
SURGE: very mild
DEPTH: 14m

We dropped in at Razor's next and it was also excellent with big schools of scad, fusiliers and snapper rolling back and forth at the top of the ridge. A giant leopard spotted stingray whose wingspan was easily 1.8m tried to ignore us, half buried in sand, while cleaner wrasse went to work on his head. He got fed up with them and took off in a massive cloud of sand, leaving a trail behind him for miles! Moray eels, pufferfish, nudibranchs, baitfish, juvenile sailfin catfish and moorish idols tried to steal our attention from the gorgeous coloured sea fans. Our best find of the day: a teensy white anglerfish!! He posed prettily for each of our divers so everyone got a very good look. His little tiny feet were so cute and he even did a couple of yawns for us - amazing!!
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 20+m
CURRENT: mild-moderate
SURGE: very mild
DEPTH: 13m

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Exmouth Diving report - Lighthouse Bay Thursday 23 December 2010

The conditions are just getting better and we started at Blizzard Ridge for our first dive in Lighthouse Bay since the big rains. There were quite a few floaties in the water that kept visibility a little low but the fish were loving the extra food, darting & dashing in and out constantly. Wobbegong sharks, white tip reef sharks, estuary cod, threadfin pearl perch, rankin cod, lots of nudibranchs, bright yellow trumpetfish and lots of groups of baby sailfin catfish.
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: -86m
CURRENT: mild
SURGE: moderate
DEPTH: 12m

We headed over to Gulliver's for dive two and the cleaning stations were super busy with huge cod waiting patiently behind smaller snapper. We found a huge giant moray (is that redundant? LOL) and many smaller eels dotting the landscape. Batfish drifted sideways along the sand and a trio of them hung out with us on the safety stop. It was a dive filled with fish, fish and more fish!
WATER TEMP: 27C
VISIBILITY: 6-8m
CURRENT: mild
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 12m

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Exmouth Diving report - Lighthouse Bay Saturday 4 December 2010

Blizzard Ridge was top to bottom fish today - we didn't even start going down the mooring line before we were surrounded by a big school of fusiliers with some big Nor-West Snapper zipping in to say hello! The ridges were hectic with pipefish, banded cleaner shrimp, nudibranchs galore, hermit crabs and tiny moray eels. Quite a few blue spotted stingrays were making a bit of a mess foraging for snacks and patient snapper hung out waiting for scraps. Lionfish snuggled on the reef and floated all fanned out just above the sand. A very nice dive for a Saturday!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 6-8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 14m

Labyrinth
was Wobbie City today. They were everywhere - sleeping under ledges, sleeping out in the open, sleeping draped over bommies, swimming circles round and round! Green turtles, white tip reef sharks, coral trout, moorish idols, many spotted sweetlips - so much to see!
WATER TEMP: 26C
VISIBILITY: 6-8m
CURRENT: none
SURGE: mild
DEPTH: 13m

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Exmouth Diving report - Lighthouse Bay Saturday 20 November 2010

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

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Exmouth Diving report - Lighthouse Bay Thursday 18 November 2010

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!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Exmouth Diving report - Lighthouse Bay Friday 12 November 2010

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

Monday, November 8, 2010

Exmouth Diving report - Lighthouse Bay Monday 8 November 2010

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

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Exmouth Diving report - Lighthouse Bay Saturday 6 November 2010

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

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Exmouth Diving report - Lighthouse Bay Thursday 4 November 2010

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