One last dose of the Great Barrier Reef (Mar. 24/09 - Cairns, Australia)

Finally, a restful night! Although Ken woke up again this morning with a stomach bug, I felt like a million bucks and was eager to get wet. We were moored up at Troppo's Reef, about 30 miles north of Cairns. The morning dive took us along the sand and up the steep sandy "ski slope" north of the boat, then around the shallow sandy bommies around 30 feet. We found a couple little nudibranchs, a pretty anemone blowing in the current, a turtle cruising by, and a little white tip shark lounging in the sand. There was a lot of beautiful, healthy hard coral in the shallows too, making for a loverly dive. After breakfast, we did our final dive of the trip in the same spot. I went back to snap some more photos of a particularly pretty anemone, plus we found some flatworms, a shark, a pipefish, some nudibranchs, a blue-spotted stingray, and a strange frilly "weedfish" flopping around in the sand.


When everyone was back on board, it was full steam ahead back to Cairns, rinsing and sorting gear, packing bags, and filling out logbooks. Mid afternoon, we were back on solid ground, dropped off at our hotels, and saying goodbyes. What a wicked week it has been (well, five days...) out on the Great Barrier Reef! Taka was flawless - first class operations, dive safety, awesome staff, great food - zero complaints from us! We saw such a range of reef life, topography, big pelagics, tiny macro stuff, and everything in between. We met some awesome people too, and will definitely never forget our trip exploring the remote corners of the Great Barrier Reef.

Underwater nirvana (Mar. 23/09 - Great Barrier Reef, Coral Sea, Australia)

It was another sleepless night, as we rode out the relentless raging sea and nonstop wind all the way back from Osprey to the Great Barrier Reef. We were warned that it could be a rough night, and that was definitely an understatement. There were times when you could feel the boat being launched off a huge wave, then freefall and crash down on the other side so hard that it made the entire hull vibrate. Getting up to use the washroom was extremely hazardous, as one moment you would have a firm grip on something, and the next moment you're being slammed up against the door on the other side of the cabin. I just had to lie there, telling myself that this boat was made for this stuff, and the captain had done it a hundred times before. We were still moving when the morning wake-up call came, but once breakfast and the morning briefing were underway, we had moored up at Clam Gardens, on the inside of Ribbon Reef #5.

The visibility wasn't very good this morning, but there was still lots to look at. Complex gardens of hard corals were dotted with an abundance of giant clams and large quantities of reef fish. The site is apparently home to two resident Australian Great Cuttlefish, but we weren't able to spot them. There's nothing quite like an early morning dive to wake you up in the morning, especially when you know that's all you'll be doing for the rest of the day!

Steve's Bommie is on of the well known dive sites on the Great Barrier Reef, and for good reason - it's beautiful! A pinnacle similar to Pixie's Pinnacle on the first day, we started near its base at 80 feet and spiralled our way up. Big schools of little fusiliers dashed in and out, pursued by hunting trevally. Corals and fish life became more plentiful as we shallowed up, and above 30 feet we saw pretty anemones swaying in the current with their resident anemonefish, a leafy scorpionfish hid on some coral, and a thick cloud of orange and purple anthias dashed about the reef. A grey reef shark and a couple white tipped sand sharks made a close pass to see what we were up to before disappearing into the blue. It was one of those spots where we could've stayed down all day!

Dolphins rode our bow wave for a while en route to our next site, a pretty reef with the odd name of "2 2/3", which is located 2/3 of the way between Ribbon Reefs #2 and 3. It was a gorgeous site, with lots of critters hiding out in the sand and lots of healthy corals in between. A big triggerfish was busy munching on dead coral (though it looked like he was strategically picking the pieces up and arranging them!). Later on, we found a large cuttlefish hovering in the branches of a staghorn coral, and then a second smaller one just before we reached the maximum dive time and had to ascend.

With a few hours after the dive that staff had termed "siesta time", most people did just that to catch up on sleep lost from the last two nights. We zonked out right away and didn't wake up until almost four hours later! Unfortunately, we slept through the dive briefing, which meant having to skip the night dive (at a site called "The Beer Gardens"). Ken wasn't feeling too well anyway, so it wasn't a big deal to miss it. After dinner, we were shown the final chunk of video footage Steff took, which captured both the beautiful scenes of the reef and individual critters, as well as the fun shots of people having a good time on the boat and underwater. Too bad the price tag was so high, because it would have been great to take a copy home!

Onwards, we set sail south for Troppo's Reef, which meant a couple hours of rocky sailing outside the reef before going back in and anchoring for a calm and peaceful night at our destination for tomorrow morning's final dives.

Too many sharks to count (Mar. 22/09 - Osprey Reef, Coral Sea, Australia)

Before we went to bed last night, the captain estimated that the overnight 70 mile ocean crossing to Osprey Reef would be a 5 out of 10 in terms of difficulty. Taking that to mean average, let's just say that I would hate to know what a 6 or 7 would feel like... The ocean was so rough that we were tossed around in our beds all night, thrown up against the wall, and stuff was being launched off shelves all night. It was impossible to sleep until we got in behind the reef around 6am. Needless to say, it was really hard to get up this morning, though the thought of skipping the dive didn't even cross our minds. We were moored at North Horn at Osprey Reef, which is an extinct volcano that has collapsed into an atoll. 1000 metres of water sat beneath the boat, while just a short swim away, the reef came up to almost the surface. Being such an isolated structure, the walls are a favourite hangout spot for all sorts of sharks, and we spotted the first couple even before reaching the bottom of the mooring line. White tipped and grey sand sharks cruised the blue water and the deeper parts of the reef, each with a few tag along remoras that occasionally got the boot from their host shark and bee-lined it for us, since we must look somewhat sharky to them! They tend to suction-cup themselves to your leg or your belly, hoping to catch any fish scraps we might miss during a mid-dive snack. We followed the steep wall around to the east until the current became too much, but we should've gone further because a few guys saw a hammerhead shark out there! We zigzagged our way up the wall, watching sharks cruise by (sometimes within 20 feet or so), plus a Napoleon wrasse and a lone potato cod. With over 100 feet of visibility and some big toothy guys to keep us company, it was a great dive to start the day and make us forget all about the barfy ride out here.

The next one was said to be one of the best dives of the trip - the shark feed! We jumped back in at North Horn and took a seat to watch the action unfold. The sharks clearly knew what was going on, as dozens of them hung around, at least 40 of them but likely more, circling the bommie that they have been fed at before. Everything from snapper and damselfish up to potato cod and reef sharks milled about, turning the water into a swarm of fish. The guides hooked a line to a permanent pulley fixed to the reef, where they pulled down a garbage can delivered by a zodiak that was full of fresh tuna heads chained to a float. The sharks prodded the can and waited impatiently, until the guide released the lid and the buoyant chain of bait lifted out of the can. The sharks were on it instantly, ripping and tearing at the heads, trying to pull them off the chain. It became a huge mob of shark flesh twirling in a frenzied ball, and when one would successfully rip off a chunk, it would zoom away trying to choke down their catch before someone else stole it out of their mouth. The potato cod were right in there too, grabbing what chunks they could. A minute later, a few massive oceanic silvertip sharks came in, dwarfing the other sharks and taking over. When most of the meat was gone and only the bony head skeletons remained, the guide pulled the heads off the chain and basically started another free-for-all. A potato cod managed to catch one of the heads, which was so big that he barely had room for it in his mouth, though there was no way he was going to chew it! The action slowly dissipated, sharks returned to simply circling the reef, and we were free to swim around for the rest of the dive. It was definitely an adrenaline rush, being within mere feet of 40+ sharks fighting over lunch!

A short hop down the reef is a site called The Entrance, where the steep reef wall plummets into the abyss. Zodiaks dropped us south of the boat, leaving us a long stretch of reef to follow back. The walls were encrusted in hard corals, especially lots of plate corals that overlap like fish scales on the wall. Pretty little square spot anthias (males are bright purple with a pink square spot on their sides) are endemic to Osprey Reef, and they hover around with a harem of females, defending their territory. We made our way north toward the boat, spotting a white tipped sand shark lying in the sand right below the mooring line. We also did our fourth and final dive of the day here too, swimming along the sand alleyways between the massive coral bommies. A little sand shark was sleeping in the sand where we were headed, so he kept relocating a few metres forward, over and over again, to stay out of our way. At one point, we had found a small cave that looked big enough to swim into, but when we got down to shine our lights in, two small sharks stared back. Oops! Good thing we checked first! We did find a big open cave that had a bright skylight to swim through at the other end, so we passed through it and then made our way back toward the boat. The surface was a choppy mess by the time we got up, which was in stark contrast to the calm serenity beneath the waves...

After a much needed shower and an awesome dinner, we watched today's video footage on the big screen tv. It turned out so well - vibrant, action-packed, and set to perfect music. It was an incredible experience to be amongst to many sharks of all different shapes and sizes today, all majestic, and sadly, all threatened by fishing. It's sad to think that being able to swim amongst forty sharks could soon be a thing of the past, so we definitely appreciate the chance to do it now and gain a greater respect for them.

Fish as big as you (Mar. 21/09 - Great Barrier Reef, Coral Sea, Australia)

There were some big waves last night as we sailed north, but luckily a slightly rocky sea seems to have a soothing effect when you're trying to sleep. Around 6am, the bow thrusters roared to hook us up with the mooring buoy, then silence. We peered out to see a wide reef, turquoise blue with waves breaking on the far side, and the sun just breaching the horizon. We were fed a delicious breakfast and then given briefings on dive procedures and site orientation. Our first dive was at a site called Challenger Bay, on Ribbon Reef #9. We jumped in and made our way along the sloping sandy bottom to a group of bommies at 75 feet, where the divemaster said manta rays sometimes visit to be cleaned. No such luck though, but the bommies themselves were beautiful to swim a few laps around. This boat lets you dive without a guide if you want to, which was kind of nice for a change to just putter at our own speed. The visibility was ok but not great, maybe 40 or 50 feet. But we saw lots of fun stuff: a crown jellyfish, huge sea cucumbers 3 feet long, gobies hovering over the sand, bumpy yellow and blue/black striped nudibranchs, a pipefish, massive staghorn coral mounds, a big flounder, and even a white tipped reef shark cruising by in the shallows. It was a nice easy first dive, and a nice reminder of how awesome life on a liveaboard can be!


Our second dive was at a little spot called Pixie's Pinnacle, at a gap between Ribbon Reefs #9 and 10. A column of coral rises up from the sand at 100ft to just below the surface. The whole thing is covered in life, with lots of healthy hard corals, some sea fans and soft corals, tons of fish, and some little creatures we had never seen before. Large schools of little fusiliers swarmed in the water column beside the pinnacle, and a handful of trevally did their best to catch them, causing the schools to explode like fireworks each time they went for it. We spotted a black lionfish with long delicate fins, some big chunky yellow and black nudibranchs, grouper, pipefish, schools of anthias, and some big anemone patches with resident anemonefish. We spiraled up for an hour until we were low on air, then made our way back to the boat. Aside from some storm damage in the shallows thanks to the recent cyclone that ripped through here, the reefs seem to be nice and healthy, thanks to the fact that not many boats make it out this far!


Cod Hole is a site that is world famous for its resident potato cod, which are grouper that can grow up to over 300lbs. It also happens to be a beautiful site, with massive corals galore. We were running out of daylight, as one of the divers collapsed after the second dive and smashed his head open on a post when he fell, so we had to detour over to nearby Lizard Island to evacuate him out in a plane. He'll be fine, but it was just a precaution since he exhibited symptoms of an embolism, plus he had a concussion and needed stitches. So we got a view of the exclusive $1000/night resort on the beach on Lizard Island, watched the plane come and go, and then we carried on east to Cod Hole. Dive guides have been hand feeding the potato cod for decades, so we were going to see it happen too. All 27 of us jumped in the water at once and descended to a big sandy patch at about 30 feet. Even at the surface, snapper were circling the guide, who had a bucket full of sardines for the feeding. A big potato cod soon joined in the action, following the bucket all the way down to the bottom. We kneeled in the sand and watched the guide make his rounds, sneaking out a sardine now and then, which the big guys snatched up in a hurry. Their mouths must have been 18 inches wide, and when they swam by, I would guess they were about 4 or 5 feet long, with eyeballs the size of oranges! It was funny how in your face they would be, swimming right up to you and looking you in the face, hoping you had food for them, then swinging around when the sardine bucket came by, not caring if they slammed into you in the process. There were three or four of them, plus tons of snapper that swarmed around baring their vicious looking teeth, hoping to score a snack. After the feeding, we spent the other half of the dive exploring the big coral formations, ducking in between to get out of the current and find black and blue flatworms, lionfish, and the biggest friggin giant clam we had ever seen. They're usually a foot or two across, but this one was more like four feet across. Its "out hole" was at least 18 inches across! The craziest part was when you get close and they close their shell, this one reminded me of Indiana Jones since the whole entire rock creaked shut when you got close!


Night dive time! We jumped back into Cod Hole to check out the reef after dark. The reef fish were noticeably jumpy when they found themselves in the spotlight, and little nocturnal critters like tiny red and white squat lobsters and neon orange coral crabs came out to feed. Half way through the dive, I was hovering over a table coral when one of the big potato cod swam out from underneath it, scaring me half to death. He was happy to use our lights for hunting, following the beam and snagging a fish here and there as he followed along with us. After a few minutes, he caught a big snapper and then zoomed off into the dark. We thought he was gone, but a minute later three of them came bolting out of the darkness, heading straight for us. Talk about scary - three monstrous black beasts bee-lining it straight for you in the dark! They stayed with us, weaving in and out to use our lights, not even leaving us until we were all the way back at the boat.


We enjoyed brownies and ice cream while the crew video guy showed us the footage he took today, all set to music like I like to do with my videos at home. It was an awesome day - we're waterlogged already! But now we're being thrown about our cabins as we set said towards Osprey Reef, sailing overnight across the open ocean.