Our dive
site is in one of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park’s protected
areas and the effect below water is obvious. Staghorn corals stretch
away like a colourful forest and schools of fusiliers, snappers and
other fish cruise all around. Thousands of small blue, yellow and
green fish amongst the corals vanish instantly if I make a sudden
move, then just as suddenly reappear.
We follow
the edge of the reef along a series of coral bommies with a deep
channel between them. Out beyond the edge of the reef there is just a
deep blue, seemingly bottomless ocean. About the same time the
haunting song of a humpback whale surrounds us.
I peer out
into the blue in the hope of seeing the singer but to no avail.
Several large batfish move down from the surface. They come in close
and eyeball us, maybe in the hope of a handout. Once they sense we
aren’t going to feed them they move off to check the next divers
out.
Patches of
colour between the corals are giant clams, their insides glowing in
blue, green or yellow in the sunlight. Having a battle of wits with a
shell sounds strange, but trying to photograph a giant clam without
its colourful mantle retracting is difficult.
Coral trout,
emperor fish and various striped and patterned reef fish move around.
A pair of black, yellow and white Moorish idols move gracefully away.
On the
bommie tops clownfish dart in and out of their host anemones. Some
have one, others have two or even three stripes. Their stripes may
vary, but their attitude doesn’t. If I get too close the clownfish
attack my fingers so I back off slightly and they threaten my camera
instead.
Near the
bottom something moves. A large tail with a camouflage pattern blends
in perfectly with the corals and the shadows. Two tiny eyes on the
head and a series of tassels around its mouth identify it as a
wobbegong. Below it is another - both around two metres long. We have
stumbled onto a mating session between two tasselled wobbegongs -
usually harmless members of the shark family.
After almost
an hour we climb out of the 21degC water into the 24degC air. Hot
coffee sounds nice but fresh orange juice is even better. Lunch is
laid out with fruit, meat, and seafood. Meanwhile, out on the back
deck, our dive tanks are changed and readied for the next dive.
Talk of
turtles and manta rays at dive sites drifts into the conversation.
Then we are back amongst the corals, this time mixed with a few
plate, brain and leather corals. The channels between the reefs have
yellow sea fans. Around them matching feather stars wave their arms
in the current and the fish are so thick we can’t see through them.
A big coral trout moves in and checks us out then vanishes under a
plate coral.
Several
pairs of Moorish idols move up and down the edges of the channels in
the reef, showing no interest in us. Then it’s back to Reef
Goddess where the giant trevally and Maori
wrasse are hanging around, but move away as we climb back on board.
See more at Tourism Queensland
See more at Tourism Queensland
