MHMF Challenge - Diving on the Great Barrier Reef
Trip Start
Oct 18, 2006
1
16
27
Trip End
Apr 04, 2007
Cairns,
Australia
Sunday, January 28, 2007
06.45
The Quicksilver bus picked us up from the Cairns Esplanade, just a few doors down from our hostel. During the journey to Port Douglas harbour the driver pointed out local landmarks and features. When we arrived at the Quicksilver office we picked up our boarding passes and boarded the Silver Sonic, one of the Quicksilver catamarans, where we were given tea and sandwiches.
08.30
The Silver Sonic left the harbour bound for the Agincourt Ribbon Reefs on the outer reef, eighty-four nautical miles away and on the edge of the continental shelf where the ocean floor drops off dramatically. During the journey we met our dive master, Rhys, who gave us a dive brief, including general rules like sticking together as a group. There were about thirty passengers with most people only snorkelling. We were a group of five divers with one other group being led by another dive master. Then we went to the dive platform at the back of the boat where we assembled our diving gear - full-length wetsuits (to protect against jelly fish), buoyancy control devices, masks and snorkels and fins.
09.40
With minutes to go before we arrived at the first dive site we put on our diving gear. It was exciting to be gearing up again, over a month since we had last dived in Thailand. We arrived at The Point, the first dive site of the day. It was time to do a giant stride into the water, and without any delay we submerged below the surface.
01 Wearing our MHMF t-shirts before the dive
It was such a thrill to finally be diving at the Great Barrier Reef. I thought about Mim and that she knew how much I love fish, and I felt that she was right there with me, sharing my excitement. We started to absorb our surroundings; there was a multitude of fish and a huge variety of coral. Within minutes we saw a "Nemo" - a clownfish which lives in the soft coral. Next thing we knew, Rhys had picked up a large sea cucumber which he passed around the group. He had told us that there were certain things that we would be allowed to touch, following his example. Just a few moments later we were lucky enough to see a reef shark! Just over a metre long, the shark swam past us completely unconcerned by our presence.
We dived for thirty-two minutes - it went by in a flash - with Rhys pointing out different life-forms, for example a colourful nudibranch, giant clams and interesting coral formations. At the end of this report I will give a list of all the species we were able to identify with the use of books and with help from the staff of the Silver Sonic. At one point a Giant Trevally surprised us by approaching us close enough to see each scale on its body, and it stayed with the group for several minutes. We reached a maximum depth of eighteen metres.
After the dive we had some time before going to the second dive site so we joined the snorkellers exploring the shallow reefs. We were able to see a lot, but it was an interesting comparison to the diving. The sensation of being right under the water, level with the wildlife instead of floating above it, can't be equalled.
02 Diving gear
10.55
The Silver Sonic took us to the second dive site of the day, the Nursery "Bommie". A bommie is a tall underwater volcanic pillar covered in coral and inhabited by large schools of fish and other marine wildlife. We circled it several times, noticing different features and creatures all the time. The most breath-taking sight was a Bump-head Parrot fish which was enormous - around 1.5 metres long and at least 0.5 metres "fat"! Then we swam under the boat to a more typical reef which we explored until our air got low, a total dive time of twenty-five minutes.
12.15
After the dive we had a buffet lunch of salads, cold meats and two hot dishes. It's amazing how much diving increases the appetite. Then we had a little free time before transferring to the third dive site, so once again we buried our heads in the identification books.
13.45
Having arrived at Phil's Reef we once again got into our gear. Phil was an ancient turtle who had been eaten by a shark some years earlier. This last dive of the day was our favourite and the longest at thirty-five minutes. Again we were entranced by the variety of fish and coral, and again the time flew by and we were left wanting more.
14.30
While having cake and coffee we watched the video that the professional cameraman had taken of us on our first dive. Of course we had to buy a copy! I will try to post it onto this site, but it's a very large file so it might have to wait until we get home in April.
15.15
The Silver Sonic left the outer reef bound back to Port Douglas where a coach picked us up and took us back to Cairns. You won't be surprised to hear that we both fell asleep on the coach!
We were so grateful for the opportunity to dive at one of the world's premier dive sites! As you know we did it in the name of the Miriam Hyman Memorial Fund, so if you would like to sponsor us please follow the link to our ORBIS sponsorship page on the Home Page of www.miriam-hyman.com - thanks!
Here is the list of the fish we saw, although there we are sure that there were others which escape us. Also a list of other wildlife, including some of the types of coral.
Fish:
-Pick Handle Barracuda
-Great Barracuda
-Goby
-White-tipped Reef Shark
-Grey Reef Shark
-Clown Anemone Fish
-Trumpet Fish
-Blue-spotted Rock Cod
-Giant Trevally
-Blue-lined Snapper
-Lined Sweetlips
-Spotted Sweetlips
-Longfin Butterfly Fish
-Bumphead Parrot Fish
-Bicolour Parrot Fish
-Chameleon Parrot Fish
-Striped Cleaner Wrasse
-Three-Spot Wrasse
-Cheek-lined Maori Wrasse
-Red-banded Wrasse
-Pink Anemone Fish
-Panda Clown Fish
-Two-spined Angel Fish
-Gold-lined Sea Bream
-Big-eye Snapper
-Yellow Flutenose Trumpet Fish
-Splendid Soldier Fish
-Unicorn Fish
Other species:
-Nudibranch
-Pineapple Sea Cucumber
-Giant Clam
-Dorid
-Robust Purple Sea Squirt
-Feather Star
-Christmas Tree Worm
-Broccoli Coral
-Fire Coral
-Mushroom Coral
-Slipper Coral
-Honeycomb Coral
-Needle Coral
-Lunar Coral
-Sea Fan
-Cabbage Coral
