Western AustraliaAt last I've got to Australia to see for myself all I've heard about big fish and great diving. Although most people go to the other side of Aus for diving, Zam the man who knows has told me it's great over here! Zam's on a sailing boat going across the Indian Ocean now so he must know what he's talking about! So I've been joined by my good mate Graham who's keen on adventure after getting a taste for diving in the Perhension Islands! So I open my dive log on the 23rd April to tell you about Exmouth and the Nigaloo Reef! Exmouth peer had been recommend to me years back so it was time to if the fish were still there! The weather was not perfect for a beach entry but it's been doing strange things lately and we managed okay. Once we were below the waves the turmoil of the world above the water faded away and we were left in a gentle surge. The pier is home for a lot of life. I saw the amazing wobby gong shark lying on the sea bed, camouflaged with it's dotted rough skin and lacy frills. Pretty serene creatures as they didn't mind being gently prodded and stroked. There are a lot of octopus hiding away down here too. One of my favourite creatures with amazing abilities to transmogrify infront of your eyes! One wrapped it's tentacles around my fingers and each sucker gently pulled at my hand - maybe it was as curious about me as I was about it! We also saw some big cod hovering around the pipes strewn about the sea bed. Saw box fish, lion fish, big parrot fish, and a white tip shark. looking up as the rays of the sun silhouetted the pier structure and the fish quite spooky! Great dive! I also did a night dive there and saw squid for the first time! Amazing! Eels, glass shrimp, cray fish, lovely nudie branches, stone fish, crocodile fish, and all this in 5m vis.! A good place to go diving! We did a few boat dives on the reef too where we saw bull rays, sea snakes and turtles among others! The coral is nothing like that around Borneo but it's great diving here! A short drive down to Coral Bay and aboard a boat for the real reason we came here! Whale Sharks! These are the biggest fish in the sea and I wanted to see them! You can only snorkel with them ... and 20 other people! So the spotter plane went up and we set out to sea. Our first dip in the water was to see a Manta ray. I'll never forget turning my video camera off (!) and seconds later this huge creature glided just feet beneath me! Wow! A little later we're in the water again and I get a glimpse of my first Whale Shark. It was about 4-5 m long and I was finning like mad to keep up with it's seemingly gentle pace! But this was a baby compared to the next one I saw! This one was 8m long and it's tail was taller than me! What a fabulous creature. It's meter wide mouth gaping as it gently glided through the sea! No wonder people come from all over the world to see this! I was in the water two more times that day swimming with these majestic creatures. I won't be forgetting that day in a hurry! We did some diving around Coral Bay - the water is warm and there are many wondrous creatures to find down there. I saw 3 tawny nurse sharks huddled in a hole escaping the ripping current, next to a black sting ray. Cat fish, bull rays, cuttle fish, octopus, eels, and a 2m grouper! Worth getting wet for that's for sure!!! There is mostly hard corals here so there's not a lot of movement like you get with soft corals. The vis was generally 3-8 m as the weather was unusual for the time of year. So if you want to go here let me know because I'd like to have another look! Love
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