Dived with Ian on a large bommie, one of three just past the entrance to lagoon. This was the SW one, we swam around it. Anemone with some clownfish, red bass, lots of small stuff, Moorish idol and some cabbage coral. Good to dive after a month without diving. Visibility very good.

Ian dropped us about 200 m SW of entrance. We dived around this area for about 25 minutes and then swam towards the entrance. However, the tide had already turned but should not have till 1030. Had to swim all the way and only made it to the green channel marker where we surfaced at 45 mins as agreed. Ian collected us there. The channel is very nice, will try to dive there tomorrow. All the normal reef fish. Visibility excellent.

Dive to check on our anchor and the meassurement markings. Redid the 10 and 20 metre ones with extra cable ties. Anchor was hooked into a thick wire rope so untangled it. Visibility good.

Went a lot further south and anchored in 16 metres. Reasonable current from S, so went S. A few large bommies, lots of smaller ones. Saw two CTF near anchor, a small and a medium white-tipped reef shark. Lots of Moorish idols and butterflyfish and two large flutemouths. A very good dive. Visibility excellent.

This was further south again from the previous dives we have done here. Almost mirror seas and no wind. Dropped into 16 metres about 20 metres off the wall. Went south again into very slight current. A few small bommies, lots of dead stag coral on sand. Saw some nice nudibranchs, lots of butterflyfish, some triggerfish, a larger yellow boxfish, a flutemouth and more. Another nice dive. Visibility excellent.

Started ooutside between Butterfly Bay and Butterfly Bay East, then drifted back in on tide (very,very slight). Very dirty at 14 m and did not get better till inside the bay and we ascended above 10 m. Saw a huge crayfish, a large barramundi cod, some red bass and a few other large fish. Also a huge clam, biggest I have seen alive. Lots of butterflyfish and other tropicals. Also a large flatworm. We should have started inside the bay, best section was the last one third. Heard whales most of the dive. Visibility fair, but poor early on.

Dived near the same spot as 2 years ago. Lots of damage from Cyclone Debbie, looks like some whole bommies have been overturned, but not sure. Some spots have little damage. Went S, saw a few large fish, but nothing special. A few nice nudibranches, one a beautiful okenia. A few nice gorgonias, some large sea whips. Lots of the hard green coral damaged. Back to anchor and then N. One anemone and clownfish. Back to anchor, some nice coral on reef top at 5 metres here. Not as good as it was 2 years ago. Visibility very good.

Moved a little more to the south for this dive, off the large bommie to SW of us. Strong current on surface, Used lots of air moving anchor. Went S, reef in much better condition. Saw a huge eel, some more anemones with clownfish and a few nudibranchs, Did safety stop on top of another bommie which was under T2. Very nice! A better dive than the previous one. Visibility very good.

Inner lagoon to W of the moorings. Can only get here when tide is high as have to cross over the reef. About 12 metres deep, a bit silty due to very fine sand, but still good. Went SE and then S. Lots of finger reefs of coral off main reef and some overhangs. Plenty of fish, but nothing huge. Saw lots of anemones but none had clownfish, One had six glass shrimp, excellent! A nice dive, but not right at the location we wanted to go to as hard to see into the rising sun. Visibility good.

Went for a dive alone as Kelly still sick. Anchored off point between Little Pioneer and Pioneer. Went S first and then back and NE. Lots of nice coral, hard and soft, plenty of large seawhips. Also saw a nice nudibranch, an anemone (no clownfish), a Moorish idol, parrotfish and butterflyfish. NIce dive. Visibility fair.

For more details about these dives and other dives this year, click here.