Overnight we moved back towards the mainland and began the day on a large bommie near Anzac Reef called Pride Rock. Great little dive site to start the day. (BTW…ANZAC was the acronym for the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps, which suffered horrific losses in WWI).
Then during breakfast, the boat moved to a dive site called Pelagic Point (still at Anzac Reef). However, the crew seemed to have a difficult time mooring the boat over the dive site due to the currents, so “back in the dinghies”. This time we were going to get both a drop off and a pick up. Good lazy diving….just cruise with the current…..in theory….so long as you’re not trying to stop and take a photo. So I sucked through the tank a little quickly and was making an ascent to a marker buoy the crew had placed and came face to face with this guy:
I couldn’t believe my eyes…..I had just found a lacey scorpionfish, one of the rarest (and most difficult to find) fish in the Pacific. I started to yell...and Richard (the trip director) swam over to see if I was in distress. Then he saw what I was looking at and HE began to yell. I just snapped away for two or three minutes. By this time we had attracted a crowd and I retreated and ascended to give everyone a chance to look (not to mention having to deal with my vastly depleted gas situation). Wow, nothing can beat the thrill of discovery. I had already seen a Rhinopias (scientific name…sorry) at Pixies Pinnacle on the other charter, but everyone knows about that particular one. Hell, the crew marked the spot for us. However, this one was very special for me.
We then moved to Wheeler Reef for the afternoon and night dives. Here in Australia, Wheeler Reef was in the news recently when a British couple got swept away by the current and it took the Coast Watch six hours to find them (in “shark-infested waters”…I love the press). Here’s an article. I don’t think it got much attention in the U.S. however.
Well, there was definitely a current, so it was back into the zodiacs for drop-offs and pick-ups. Great little dive site with wonderful coral and tons of swim-throughs in the shallows (also a great way to get out of the current, too). I felt a little cold and planned to skip the second afternoon dive in order to get in the night dive. However, the current seemed to be strengthening and the crew decided that the latest we could get in was 5pm. Three of us, the aforementioned Robert Klaffus, Bruce Weitzenhoffer and myself dropped in for the dusk dive. Great dive….sharks, schools of bumphead parrotfish. But we flew! The current was pretty strong. We came up nearly at the end of the reef. No worries, however. The crew spotted us right away and the zodiac was dispatched to pick us up.
Another crappy day in paradise! More pictures in the continuation.
How about a 6-inch long nudibranch (called the minor notodoris):
This little flatworm was less than 1 inch long:
Great pictures! Mr. lacey scorpionfish is going to make a very nice background on our computer along with the nemo and shark pictures.
Posted by: Emma and Anthony | October 17, 2005 at 09:09 PM
Ooooh... lacey scorpionfish a beauty! Thanx for sharing!
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