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Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is a scuba diver's paradise. Over 2000 kms long and it is considered to
be the largest marine park in the world. A Garden of Eden below the waves, a magical world
populated by myriads of coral, fish and diverse species of marine life. It is one of
the most diverse ecosystems on the planet. You could dive every day for the rest of your
life and still not see it all.
Dec. 7 – Reef flight to Lizard Island, Cod Hole and Ribbon Reef # 10
I took a small plane that flew over the magnificent Great Barrier Reef at
a low level flight to Lizard Island. I then transferred to a liveboard vessel, Supersport,
90 footer boat that carries a maximum of 24 divers.
Cod Hole lies just inside the month of Cormorant Pass, on the south side of the pass.
Here it is protected behind the northern end of Ribbon Reef #10. The Cod Hole is a reef
area 150 yards in length. The coral is not very impressive. But what makes it attractive
dive site are the tame animals. Years of feeding have caused potato cod, a few Maori
wrasse, moray eels and a number of other species to simply gather around for a handout.
 | Dive 1 – Cod Hole. Orientation dive. Get to know my buddy Mike. |
| Dive 2 – Cod Hole, Ribbon Reef #10 (North). Dive, feed, and play with a family of
12 Giant Potato cod, together with Maori Wrasse. Saw shark (reef tip shark). |
| Dive 3 – Challenger Bay, Ribbon Reef #10 (South). Night dive. Lionfish. Sharks. |
Dec. 8 - Ribbon Reefs #10, #5 and #3.
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Dive 4 – Pixie’s Pinnacle, Ribbon Reef #10 (South). Circled along
Pixie's wall with a procession of golden gorgonian fans lining its base. This
pinnacle rises vertically from a depth of at least 150 feet, the shallowest 60 - 70 ft of
the structure has sides that are quite sheer. Anthias, sergeant majors, fusiliers,
trevally, leaf scorpion fish, pipe fish, anemone fish, mantis shrimp, flashing clam,
nudibranch. |
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Dive 5 - "Clam Beds", a coral garden dominated by colorful mollusks and
crustaceans. Giant clams, WHITE TIP REEF SHARKS, BARRACUDA, cuttle fish, garden
eels, trumpet fish, blue spotted ray, flute mouth, blue chromis. Mike and I screwed
our navigation, overshot our return and had to be "rescued". |
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Dive 6 - Fish Market where a variety of species of fish gather, forming multi-colored
clouds over a large bommie of hard corals. Bommie is an Australian slang term derived from
the aboriginal word Bombora, denoting a coral structure that rises to, but does
not pierce, the surface. Lined snapper, line goat fish, trevally (blue fin),
barracuda, fusilier, stone fish, anemone fish, trumpet fish. |
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Dive 7 - Night dive at Fish Market. White Tip Reef Sharks came out for feeding. |
Dec. 9 - Ribbon Reef #3 and Escape Reef
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Dive 8 & 9 - Steve's Bommie. Big eye trevally, anthias, line snapper, line
goat fish, surgeon fish, nudibranch and SHARKS! |
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Dive 10 - Dive on the Great Escape with its beautiful coral garderns dotted with giant
clams. Great coral formation. Trumpet fish, sea turtles, spotted sweetlip,
anemone fish. |
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Dive 11 - Dive on the Wide Escape, a table plateau at depth 12 feet with great
concentration of anemone fish and sargeant majors. |
Dec. 10 - Docked at Yorkeys Knob and back to Cairns. |
