With flat seas and the sun coming out we decided to beat the big
seas that we knew were coming and head to to Magic Point. We wanted to
check out a 'bommie' that we had seen on the bottom finder on April 27.
This bommie had risen sharply up from 20m to 7m, then back down again. We
wanted to explore this as we had seen divers on it last week.
We dropped the anchor fair and square on what we expected as
about 7m of water. Well the anchor was in 16m and we could not see any
'bommie' So we headed north a bit and then east then south east
using our reels to make sure we didn't get lost. The viz was good and we
had good encounters with many creatures. Under a ledge was a devilfish and
in fact we was 2 of them in the same ledge. Under this same ledge we saw 3
pineapple fish. I haven't seen pineapple fish anywhere else than Shiprock.
Further along were a pair of mourning cuttle and then a giant cuttle out in the
open. We also saw 3 GNS cruising past. All of this was on
the north side of this reef. Our second dive was closer to shore and we
carefully put the anchor in shallower water at around 12m. This area is
very rocky, large outcrops, overhangs, ledges and small caves. We again
explored, first heading east and then south, then back and to the west.
There were schooling fish everywhere - more than we see at Pig Island.
There were cuttle everywhere - all giant ones - I counted 8,
quite a few out in the open. I observed 2 face up for a stouch.
The larger one charged and the other quickly retreated - they can move vey
quickly when they ant to. It could be mating season as Wayne and Hienz
watched 2 who they thought were mating. In a cave to the SE of
the area was a large wobbie resting. When I came back past the cave a few
minutes later the wobbie had moved up into the cave and an adult PJ was coming
out. Wrong time of year for PJs. Back to the west towards
Magic Point and another wobbie in a cave. Lots of old wives schooling
here. I think it would be not much futher west to the second Magic Point
cave.
This area is a definite explore by scooter. We'd like to
see how it connects to the Magic Point reef.
|