Today we're diving the Great Barrier Reef!
So...some shenanigans happened, and because Jim has a pacemaker, the dive company wouldn't let him dive. HUGE bummer, especially since a big reason we came to Australia is so Jim could dive the reef. He ended up snorkeling while Dan, Sherrie, and I went diving.
Also, we hadn't used the GoPro in while and it didn't function properly during the first dive to the left side of the Fish Bowl. Of note we saw giant clams, barramundi rolling in the sand, blue christmas tree worms, and a unicorn fish. During our break between dives the boat had a pretty decent buffet lunch.
Also, we hadn't used the GoPro in while and it didn't function properly during the first dive to the left side of the Fish Bowl. Of note we saw giant clams, barramundi rolling in the sand, blue christmas tree worms, and a unicorn fish. During our break between dives the boat had a pretty decent buffet lunch.
Our second dive was at the right side of the Fish Bowl.
Sherrie found fish having a party on the coral.
Coral rabbit fish and lots of other fish on lots of coral.
Clown fish!
Exploring between the coral cliffs.
A bright yellow blob of....blob.
Okay, so I'm really bad at recognizing fish and coral.
That bright one is some kind of angelfish.
Giant sea cucumber with stars aka Pineapple sea cucumber.
Giant sea cucumber without stars. These things were like 4 feet long.
Little yellow fish in some small elkhorn coral.
A butterflyfish? Also some neat corals.
Follow a school of tiny fish up into the shallows.
Oh hey, what's that lurking up there.
A leopard spotted....big fish.
A little spotted striped blotchy sea cucumber.
Coral!
And now for a break between dives. During this break the boat provided a fruit tray, which was nice for getting the saltwater out of my mouth.
Sherrie thinks Jim and Dan might be related.
Our thrid dive was to Saxon Reef.
Surrounded by silver fish.
Bloop!
That is some bright orange something in all the blue.
It's an anemone!
With some clown fish blending into the orange.
We were there!
From a distance it's a cluster of neat coral.
Up close it's full of little black and white fish.
We saw, in several places, these "trees" of elkhorn coral covered in tiny blue fish.
It almost has a halo of blue fish.
There are some yellow guys for contrast.
Hi Sherrie!
The back and fins of an angelfish.
There's more of is coloring.
I think this is a grouper.
It mostly hung out on top of this coral.
Dan started to chase the parrotfish.
But then followed this little dude.
There's the parrotfish again.
This butterflyfish looks like it got caught in a shredder.
A little coral island.
A pair of butterfly fish were swimming around in swirls.
Another blue haloed elkhorn coral tree.
This one even has a parrotfish visiting in the back.
That white and black fish in the front almost disappears.
Apparently something over there is interesting.
This looks like a giant shrubbery of daisies.
This seems to attract yellow and black fish. Maybe fish color-coordinate with their coral.
A singular branchy bit of elkhorn coral.
These are called "christmas tree worms." I did not realize that was their actual name and not a joke name that Dan and his parents called them.
So many fish and corals!
So, in case it wasn't obvious, there are a TON of fish here.
These two yellow fish mush have kicked out the usual blue fish that accompany the elkhorn coral.
Oh hey, it's our leopard spotted big fish again.
Also another, but smaller, giant sea cucumber.
It's like a row of shrubbery, only coral.
A whole community of little black and white fish.
We surfaced, I always surface first because I don't breathe slowly enough, and started to dry off and get our gear together to head back to the mainland. Jim not being able to dive aside, I think we saw some really cool things and had a good time.
This concludes our adventures for today.
