Dive #1: Long Reef: Our first dive was at Sydney's number one dive site. Once underwater, we had this confirmed from the beginning of our dive to its end. We first came across a school of Pomfrets through which we had to pass. Its size was such that it was impossible to gauge just how big it was. Like an underwater Milky Way, you could see just an edge, but the school went on and on, as far as the eye could see. Limitless is the best way to describe it. We located the approach to the Cathedral, which meant swimming amidst yet more gold and yellow Pomfrets. Soon we located the dark entrance to the long swim through, with its luminous blue appearing at its exit. That blue light paved a charmed pathway through this underwater tunnel. Reaching its exit, we could now see a ceiling of Pomfrets hovering immediately above us, and two Three Bar Porcupine fish. We swung south and could now see the school in the shape of a flying saucer (think the film 'Indepence Day'), and like any depiction of that alien aircraft, our Pomfrets hovered above us - ready to subsume us, which duly happened soon after when we were enveloped by that school.
Punctuating this scene, first one and then two Long Fin Banner fish appeared. These tropical fish, were first spotted this year about one or two weeks ago: today, we saw a total of four or five.
The distraction of seeing the Banner fish and a juvenile Created Horn shark swimming next to us were not enough (although nearly enough) to stop our exploration of this site. Soon we found an entrance to arguably the most interesting swim through at Long Reef Although, for good reason, everyone wants to see the Cathedral, this swim through, however, offers so much more. With the aid of some underwater gymnastics, stretching, bending, and other contortions, we manoeuvred our way through a vertically and horizontally meandering swim through. Sometimes it is more of a crawl through. At more than one point, there are small chambers, and at one, near the exit, the weathering of the stone has produced a bench upon which you can stop and contemplate a strange world with beams of light filtering through and illuminating the clean sandstone mouldings. That sculptured stone is shaped by very strong currents that sometimes rip down the coast. The effect of this scene was highlighted by the glass-like visibility within this swim through. This place is special, particularly because Eastern Blue Devil fish sometimes come here to admire this space as well.
Heading to our second dive site, David pointed out a type of sea bird flying low towards the boat. I blinked and realised there was not one but three of them, and they were not birds but airforce jets flying fast and low towards and then directly over us. A few minutes later, in case anyone missed them, they flew over us again but in the opposite direction. Like any good navigators, either under or above water, they realised the value of good reference points, in this case us! And then, not long afterwards, we did indeed see seabirds, flying low over the water alongside the boat: this time life imitating art (if you can call a plane, art - and given the true meaning of the word, art, I think you could). Anyway, the sight of those birds, barely flying about the waves, but managing somehow to miss them, was beguiling.
Dive #2: Old Man's Hat: Anchored close to the wrap around cliffs of North Head, we were effectively torn between gazing at rust coloured cliffs in front of us and the vista of the Harbour spread out in the opposite direction: were it the case that every vantage point had a conundrums of that sort. Being moored well east of Old Man's Hat, promised a dive of yet more undiscovered delights. We commenced our dive by descending into numerous sponge gardens. These appeared in pockets, each resplendent in floral-like displays. Some exhibited an array of colours, whilst others showed off different shapes, textures, and sizes. A Mooray Eel poked its head out to see who or what was making so many bubbles. A Seaperch swam up a ninety degree wall vertically, as if this were normal. A Wobbegong stretched out below us in a natural pose. Over underwater hill and dale, we explored this or that feature, or this or that creature from this site until we reached a swim through. Swooping into its vertical entrance, as the birds we saw earlier might dive into water to catch their prey, we entered the swim through in this way. Now turning into the horizontal section, we found a Port Jackson shark sitting in the middle, quite unperturbed by its new visitors. Reaching the exit, we immediately found three more PJ's lying around in the sandy enclave forming part of the vertical exit. Within that space, we saw a small school of Yellowtail decorating that scene by hovering immediately above them and us.
Once back on the boat, there is almost always a desire to relive what we had just experienced. And also to make sense of so many things we saw. Pausing to reflect on the succession of science fiction-like scenes from both of our dives, one realised that the only true aliens in this underwater world we had just visited, were, in fact, us. And how privileged we are to be able to visit this world again and again. In so many respects, the denizens of that world seem to exist and coexist in supreme harmony. If only we as aliens to their world could learn things from the way they live, I am sure that our lives above water would be so much more enjoyable, peaceful and civilised.
Eric