Dive #1 Magic Point:
Arriving at the drop off point, our divers were ready and willing to begin this dive. In quick succession, we all entered the water, caught our breath, and readied ourselves for our descent. With the boat now receding into the distance, there was just enough time for a quick glance to orientate ourselves for this dive. Our reference points were the southern coastline and the adjacent wild promontory. A quick glance underwater showed an infinite blue below. After the necessary checks, a descent was signalled, and we started this dive. Taking a south-west bearing we reached a kelp covered reef terrace. On reaching it, we were immediately surrounded by a seemingly infinite number of Mado. I suppose that made sense, to have a dive begin within the conceptual abstraction of infinity: after all, this dive was unusual in so many respects with reality blending perfectly with the abstract and the surreal. Mado surrounded us in such numbers as I have never seen before. The underwater equivalent of butterflies, yet much more picturesque due to their silver, black, and yellow bodies, catching the light with their every movement. En masse, the effect was amazing. You really did need to remind yourself to breathe, so awe inspiring was this scene. We needed to go in a roughly northerly direction, and the Mado led the way – or followed us, I’m not sure which: we were quickly cocooned within a school of thousands of fish, which stayed with us as we moved on.
Eventually, our entourage gave way to a new one. One Spot Pullers travelling on an invisible highway caught up with us, before overtaking us in an endless procession of those fish. We could not see the highway until we crossed it, to then see One Spot Pullers negotiate around certain underwater slowcoaches (that is, us), as we inadvertently stepped into their path. They did not mind, and simply skimmed over or below us at speed. The contrast between speedster One Spot Pullers and excited Mado was stark. A Giant Cuttlefish unwittingly helped the One Spot Pullers by drawing us to the Giant Cuttlefish’s hideout and away from obstructing their path of travel. A swimthough further along allowed us to practice our skills in narrow underwater tunnels. And the sweeping vista of underwater cliff walls and ledges offered a beautiful landscape to study and admire. We eventually reached the “second” cave where Longfin Pike dominated the scene. They looked svelte as their arrow shaped bodies moved together in unison. Comb Wrasses and us could simply look on in a sort of reverie at this wonderful scene.
The extremely large and varied schools of fish were not the only things to captivate us at this dive site. An Eastern Blue Devil fish vied for our attention, and succeeded in getting it. A Spotted Wobbegong looked good, but hid its head (under a rock bolder) in the presence of two very large Ornate Wobbegong sharks. I thought they looked amazing: David thought they looked menacing. Menacing in the sense that these sharks, particularly of that size, are not to be toyed with. This was emphasized by the fact that the closest of these two sharks had its eyes wide open and was looking at all of us. And why not: we must make for a strange spectacle for the creatures of the deep – constantly blowing clouds of silvered bubbles wherever we go.
We finally made it back to the boat, after an endlessly exciting underwater trek where we rarely go. Pomfrets swam just above rust coloured kelp, making the Pomfrets appear to be some sort of extension of that constantly swaying extension of the reef. We briefly joined them before starting our safety stop when we had to look down with regret that we could not have remained there longer: so enticing was that scene. A particularly large Blue Groper was able to linger there amongst the Pomfrets and other creatures. It gave us an opportunity to marvel at its woven-like dorsal fin. It seemed like everything underwater was super artistic on this day. It reminded us that nearly always, Nature is the best artist of all.
Tony, our skipper, spoilt us today – giving us a superb drop off point on our first dive, and now giving us a seal dive for our second location. Marc and everyone else were in high spirits after our first dive. We exchanged details of what we saw on that dive as opal miners trade details of intangible beauty. But whereas a fine gem might be bought for dollars, what we saw today was of inestimable value. The shape-shifting form of schools of fish or the turtle, to name but two things experienced today, easily demonstrate this point.
Dive #2 Macquarie Lighthouse:
We slowly motored closer to the rock shelf where maybe seven or eight seals slumbered. One stuck its head up and then body to take a look at their admirers. And they deserved to be admired. We had barely anchored and divers were now dropping into the water and heading closer to the seals’ hangout. The excitement of the divers was simply too much for the seals. Three of them looked at the divers and soon propelled themselves into the water to join them. And it was not long before five seals were swimming towards the divers. It is an incredibly exciting thing to see seals both in and out of the water. But once in the water, they are transformed from slow, even sluggish, creatures on land to swift superheroes in water – the only thing missing from them there was their cape.
As lovely as the seals were, this dive location is much more than our flying superheroes. The underwater topography has everything you could desire: an interesting maze of boulders which had once sheared off the adjacent cliffs, innumerable swim throughs, caves, drop offs, walls, etc; it also has interesting underwater marine growth like the lilac carpet effect directly adjacent to the home of the seals and daisy-like White-Striped Anemones; and the marine creatures here are also copious and varied.
After spending much time exploring this site, but seeing only a fraction of what there is to see here, we headed back to the boat. Before starting our safety stop, a seal rushed by, as if to swiftly bid us all farewell and then Yellowtail came in to do the same thing. But unlike with the seal’s farewell, there was nothing rushed about this one: they slowly swirled around us, almost touching us, making us drunk from the intoxicating scene they produced. So much silver, reflecting light all around them and us, made their bodies appear to be enamelled by a warlock masquerading as a silversmith. Who could not be entrapped or bewitched by such a scene of exquisite Beauty?
Eric
PS Shelley's fine skills captured an eye of one of the Ornate Wobbiegong sharks we saw on Saturday (as attached).