16 September 2005 (Day 11)

Today we are scheduled to dive on the local reef, so Helen sets her mobile phone alarm for 6am to do a few things before setting off. The alarm goes off and she reluctantly rolls out of bed, thinking that the diving must really be taking it out of her as this is the first morning she hasn’t been ready to jump out of bed. About 10 minutes later she realises that she hasn’t set her mobile phone clock to WA time – it is 4am!
We arrive at the dive shop at 7:30, quickly collect our gear, stow it on the trailer and sit around in the shop biding our time whilst the instructor Ben gets four other people organised, most of whom we haven’t seen before. It isn’t until we are on the bus and waiting for Ben to run back from the shops that we realise we’ve left the underwater camera back at the stalag. As Ben told us there is a chance we may be able to head for a manta ray cleaning station this morning, we really want the camera – it is a bit of a catch 22, if we don’t take the camera we are bound to see at least 30 mantas but not be able to get shots, if we do collect the camera we probably won’t see any!
Ben drives around to the shop again so we can collect the stalag keys from the car, then swings past the Exmouth Villas so we can pick up the camera – it turns out he lives in one of the villas too – and we are finally on our way to the marina to board Sea Zone, the larger of the two ships and the one which took us to the islands on Wednesday.
After travelling north for about 40 minutes we stop at the first dive site, which is in sight of the Navy Pier. This is simply called VLF Bay, because, as Darren the skipper explains, there is very low radio frequency in this spot. This is going to be our first drift dive. Ben makes sure we are all ready so we all giant stride in within minutes of each other to ensure we stay together and don’t get separated by the current.
As we descend a strange sea scape appears below – the first thing we notice are the whip coral, long, white, whip-like strands which looks more like reed than coral, all bent over away from the constant current which is sweeping us all along. The current is too strong to swim back against – the only way to stop from being swept inexorably along is to find something to hold onto. Everything down here is low – soft corals and fans, some sea grass, even the occasional rock or ledge is less than a metre high, and it all looks, well, not wind-swept, but current-swept. It feels surreal, like being on the moon.
Pretty soon after descending Daniel sees a nudibranch to photograph, then another. All Helen sees is the occasional fish, and is envious of the ease with which they seem to be able to swim against the current.
We are swept past some juvenile angelfish, hiding on the lee side of fan corals or rocks. At one stage Daniel manages to anchor himself above a ledge and, on looking under it, sees an eel! It has VERY impressive teeth. He holds on so long taking photos that he nearly loses sight of the group.
One of the fun things about a drift dive is that you don’t have to swim, the current will take you whether you like it or not – this gives you the opportunity to play. Look up and kick, then point yourself down again, spread your arms and you are flying downwards, swooping over to the side, barrel-rolling, tobogganing along on the current.
We finally run out of air and surface, to find the boat almost overhead – Darren has been keeping pace with the float which Ben has been towing along with the group. One hell of an interesting experience, and a way to cover a lot of territory quite quickly, although we decide we both prefer diving where you are able to choose where you are rather than being swept past everything.
As the wind is picking up Darren selects a site nearby for the second dive. This is Gullivers, and, yes, it is the manta ray cleaning station! After a fairly short surface interval we are in the water again.
Although this is not a drift dive, the current is noticeable. The first thing we see is a long, slender fish, probably one and a half metres long – it’s a barracuda! We swim slowly in a large figure of eight around two large bommies, checking out the sights – a small turtle resting in a ledge of rock, a massive potato cod with big rubbery lips, a small wobbegong nestling under a ledge, and Ben finds for us our first uncooked crayfish under another ledge – it looks huge to us, particularly its feelers, but when we are back on the boat Ben tells us this one was about average. As we head for the ridge where manta rays are common, we see a batfish, angelfish, neon damsel fish, coral cod, iridescent parrot fish and more. We peer into an octopus hole, Ben points out a mantis shrimp in its hole, and blue-spotted rays zoom past – but no mantas. We ascend to five meters and swim back towards the boat in a mobile safety “stop”. We haven’t seen a single manta ray, and we only have two days of diving left!
Darren heads back to the marina as we drip dry and pack up our gear. A couple of whales are sighted on the trip home, although nothing as spectacular as the humpback expedition the previous day.
After washing out our gear and recording the bare essentials of the dive, we head for the car (what, not last in the shop for once?!) and head south along the main road. We have a mission – we have booked for a night snorkel this afternoon, which will pick us up at 3.30, and we need to return the hire car this afternoon before heading off, but before all this we want to make it to Kaylis Prawns, the local prawnery where we have been told we can buy fresh local prawns and bugs at a good price.
The prawnery is hard to miss – there is a dirty big, bright pink prawn mounted on the fence outside! After a lesson in cooking bugs we buy half a kilo of prawns and three bugs and jump back in the car to race back to the township. On the way home we stop for Daniel to take photos of an eagle eating a wallaby right on the side of the road, which we had noticed on the way out – what an impressive animal!
On the way back to town our only working phone beeps – we had been out of signal range at the prawnery, but have a message from the night snorkel tour people that the evening’s snorkelling has been cancelled as the conditions are too choppy for safety – it must be difficult at the best of times to keep track of snorkellers at night!
The pressure off for time, we head to the township to look for lunch as it is now a quarter to three! We get takeaway from the bakery (a hamburger and seafood basket) and have it back in the stalag kitchen. Then it is time to clear the car and return it to Budget – we are grounded now!
We just can’t help ourselves, we walk back to the dive shop – just to note down the species from the dive which Ben had recorded on the white board which we hadn’t had time to get down. An hour or so and a t-shirt later, we finally leave the shop and leisurely head for the villa, via the Pot Shot bar and a cool beer or two.
Whilst Daniel’s blood pressure is given a work-out watching the Swans play St Kilda in a preliminary final, we eat sautéed potatoes with onions, garlic and rosemary, salad with honey and citrus dressing and prawns and bugs cooked in butter and masses of garlic.