Everyone boarded Nimrod Explorer at Lizard Island on Saturday morning.  Five passengers continued on from the Osprey trip, and five new passengers were welcomed aboard.  After introductions and a safety briefing, Nimrod Explorer left Lizard Island and headed to the Ribbon Reefs. 

 

The first dive of the week was at Stepping Stones on Cormorant Reef.  After the dive, skipper Trent Thomas took the boat to Cod Hole for the cod feed and for the night dive.  The cod have been very exciting this year, and again divers were able to watch mating cod.  Just at sunset, a pod of dolphins swam past the boat. 

 

On Sunday, the boat left Cod Hole at 6:30 and headed to Dynamite Pass for a drift dive.  The second dive of the day was at Snake Pit.  This week the dive site certainly lived up to its names and passengers were able to see several olive sea snakes on the bommie.  The third dive was at Monolith, and the last two dives of the day were at Fantasia.  After dinner and the night dive, Nimrod Explorer headed off to Ribbon Reef #5. 

 

Monday started off very early with dive at Jayenem’s Wall.  Everyone was woken up before 5:30am for a dawn dive.  Waking up at 5:30 while on vacation might not seem enjoyable, but I would definitely recommend it.  First, what better way is there to wake up than jumping off the boat while still partially asleep and waking up in the water?  Just don’t forget important gear like mask, fins, weights, BCD!  Second, you get a chance to observe the crepuscular animals that only come out at dawn and dusk.  Thirdly, you can see the transition from night to day as the nocturnal animals head to bed and the daytime animals wake up.  If you can’t tell, I love dawn dives!  On this dive at Jayenem’s Wall, everyone was fascinated by the cleaner shrimp.

 

While everyone had breakfast, the boat headed to Steve’s Bommie where visibility was over 20m and then to Flare Point.  Unfortunately the seas were quite rough and the wind was strong, but Nimrod Explorer forged on.  On the fourth dive of the day, a new bommie was discovered at the bottom of Ruby Reef and everyone enjoyed the dive.  The last dive of the week was done at Coral Princess Escape Reef where the coral is beautiful! 

 

Water temperature over the week was about 26C. 

 

After the last dive, the boat headed back to Cairns and arrived in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.  After breakfast and pictures on the bow, everyone said goodbye and headed onto new adventures. 

 

Thanks for a great trip!