For years we had heard great reports about these trips, so decided to sign up for one of their Christmas trips, promising five days of wonderful reef diving.
After stowing our gear we met our crew for the trip. Gil the skipper, George, John and Uncle Pete the deckhands, Chrissy the chef, Nicky the assistant chef, Ian, Maggie, Mel and Lindsay the divemasters and finally James, a jack of all trades who just happens to own Big Cat Reality. Before departing at 11pm, we were given a safety briefing on the boat and diving, and served a light supper.
A month of unseasonably cool southerly winds meant the previous trip was a little rough, and with the forecast predicting more 20 to 30 knot SE winds it looked like it was going to be much the same for our trip.
The overnight crossing to the Bunker Group was a little rocky, meaning not a lot of sleep and seasickness for some, but early the next morning we sat in calm water anchored at Lady Musgrave Island.
The Bunker Group of islands is the southern most part of the Great Barrier Reef. This section of reef includes some eight reefs and coral cays, including the famous Lady Elliot Island.
Our first dive was at Manta Ray Bommie on the north west side of Lady Musgrave. The visibility was easily 30m, and was to averaging 20 to 30m on most dives. However, the water was a little cool at 24C, a couple of degrees cooler than it should have been due to excessive southerly winds.
At this site we explored a coral reef dotted by numerous bommies in depths from 12 to 22m. No manta rays, but we did see about a dozen green turtles and an abundance of reef fish.
After breakfast we moved to a site called Radar Fix, where we explored more bommies and gutters in 10 to 20m. We again saw lots of turtles and a small ornate wobbegong.
Between dives the crew were always producing an array of fresh fruit, pizza, muffins or some other delicacy. While the passengers, when not stuffing themselves with food, could sunbake, sleep, read, watch DVDs or download photos to laptops.
Before each dive we were bri
efed
on the dive site, conditions and safety procedures. Big Cat Reality operates
with a very safe tag system where every diver is tagged in and out of the water,
to make sure that no one is missing. Divers also have to sign the log after each
dive before the boat is moved to a new location.The next dive site was The Canyons, a series of coral gutters and bommies in 18m. We jumped in to see a huge Maori wrasse swimming around a bommie. We tried to sneak up on this large fish, but he was rather shy and departed. During the dive we found some very nice swim throughs to explore, most of which were filled with baitfish.
The Entrance Wall was another fine dive site we did that afternoon. This pretty coral garden abounded with reef fish, but seemed to be infested with crown of thorns starfish. These were the only crown of thorns we saw on the whole trip, but they appeared to have had little impact on the coral. On the dive we encountered blue spotted lagoon rays, a couple of moray eels, a huge black blotched stingray and a fascinating mantis shrimp.
Warn out from four dives and a lack of sleep from the overnight crossing we decided to pass on the night dive in Lady Musgrave Lagoon. It sounded like we didn’t miss much, just a manta ray circling the divers for ten minutes!
Early the following day we dived at Lady Musgrave Entrance Bommie. This was a lovely dive on a collection of coral bommies in 23m. The first bommie we explored was home to a 2.5m long tawny nurse shark. We captured a few images of this impressive shark before it tired of our company and swam off. Other bommies were swarming with baitfish and decorated with soft corals and gorgonians. As we swam around the bommies we watched coral trout, sweetlip and trevally making a meal of the tiny baitfish.
After a hot breakfast Big Cat Reality moved over to Fairfax Island where we dived a series of bommies in 17m. These bommies were wonderful to explore as they were riddled with ledges and home to masses of reef fish. We found another tawny nurse shark, and also saw a giant Maori wrasse, an estuary groper and a very big black blotched stingray. One bommie was covered in cardinalfish and the hiding place of two tasselled wobbegongs. At the end of the dive we were admiring all the fairy basslets on one monster bommie when a large manta ray swam into view. The manta was 3m wide, and for the next ten minutes slowly swam around the bommies getting serviced by all the cleaner wrasse.
This site was so good we decided to hang around for another dive. By then the manta ray had moved on, so we headed west and found another collection of coral heads. On this dive we saw three rather large giant moray eels and a vast array of reef fish. But the best part of the dive was the sudden appearance of a huge black manta ray, almost 4m wide. This massive ray slowly cruised by, allowing a number of photos before it disappeared into the blue.
We then headed north to Fitzroy Reef for an afternoon dive at Uncle Pete’s Bommie, named after crewman extraordinaire Uncle Pete. The reef looked a little barren, a lot of dead coral and algae, but there was still plenty to see. Blue spotted stingrays exploded from the sand as we swam along, and we saw the first white tip reef shark of the trip. The highlight was finding a baby barramundi cod, white with black spots and only 4cm long.
The first dive of day three was at Fitzroy No.1, a reef wall with gardens of staghorn coral. This site was a great place to see pelagic fish, with trevally, mackerel and batfish observed.
We then moved to Fitzroy No.2, a lovely dive site with pretty coral gardens. We found octopus, blue spotted stingrays, a white tip reef shark, some colourful nudibranchs and a large leopard whipray. Exploring one bommie we came across a 2m long yellow edged moray eel getting cleaned by cleaner wrasse. At the end of the dive we even had a close encounter with a tiny spotted eagle ray.
Before lunch we relocated to nearby Llewellyn Reef. The site we dived was very pretty, health corals and abundant fish life, the most memorable feature was a pair of beaked filefish darting between the corals.
Big Cat Reality then moved to Hoskyn Islands for our afternoon and night dive. We anchored over a series of bommies in 20m, and the first bommie we explored was occupied by four red emperors and numerous coral trout. The best part of this dive was a close encounter with a huge giant moray eel, easily 2m long. It was perched amongst the staghorn coral with half its body hanging out, and was unconcerned about having its portrait taken.
The night dive, we finally found the extra energy to do one, was brilliant at this site. We encountered cuttlefish, sleeping parrotfish, shrimps, sole, flatheads and an amazing decorator crab.
The next morning the strong southerly winds continued. We did an exploratory dive at Hoskyn Islands, one of many we did, and found several huge bommies decorated with colourful coral. Trevally, mackerel, sweetlips, red emperors and coral trout were just some of the fish we found. At the end of the dive the tide turned, reducing the 25m visibility to only 10m. This dirty water also affected the next dive at Cabbage Patch. The reef at this site is dominated by huge cabbage corals, very pretty, but hard to appreciate in the dirty water.
By lunch time the water had clea
red
again and we explored another series of bommies, later named Hoskyn’s Hamper
by one of the divers. We spent most of our dive on two huge bommies that were
lined with gorgonians and spiky soft corals, very photogenic. The larger of the
bommies was riddled with caves and home to numerous ornate and tasselled
wobbegongs. We also found lionfish, barramundi cod, turtles, moray eels and
schools of trevally.Relocating to Fairfax Island we dived Tag Wall, a brilliant reef wall with plenty of ledges to investigate. Clouds of baitfish, moray eels, crayfish, lionfish and abundant reef fish were seen. But the highlight was a spectacular leaf scorpionfish in a crevasse right next to the anchor chain, unfortunately in a position that made it impossible to photograph.
A night dive was offered at Tag Wall, however we relaxed on the top deck as a barbeque was being cooked for dinner. The food was wonderful and after dinner entertainment was provided by Uncle Pete presenting humorous awards to outstanding passengers and crew.
Our last day of the trip was supposed to be diving the wonderful dive sites around Lady Elliot Island, but with the strong southerly winds continuing it was decided to finish up at Fairfax and Lady Musgrave.
The final day actually saw the wind drop and ended up being a perfect day. We explored a new dive site near Tag Wall with numerous bommies in 22m. There were again plenty of large moray eels, reef fish and wobbegongs on these bommies, but the highlight was four mobula rays that circled us while on our safety stop. These small relatives of the manta ray, only 1m wide, were a spectacular sight as they swam in formation around us, unfortunately always about 10m away. They hung around for a few minutes and once on the surface we even saw a few of them jump clear out of the water.
Our final dive of the trip was back at Lady Musgrave Island at Entrance Bommie North. It was another pretty dive site with lots of reef fish and some interesting overhangs to investigate.