We had travelled to Cairns in July to join Nimrod Explorer for a five day trip to the Ribbon Reefs. Our main objective was to photograph dwarf minke whales, but we were also looking forward to revisiting Cod Hole and many of the other wonderful dive sites in this area.
The trip started with an exhilarating flight from Cairns to Cooktown in a small seven seater plane. The views along this section of coastline are spectacular, reef on one side and rainforest and rivers on the other.
Landing in Cooktown we had several hours before Nimrod Explorer departed. Some of the divers opted for the local tour, we decided to just look around town and relax.
At 2pm we boarded the vessel, met the crew and our
fellow divers, and had our first look at Nimrod Explorer. The vessel is a 22m
long catamaran that has been operating on the reef for over 15 years. She is a
very spacious vessel, with a large dive deck, lounge room and shaded upper deck.
Nimrod Explorer caters for 18 passengers in six comfortable cabins, each of
which have their own bathroom and are air conditioned.With only 12 passengers being looked after by six crew we were going to be spoilt on this trip.
After being allocated our cabin and storing our dive gear, we departed Cooktown, heading out to the top end of the Ribbon Reefs. The advantage of leaving from Cooktown was that we were anchored at the Ribbon Reefs by 7pm, able to eat dinner in calmer conditions. During the trip the vessel would slowly make its way down the Ribbon Reefs, ending in Cairns, with the next trip doing the reverse.
After a wonderful dinner, the first of many feasts prepared by Jenny, we watched a video on the dwarf minke whales and were briefed on the regulations for snorkelling with these magnificent creatures. Most then turned in for an early night, looking forward to the diving, and whale encounters, the next day.
We woke to 20 knot wind and grey skies, thankfully the water was clear and warm, 25m viz and 25C degree water. After breakfast and a dive brief from Divemasters Scott and Demi, we did our checkout dive at Pixie Reef. It turned out to be a lovely dive; pretty coral gardens, caves to explore and small bommies rising from the sand. On the sand were gardens eels swaying back and forth, we also spotted batfish, Spanish mackerel, hump headed wrasse, Maori wrasse, coral trout and a small green turtle. The highlight was finding a cuttlefish that was depositing eggs into the coral. We watched her for several minutes as she stretched out her arms to delicately place each egg. She was completely oblivious to us, allowing close photos of this unique experience.
The second dive was at Pixie Pinnacle. This large pinnacle of coral is always a brilliant dive, with plenty of fish and colour. A flaming file shell was a memorable feature of this dive, its vivid and pulsating colours amazing.
After a filling lunch we were off to do two dives at Cod Hole. Only two potato cod turned up for the feed conducted by Demi, however we did see around four potato cod during the dive. The cod might have been shy, but we did see white tip reef sharks, a number of flowery cod, some huge moray eels and plenty of other fish.
The next day the strong winds and choppy seas continued, but the sun was making longer appearances. The first two dives were at Challenger Bay. Pretty coral gardens and abundant reef fish made for good diving. In the afternoon we dived Fantasia, off Ribbon Reef No. 9, a brilliant wall dive with sea whips, spiky soft corals and gorgonians. There were also gutters and caves to explore, plus pelagic fish cruising the wall.
Between dives we were scanning the surface for dwarf minke whales, but so far nothing. Moving to Harrier Reef we did an enjoyable dusk dive, watching all the fish disappearing into their resting places and seeing the night shift emerge. Arriving back on the boat we were asked if we had seen the dwarf minke whales. No, what whales?
The last group of divers into the water had two dwarf minke whales swim by them before they descended. We were a little disappointed in missing out on the minkes, but were still hopeful of an encounter.
The next day the weather hadn’t improved. We dived at Jayenem’s Wall before breakfast, another wonderful
wall dive with plenty of colour. Returning to the boat
we were just starting to strip off our wetsuits when someone shouted “MINKE!”We
all looked around to see a dwarf minke whale only 20m behind the boat.Very
quickly the crew jumped to action stations, feeding out a rope line with
numerous floats and hand-holds behind the boat. We were again briefed on the
whale watching regulations.Dwarf minke whale encounters should always happen on the whales terms, never approach a whale, allow it to approach you. Don’t touch the whale and avoid rapid movements. The best way to observe the whales is too snorkel on the surface while holding onto a rope line, the fixed position of the divers allowing the whale to swim around you to satisfy its curiosity.As our crew deployed the rope line we now realised that there was at least two whales swimming around the back of the boat. With the line in place trailing behind the boat we slipped quietly into the water.
Reaching a hand-hold we peered into the blue, not knowing which way the whales would approach from, or if they would approach at all. Looking in all directions we finally saw a dark shape in the distance.
As the dark shape got bigger it turned into two shapes. Suddenly we could see them clearly, a large dwarf minke whale, around 6m long, with a much smaller one, a calf less than 3m long, swimming beside it.
The two whales slowly swam by studying us. The small calf continuously heading to the surface every few minutes to breath, while the larger whale, possible the mother, glided effortlessly through the water, disappearing into the blue.
A few minutes later they reappeared, but this time they were heading straight towards us. As they got closer they dived down to swim directly underneath us, giving us a wonderful view of their V shaped heads.
With the whales disappearing again this gave us a chance to exchange excited comments about the experience, before scanning the blue water again. Then they were back again, this time coming along beside us. With each pass they seemed to be getting closer and closer.
We could now see the whale’s eyes peering at us, the strange objects floating on the surface. The calf was especially curious, swimming in quickly towards us, before turning back to see where mum was. Rarely were the whales apart for more than a minute or two.After five close passes, lasting over half an hour, the whales seemed to disappear. However no one wanted to leave the water and miss seeing the whales again. After ten minutes of scanning the surface and the depths, they reappeared for one last encore performance. This time the calf stayed very close to mum, swimming along close to her belly. We watched the dark shapes fade into the distance.
Everyone stayed in the water for another twenty minutes, breakfast long forgotten, hoping for another glimpse of these curious whales, but the whales had satisfied their curiosity and departed.
Getting back on the boat everyone was buzzing after the experience, swapping stories about what they had seen and how incredible the whales were. The smiles lasted for the rest of the day.
The crew of Nimrod Explorer informed us that we had been very fortunate, only a handful of calves are seen each year, and this was the first time they had seen a mother and calf so close together.
On a high after our minke experience, the vessel relocated so we could dive the Clam Gardens. The shallow coral gardens at this site are magnificent, the giant clams naturally the highlight. After another lunch time feast we dived Tak’s Mooring; seeing white tip reef sharks, turtles and a huge Queensland groper.We then moved over to Temple of Doom. This large pinnacle of coral, rising from 35m to 4m, was covered in fish. Masses of fusiliers, trevally, surgeonfish, unicorn fish, stripy snapper and gold striped goatfish were milling on and above the reef. We also encountered white tip reef sharks, flowery cod, Maori wrasse, moray eels and coral trout.
That night we did a brilliant night dive at Temple of
Doom, a chance to admire all the colourful corals we missed earlier. While most
of the fish had disappeared, there were still enough around for a hunting
barracuda. We watched this large predator chasing and catching fusiliers. It
ended up following us for the entire dive, probably taking advantage of our
torch light to locate fish. We also saw basket stars, lionfish, sleeping
parrotfish and an amazing amount of crustaceans.The following day was our final diving day, more rough weather, but blue skies and clear water. First stop Steve’s Bommie. This dive site has it all, a large pinnacle decorated with wonderful corals, plus masses of fish, sharks and other surprises. There were fish everywhere; schools of trevally, surgeonfish, fusiliers and unicorn fish were in mid-water, while deeper down were stripy snapper and gold striped goatfish. Our second dive here was even better, all the fish were still around, plus we encountered two grey reef sharks and an olive sea snake. The two last dives of the trip were quite enjoyable, but a little bit of an anti-climax after all the action at Steve’s Bommie. Joaney’s Joy offered pretty coral gardens and a maze of interesting caves. While at the Kremlin we saw schools of fusiliers and mackerel, plus some radiant soft corals and gorgonians.
Heading back to Cairns we reflected on a great dive trip; brilliant dive sites and marine life, a feast of wonderful food, a comfortable dive boat, a professional crew, a great group of fellow divers and of course the dwarf minke whales. Winter diving on the Ribbon Reefs is hard to beat.
Nimrod Explorer offers divers a range of trips. Each week the vessel heads out to the Ribbon Reefs and also to the Coral Sea to explore Osprey Reef, and at the end of each year offers a number of trips to the Far Northern Reefs.