TOWERS OF CORAL

The Bommies of the Ribbon Reefs

We had barely stuck our heads below the surface and already we were surrounded by fish. Zooming around us was a combined school of big-eye trevally and chevron barracuda - a shimmering mass of silver bodies. Dropping below the barracuda and trevally saw us engulfed in a school of yellow-finned goatfish and yellow-lined snapper. This swirling storm of gold coloured fish was mesmerising to watch, but we couldn’t stop as below us were more schools of fish and a giant tower of coral to explore known as Steve’s Bommie.
    Steve’s Bommie is just one of the amazing bommies that divers can explore on Australia ’s Ribbon Reefs. The Ribbon Reefs are one of the most popular dive destinations on the Great Barrier Reef . Only accessible by liveaboard boat, this string of colourful reefs is located north of Cairns and forms a hundred kilometre long barrier on the edge of the Coral Sea .
    Exploring the Ribbon Reefs divers will find an endless supply of walls and coral gardens, but the most memorable dives would have to be the bommies. The word bommie, for those divers not familiar with the term, is derived from the word bombora, a term used by Australian Aboriginals to describe a submerged formation or pinnacle. Aussies, in the great tradition of shortening words and adding an ‘ie’ to the end of everything, have adopted the word and shortened it to bommie.
    The bommies of the Ribbon Reefs are incredible towers of coral that attract marine life like giant magnets. This is because they generally rise from the barren sandy bottom in reef lagoons and provide the only shelter in the area for both small and large marine life. It is this dense concentration of marine life on bommies that makes them some of the best dive sites on the Great Barrier Reef .
    Over the years we have been fortunate to explore the bommies of the Ribbon Reefs several times, and after each trip are always astounded by the marine life these towers of coral attract, and it was no different on a recent trip on Spirit of Freedom. Following are some of the bommie highlights from our recent trip.

LIGHTHOUSE BOMMIE
Named because it looks like a lighthouse, this single tower of coral rises from 25m to 5m and is a haven for marine life. We started our dive on the smaller mound of coral at the base of the pinnacle, which is riddled with ledges, and found it covered by a massive school of yellow-lined snapper. Thousands of these golden fish were circling the top of the mound and made for wonderful photos in the 30m visibility. But our focus quickly changed when we spotted two olive sea snakes slithering across the reef. These snakes were searching each hole for potential prey and ignored us in their quest for food.
    On the main bommie we circled its base to find half a dozen common lionfish, reef-top pipefish sitting on the coral, rock cod, angelfish, butterflyfish and several nudibranchs. As we made our way up the walls of the pinnacle we found a black coral tree with several long-nose hawkfish hiding in its branches, gorgonians and sea whips with numerous sea whip gobies. Just below the peak of the bommie is a wide shelf with reef fish and a small cave cuts right through the bommie and is home to squirrelfish and coral cod, and lined with sponges and tubastra corals. But this tower saved the best until last as circling the top of the pinnacle were several hundred big-eye trevally. It was mesmerising watching this whirlpool of fish circling the bommie and was a lovely way to do a safety stop.

PIXIE PINNACLE
This tower of coral is renowned for its macro marine life, but also gets its fair share of larger visitors. Slowly swimming around its base, which is 30m deep, we found plenty of pretty coral and also plenty of fish – trevally, barracuda, coral trout, fusiliers, coral cod, squirrelfish and a flowery groper. But with our cameras set up for macro we concentrated on the smaller critters and we weren’t disappointed. Investigating the walls and ledges we soon found pipefish, nudies, flatworms, hermit crabs, commensal shrimps, anemonefish, hawkfish, gobies and blennies. But the highlight was the flaming file shells, which hide in the ledges and flash their incredible neon colours.

SNAKE PIT
The twin bommies at the Snake Pit are surrounded by a ridge of coral and sit next to a drop-off. As we descended on these pinnacles we got side tracked by a school of chevron barracuda at the mooring and then by several olive sea snakes. We found half a dozen olive sea snakes on the dive, so the site certainly lives up to its name. Exploring the reef and bommies we encountered a great collection of fish – coral trout, coral cod, flowery gropers, fusiliers, parrotfish, rabbitfish, sweetlips, snapper and two large Maori Wrasse. Several titan triggerfish had nest sites here, so we gave them a wide berth, but still managed to get attacked by one angry trigger. Around this site we also found green turtles, cuttlefish, blue spotted stingrays, numerous invertebrate species and a 2m long bull shark that checked us out several times, but unfortunately never close enough to photograph.

TWO TOWERS
This dive site was one of the highlights of our recent trip on Spirit of Freedom. The site consists of twin towers of coral rising from 20m and several smaller bommies at 25m to 30m. We circled the smaller bommies first, finding lovely gorgonians, sea whips, soft corals and a few giant clams. The deepest bommie had a wonderful array of fish swarming around it; schools of snapper, fusiliers, parrotfish, batfish and sweetlips. We spotted several white tip reef sharks patrolling the edge of these bommies and also ran into a few olive sea snakes. The two main bommies sit about 20m apart and are quite large, so we didn’t end up having enough time to thoroughly explore them both. As we circled the first bommie we encountered a massive school of yellow-lined snapper, turtles, trevally, barracuda, coral trout, mackerel and a spotted eagle ray. We ended up only having enough time to investigate the top of the second bommie to find it covered in hard corals and reef fish, and also harbouring a variety of anemonefish species.

STEVE’S BOMMIE
Saving the best until last, we did two sensational dives on Steve’s Bommie on our last day of the trip, which left some very lasting memories. Steve’s Bommie rises from 30m to 3m and is always swarming with life. Some divers probably never reach the bottom of this pinnacle, too captivated by the masses of fish on top. Having dived this amazing bommie before we knew there was plenty of interesting stuff below so headed to the bottom.
    Around the wide base of the bommie we found some lovely gorgonians, sea whips and big elephant ear sponges that were covered in sea cucumbers. As we slowly swam around we also found several white tip reef sharks, a shy flowery groper and a small green turtle. We stopped at the smaller bommie jutting from the side of the main pinnacle, which has a plaque in memory of Steve, to spend some time investigating the small cave that cuts into the bommie. This cave is filled with gorgonians and overflowing with snapper and squirrelfish. Rising up the side of main bommie we then got engulfed by a huge school of yellow-line snapper and yellow-finned goatfish, a massive body of golden fish. As we made our way into shallower water the fish life was getting thicker and thicker – big-eye trevally, chevron barracuda, fusiliers, mackerel, surgeonfish and giant trevally. It was captivating to watch all the fish, but we knew there was more to be seen amongst the corals and under the ledges.
    A wide coral shelf slopes off one side of the bommie and it is packed with reef fish, but a close look will also reveal pipefish, boxfish, hawkfish, anemonefish, moray eels, hermit crabs and mantis shrimps. There are a couple of resident leaf scorpionfish, but we couldn’t find them on this trip, but we did find several very ugly, but very colourful, reef stonefish hidden amongst the corals. There is so much to see on Steve’s Bommie that you will want to do it again and again and again.
    There are dozens of towers of coral on the Ribbon Reefs that offer incredible diving and many more just waiting to be discovered. On our last day on Spirit of Freedom the skipper sailed passed another new bommie that was boiling with fish life at the surface, we didn’t have time to check it out, but this is another tower of coral to explore on future trips to the always brilliant Ribbon Reefs.

Spirit of Freedom
Spirit of Freedom is one of the best liveaboard boats on the Great Barrier Reef . Based in Cairns , the 37m long vessel has 11 cabins, each with its own bathroom, and is air-conditioned throughout. The vessel has a large dive deck and duck board, and divers can either use air or nitrox. Each Monday Spirit of Freedom heads out for a three day trip to the Ribbon Reefs, stopping at Lizard Island on the fourth day so guests can either depart or stay on for the following four days, new arrivals also join the vessel for just the four day leg. The final four days are spent exploring more of the Ribbon Reefs and also Osprey Reef, deep in the Coral Sea .

Coral Gardens and Cod Hole
Of course there is much more to the Ribbon Reefs that just the outstanding bommies, with countless coral gardens and reef walls to explore. Clam Gardens , Challenger Bay , Wonderland, Pixie Wall, Pixie Garden and Joanies Joy were just some of the sites we dived and saw everything from giant clams to egg laying cuttlefish to manta rays. Winter time also sees these reefs visited by dwarf minke whales, and encounters with these small cetaceans are unforgettable. But the number one dive site on the Ribbon Reefs is without doubt Cod Hole, where a dozen or so large, and very diver friendly, potato cod live. This dive site is also populated with reef sharks, massive fish populations and even pygmy sea horses.

For more information – Spirit of Freedom

Article appeared in Sportdiving No.145 April/May 2011