Going South - Part 7 The Spectre of Elphinstone - 13/05/2018

We did to dives on Elphinstone Reef. They were to be the end of cruise filler dives. Granted on a fantastic reef. 

Dive one saw us hanging out deep on the northern plateau looking for pelagic life. We never saw any big stuff. It was nice, but if it feels like I'm skipping over stuff, I am. 

The second dive saw us dive as a group. I lead us out to 40m on the southern plateau up the eastern side back round to the western side - by which point it was just the Big Easy and I left. We kept our eyes peeled, but we never saw any of the pelagic life we were looking for.

We headed back toward the boat enjoying a very gentle drift. As we approached the boat we spotted a tight group of divers looking like they were all doing a safety stop. They weren't though. I asked what they were looking at. One chap, a keen photographer signalled shark. 

We swam to join them and out of the blue they came. Two of them - oceanic white tips, the worlds most prolific man eater. They circled a couple of times and after a couple of minutes The Big Easy and I headed out the water delighted to have encountered them.

Turtle

Nudi

Oceanic White Tip

Going South - Part 6 Daedalus & the Spectre Beneath - 12/05/2018

Daedalus was never part of the plan, but from my perspective it was a welcome addition. 

I had been told to expect sheer drop offs, mediocre reefs (compared to what we'd seen the previous day in Fury Shoals) and hammerheads.

Hammerheads capture the imagination of most divers. I'm not sure why, but I think its that they can occasionally be seen schooling and that when viewed from below they present one of the most distinguished silhouettes in the ocean.

When we woke up to the view of the Daedalus reef there were several liveaboards there sending out boat loads of divers to eastern side of the reef. Our briefing differed, we were going to be doing a drift dive down the opposite side. 

As it transpired once again our guides had misread the current and we all spent an hour finning furiously headlong into a current. It wasn't the hammerhead experience I'd hoped for.

Our second dive was doing the dive all the other boats had done in the first instance. This time, on the leeward side of the island, we bobbed along keeping our eyes peeled. We were half way through the dive when it happened. It was just a shadow at first, when the distinctive head was visible. Once again photography wise I failed to keep my cool. I didn't care I was swimming with one of the most famous residents of the ocean. It was the stuff misplaced nightmares a it glided past 4 times.

We swam back to the boat - the last few moments against the current, only to be told that something else was lurking nearby, unseen by most of us - carcharhinus longimanus, the oceanic white tip.

We never saw longimanus on the third dive despite the presence of a silky shark and a couple of it's grey reef cousins. Despite that Daedalus had delivered.

Hammerhead shark

Barracuda

Humphead wrasse

Daudalus