October 2011    Download the Entire Issue (PDF)

Vol. 26, No. 10   What's this?

Spoilsport, Great Barrier Reef & Coral Sea, Australia

something for everyone, even snorkelers

from the October, 2011 issue of Undercurrent  

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Dear Fellow Diver,

The third dive of the day started at the far north end of Osprey Reef. We backrolled off the RIB and drifted south at 80 feet in a swift current. The yellow soft coral on the wall reminded me of Peleliu, in Palau, and the eight of us continued on past cascading plate corals, while two whitetip reef sharks patrolled within camera range. Ahead of the pack, I spotted a gray reef shark below me at the edge of the deep drop off, below 31-percent nitrox depth. I signaled to my partner. No, wait, three sharks. No, five, uh, 10, hang on a second here. I dropped to 100 feet and continued counting until I got to 24 grays all facing into the current, swirling and twisting in the breeze. Two hammerheads were farther out, waiting to feed on the current's abundance.

The day before, the crew orchestrated a shark feed here at North Horn. We had all sat in a depression in the wall at 50 feet and waited, while the gray and white tip-reef sharks waited somewhat less patiently, circling the rock. A metal trash can was lowered from the RIB and tied off by divemaster Cleo, who was wearing a mesh glove. Inside, two tuna heads on a short chain were connected to a styrofoam ball. A rope was used to pull the lid off the trash can, the ball popped up with tuna and voila, instant pandemonium. After a big run-up, it was all over in a few seconds --like sex. (The only silver- tip of the trip was sighted at a distance, never coming near enough to feed.)

Today, we learned what they did when the kitchen was closed. The drift ended at the feeding station, where a couple of potato cod, a Napoleon wrasse and two more whitetips were hoping for handouts. On the way to my deco stop, I passed a dozen great barracuda, a school of small spotted darts on the surface and a couple more gray reefs under the Spoilsport.

Diving in the Coral Sea can be as good as that in Papua New Guinea. Healthy, colorful corals, swarms of fish, sharks on almost every dive and the chance to see something big. Unfortunately, out of seven days, the boat only spent two in the more distant Coral Sea. The first and last three days of the trip were inside the Great Barrier Reef, where the diving is very good but not of the world-class caliber Coral Sea. Mike Ball Dive Expedition's website lists a three-day Fly-Dive Cod Hole trip, a four-day Fly-Dive Coral Sea trip and a seven-day Coral Sea Safari itinerary, noting that on the fourth day, "Guests on the Fly Dive option may join this Coral Sea Safari at this halfway point." Well, the guests do join the Coral Sea Safari, but the rest of trip is inside the Great Barrier Reef....