19 March 2009

I was not expecting to be out diving yesterday but it was a welcome phone call that had me loading my gear into the car and making my way to Michael's house before first light. Joining us for the day of diving was Kurt one of our dive mates. We launched from Arrawarra onto an absolutely flat sea and headed out toward NW Solitary Island. Recently the current has been shunting from the N, always a welcome set of circumstances. As we cleared the headland at Arrawarra the predicted S hit us with avengence. Fortunately we were moving with the direction of the swell and we quickly pulled up to NW Solitary. I jumped in to the delightfully warm and crystal clear water. Unfortunately the area we were hoping to find fish in, was empty. There was also hardly any current.

On to the Pinnacles at the Big Island. We motored around looking for showings of baitfish and eventually found them hanging on the seaward side of the pinnacle. Over went the anchor and we started swimming upcurrent looking for our quarry. Today expectations were high for Wahoo. There was hardly any current, a trickle from the S. The pinnacle had bait and pelagics gathered up together. I saw Mack Tuna both big slow swimmers and the little speedsters, following these were considerable schools of flighty Yellowfin Tuna. The big Mack Tuna make relatively easy targets but the Yellowfin obviously know they are an intended target and don't hang around when you dive. There was a huge school of Yellowtail Kingfish probably numbering in the thousands and in between these I saw Trevally too. I am sure if one had spent more time observing the school, there would have been other pelagics mixed in with the Yellowtail. Kurt got a Cobia out of a group of approximately 10 that he saw following a Black Ray.

We moved to the N end of the Big Island and started diving the seaward drop-off on the edge of the reserve. I encountered some Rainbow Runner but I was not going to shoot at a lesser target when big game was on the cards. This was a good call because as I turned the massive shape of a Queensland Grouper loomed up next to me. The fish could easily have gone over 100kg. Better known as Brindle Bass where I come from I have rarely seen specimens this size unless scuba diving on wrecks. I am sure I would have had a major tussle with this fish had I shot a small Rainbow Runner. I made my way back to the boat only to have Kurt join me with a Spanish Mackerel. Kudos to him. Michael and I were eating humble pie.

Next stop the S end of the Big Island. This is a good spot for Bluebar Parrotfish and Pelagics. I dived and encountered a small Samsonfish. The shot should have been good but a Black Cod gave the fish so much grief that the spear came unstuck. I noticed lots of Black Rays around and took to checking for Cobia. I did not realise Michael had already seen some Cobia which would not offer a shot. After a good breath-up and surface preparation, I dropped to about 22m and watched as 2 large Black Rays came over to investigate me. I hung still in the water, following them was a reasonable Cobia. The fish followed the rays coming over to look at me then angling away. My plan is to improve my technique, so I concentrated on making a good shot. The spear hit the fish high on the left shoulder angling down to the right pectoral fin, in the process smashing the spine. The fish rolled over without so much as a twitch. By this time the sea was getting very rough and we elected to move to a shallower spot: Spooky.

Spooky gets its name from an encounter Michael had on this shallow reef with a White Pointer. On my first dive I swam into a school of Bonito but left them as I was looking for better quarry, that will not be happening next weekend. I drifted to the bottom several times, not finding anything. This was likely considering the bait in the area was swimming around completely relaxed. I eventually dived on the edge of the reef arriving on the sand and lay still with my eyes closed. When I opened them a small Venus Tuskfish was in front of my spear. I took the small fish and saw several more on subsequent dives. Michael surprized us by rustling up a Mangrove Jack from directly under the anchored boat. Will his luck ever run out?

I will probably get into the water one more time before the Classic just to check conditions and have a quick look at the available species. After the Classic it is back to South Africa on holiday and my site will be a little quiet until I get back to Coffs Harbour.