28 Jan 2025
Somehow, last night’s crossing was even more tame than the trip out. And somehow, I still managed to sleep poorly.
There are some storm clouds in the distance, but so far no rain and the seas aren’t too choppy, so we’re aiming for 4 dives again today!
Look at this cool bug I found on the dive deck while gearing up!
He was a little over an inch long, but oh-so-fuzzy!
Dive #19 – Coral Princess
Anemonefish!
Orange fish!
Garden eels:
A whole school of little Twinstrip fusilier:
Dog-tooth cardinalfish:
Anemonefish, outside his anemone:
Cuttlefish!!!
we came across a pod of four!
aren’t they cool!?
Greasy grouper:
Pseudobiceros bedfordi:
Chromodoris elisabethina?
There are several of these orange-edged chromodoris with black stripes on white-ish-blue backings- it’s sometimes hard for me to tell them apart.
Camouflage grouper:
Dot-dash goatfish (back) and Threespot wrasse (front):
Checkerboard wrasse:
Chub!
these guys always look either happy or surprised
Manta ray!
And another wee reef shark!
Dive #20 – Pixie Wall
(ignore the “night dive here!”- my boat uses printed copies of the dive site drawings)
Phyllidiella pustulosa:
Phyllidia elegans?
This guy is small and young, so I’m not entirely sure of his ID.
Thysanozoon nigropapillosum:
Oof, that guy’s name is a mouthful! Commonly known as the Gold-dotted flatworm.
A pair of Papuan toby:
Banana nudi! Notodoris minor:
Ugh, this nudi was wrapped around this little branch, which was swaying back and forth in the current. This was the only decent shot I was able to get, but I think it’s an Okenia stellata:
Another pretty Sunburst anthias:
Notodoris minor:
Another, is it a coral or a nudi? It wasn’t until I loaded up the picture that I was able to see the gills- he’s only about an inch long!
Jelly:
Dive #21 – Wonderland
Thysanozoon nigropapillosum / gold-dotted flatworm:
Not a great picture, but I love how spiky this Foxface rabbitfish is!
Blackbelt hogfish:
Chromodoris lochi:
Bluespotted grouper:
This coral was a really intense shade of orange, even underwater!
A pair of Melon butterflyfish:
Anemonefish:
the tiniest not-Nemo!
He was just over an inch long!
Spiky little damselfish:
So many anthias swimming up this wall!
Purple anthias (male):
Purple anthias (female):
Sweetlips:
Lizardfish with a very uncomfortable pillow:
Dive #22 – Wonderland
Into the blue…
for as much as they talked about how great the vis was, there were plenty of dives we had to follow the line down because you could not see the reef from the surface.
Fairy wrasse?
Chromodoris lochi:
I was all excited to have spotted that nudi- I pointed it out to one of the nearby guides, who pointed to this cuttlefish I totally missed, despite him being right next to my head!
Parrotfish cleaning station:
This anemonefish really was this intense shade of red!
My buddy hit the nudibranch jackpot- there were 3 nudis tucked up under this one coral, including this new-to-me guy, a Halgerda aurantiomaculata:
Chromodoris lochi:
Another Halgerda aurantiomaculata:
Grouper peeking out of his cave:
This lunker nudi was like 3.5-4″ long! an Ardeadoris egretta:
My buddy was too far ahead to see the cuttlefish from earlier in the dive, so I remembered a few of the coral structures nearby and, fortunately, the cuttlefish was still hanging out in the same spot so I could show him on our way back to the boat!
I haven’t really taken many pictures of our food, which is unfortunate, because everything Chef Murray cooked up was delicious, but look how pretty this fish dish is!
Tonight, we’ll be motoring south, back toward Cairns as tomorrow will be our last day diving 🙁