8/4/2006 - Wet & Wild at 17,31,865:177,12,934
So I was looking at some charts this morning (I think this is an inherited habit) and noticed a blip; a tiny 13m contour in an area generally 50m or more in depth. It appeared to be no more than a mile or so off the island. Our accountant Michelle (Wild) also a dive instructor, had come over here for the day so we loaded up some gear, plugged the coordinates into the GPS and off we went.
Half way there I flung myself over the side and Michelle shouted "He's fallen in!" - I'd told her to shout "Man overboard!" but apparently it didn't roll off the tongue quite as well...
We hit the right spot and although the water looked a little greener we couldn't really see very much below us. Jioji threw the anchor out and "plenty rope" went with it. It hasn't caught on anything. We're drifting away from the mark. After a few glances and shrugs we jump in to have a look. Not much. Just a general sense of something shallower than 70 metres. We're geared up and ready so we go for a closer look...
5m - nothing
8m - nothing
12m - a circular blur comes into view, can't really make anything out
16m - definitely sand. And fish. And possibly some coral.
25m - definitely coral. An incline in front of us and a strongish current.
Now, if that chart is right then this isn't a very big patch of reef and I have come to the conclusion that the pot of gold is generally where the current hits the front of a reef so off we go... There goes a shark... And another. Definitely not the same one... After 10 minutes or so we're chugging into some strong current but we seem to be nearing the drop off on the opposite side... Another shark... And a Mother Lode of huge unicorn fish... And another shark... And another... Ooh! Bugger me, there's four of them... Tons of sergeant majors and lots of other surgeonfish...
Lovely. Shame I forgot the camera. Good excuse for a return visit. Here's a picture of Jioji and the back of the boat though.
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