On Mon, 14 Jun 2004 12:27:23 +1000, Strike wrote:
(snips)

> On  Sunday, June 13, 2004 7:43 PM, Christian Gerzner wrote:
> Over the years, I've dived Osprey, Bougainville, Holmes and Flinders out in
> the Coral Sea.  Of those, I've found Osprey to be the most dynamic in terms
> of sharks; Bougainville a little dissapointing; and Holmes Reef the most
> exciting in terms of deep walls plummeting a thousand metres or more with
> huge gorgonians and crystal clear visibility.  I've done that trip a couple
> of times on board Rum Runner, which - because it's a sailing yacht - has
> little room for relaxing between dives.

I think it was on Holmes Reef that Albie Ziebell once said to me "go
to the wall, drop down to 20 metres, keep the wall to your right and
about fifty metres later you'll come to a cave which will take you
back up to the shallows." Errrmmmmm, I might be a tad out on depth,
memory ain't that good any more.

Anyway I did as instructed and found the cave, and entered, and went
up. What he hadn't told me was that the feelers of the painted crays
would form a "Guard of Honour", as in a military wedding of crossed
swords, all the way to the extent that I clapped the arms of my camera
together to make myself as small as possible for fear of damaging
them. I'll never forget that dive.

> Undersea Explorer spends a lot more time at Osprey than any of the other
> operators;

The problem with that boat is its flat bottom. In a sea it is most
uncomfortable, even for me and I simply don't get seasick. We were
only discussing this yesterday aboard Remora.

> Mike Ball's 'Spoilsport' tends to do Flinders

Interesting how we still tend to call it "Mike Ball's" since he hasn't
had anything to do with it in yonks.

> TAKA, that offers an Osprey Reef add-on to their
> trips.  (I think they're the main operators incorporating Coral Sea
> excursions into their regular itineries.)
>
> > Sounds pretty decent. What passenger capacity?
>
> It's a maximum of thirty, but usually 28.

Not really to my taste, as you probably know I'm not one for crowds.
It's why I liked, loved actually, Coralita and now Barbarian II in
Papua New Guinea. It's why I like the Thorfinn in Chuuk because the
dive tenders go to different wrecks.

> Ah! No!  TAKA III was launched in about '94 (with a somewhat similar design
> to the new TAKA) and was intended to begin operations in Indonesia in '95.
> The plans fell through and it was sold to Deep Sea Diver's Den, renamed
> 'Ocean Quest' and now spends its time permanently out on the reef - cruising
> Hastings, Saxon and Norman Reefs - with daily transfers from Cairns.  It's
> mostly used by divers completing courses but does offer flexibility in terms
> of length of stay; from one night to
> as-long-as-you-like-or-until-you-get-bored!  :-))
>
> (It also has to be said that those reefs, being close to Cairns and the most
> visited, are no longer as glorious as they once were!)  :-)

Umm, yes indeed. I did make that mistake once, can't remember much
about it because I tend to forget about forgettable experiences rather rapidly.

Carol did it despite my advice to the contrary, to her subsequent chagrin.

> > > The Marine Parks Authority culled many
> > > of the cod
>
> > Hmmmpphhh, they also culled ALL OF the large morays.
>
> I must admit that I was looking out for them, but didn't spot a one! (I
> console myself with the fact that they didn't spot me, either!) :-)

Absolutely, I wonder where I was in the scheme of things as to
"bitees", even though mine wasn't publicised (at the time anyway).

> I can't say that I did!  At least, none that were sufficiently large to have
> been there for any length of time.  (I spent a lot of time trying to shake
> off a remora that wanted to adopt me!)  :-)

Happened to me at Dee Why Reef one time, which is your home patch. :)

> Steve's Bommie is not disimilar to Pixie Pinnacles, but it features an
> additional small spur of coral rising up to about 20-metres.  It's the place
> where - on one trip - Julian, Helen and myself saw a sea-snake that looked
> (to me!) as though it had just eaten a Volkswagon!)  In terms of marine life
> and pelagic action, it's also not unlike Pixie Pinnacles - which I last did
> as a night dive and found to be outstanding.  :-)

I've done several night dives at Pixie, maybe five without going to
the Logs. Each time I've come up with zero air. By intent, just
couldn't let go.

> > > There's also a flame file shell.  An amazing creature, brilliant red in
> > > colour with long poisonous tentacles.  It flashes colours like
> > > lightening bolts through its flesh to attract prey which it then stuns
> > > and eats.

> > I've only seen these in Papua New Guinea, they're awesomely spectacular.
>
> Regrettably, none of the pics that I took show it in sharp detail, but it's
> an amazing sight to see. :-)

You're not Robinson Crusoe, none of my pics of this critter are any
better, and I've used at least three rolls on them, probably more.

They might be spectacular but they are also spectacularly hard to
photograph (or so I like to think). To get them whilst they're
actually flashing is, as our American cousins say, a crap shoot.

Cheers,

Christian