Diving Day One: Giant Clams are… uhhh… Giant

We woke up far out in the ocean after a slightly bumpy night of travel. We stammered up stairs to the saloon and began, what would become, our daily ritual. A light breakfast, a dive briefing and then underwater by 8AM. After the first dive we would have warm breakfast then head back under.

Our first dive on a site called Challenger Bay was a good first exposure to our dive week on the Great Barrier Reef. It seemed like a decent cross section of marine life and you couldn’t really go much past 60 feet deep. We were greeted by schools of jacks under the boat. The coral heads were broad and healthy.

Here is a quick compilation of our diving

We visited Challenger Bay twice during the week – the second time on the return trip south. This first dive produced great visibility and then on the way back the visibility was gone.

The next dive site, Pixie Gardens, was an astonishingly beautiful part of the reef. Looking back on the trip I’m surprised Pixie Gardens does not get the same level of fanfare afforded Cod Hole and the Osprey Reef sites. Of course the sea conditions have a lot of influence over the perceived quality of a dive site – the day we dropped in on Pixie Gardens it was nearly perfect visibility and no decipherable current.

The coral columns were massive and exceptionally healthy. The giant clams really stood out here. They were meganormous - cartoonish in size – like seeing one of those big chair photo booths at a carnival. It was the type of thing that plays with your head a little.

We also saw the first of many lionfish. Lionfish steal the pomp and circumstance award underwater. They splay long spikes and are decorated with deeply contrasting stripes. They are quite inactive and don’t bother fleeing when larger fish are nearby. Lionfish carry a strong venom in their spikes that keeps them amply protected. Fortunately they don’t enjoy attacking divers. If I were to reincarnate as a fish I might prefer to be a lionfish.

Juvenile Lionfish

We ended the day by diving at Pixie Gardens on a night dive. As it is with all night dives the reef was transformed into a completely different place. It’s like swapping the setting on a large Broadway stage. It’s hard to even recognize the reef as the same location. We saw our first cuddle fish and as many little shrimp as there are people in NYC.

Dive brief time

Giant clam

Amy above a giant clam

Sunset on the reef