Manta Ray Bommie

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Yesterday we walked for ages in the heat to find a Diving Centre we knew of. As it is the Summer here many trips and Dive Centres are getting really booked up, so they couldn't help us to the weekend, however we did find a good little company on Stradbroke Island.

Stradbroke Island is just off the Brisbane Coast in the Pacific Ocean. It is a Mining Site, Resort and World Heritage Site for the Wetlands and Nature it encompasses.

We had booked ourselves on the 2pm double Dive, and had to set off from BrisVegas at 9 to get there in time for the boat leaving at 1. We had to get a Train, Bus, Ferry and then another Bus to travel just 40ish miles in 3 hours!

Welcome back to the joys of Public Transport for us!

Our reason for going is that we are heading into Manta Ray season, and the Dive company were doing a trip out to Manta Ray Bommie - a crop of 3 shallow rocks which rise up from the Ocean Floor about a mile offshore from Point Lookout on Straddie. The Manta's come up here to feed on the plankton and other microscopic sea life in the current which flows through the Bommie.

Shattered from the travelling in the heat (it was 33 degrees for most of the day) we got to the Dive Shop (Manta Lodge on Home Bay) at 1ish, just in time to get geared up and meet the boat - only to be told the boat wasn't now leaving
until 3. Cheesed off we wandered down to the beach and considered our options - the last boat back to the mainland was going to be at 6.45 and we'd be cutting it really fine if not missing it - and we have a trip for Wednesday morning
that we need to be up for just after 5.

Anyway - after much rigmorole we just went for it and the boat finally got underway at 4. The RIB ride out across the surf and across the bay's was brilliant - the surf is pretty good on Straddie and we ragged it in the RIB for about 15 minutes down to the Dive Site. (Clare's version of the last sentence - Why the hell won't they slow down, I feel ill, this boat is going to tip over, we are all going to die)

Everyone on the boat had white knuckles from holding on so tight. I thought it was wicked. The boat was literrally flying through the air everytime we hit a decent swell and then crashing down on the other side!

We got to the Dive Site and I have to say it didn't look that great - the water wasn't very clear and the current and sea swell was pretty stong. Thankfully Clare and I were the only Divers on the boat - the other 7 punters were snorkelling. We therefore had the benefit of 2 Dive Masters who were out for a pleasure Dive. We split up for a change and each went with one of the DM's. We got in the water after gearing up and tried to do our Buoyancy Checks. You need to check that you have enough weight strapped on you to sink gently. I need quite a bit as I am quite buoyant anyway due to the size of me and my lungs let alone the wetsuit we were wearing for the first time. Clearly we had got my weight belt wrong because try as I might I just couldn't descend down the shot line to the anchor blocks! My buddy therefore grabbed another weight belt from the Dive Lookout on the boat and strapped it to me. I guess I must have had over 10KG's on me to get me sinking!

So... this is where I try and describe this all arty.....

I am slowly descending down the shot line, the anchor blocks are in about 7 metres of water and Clare and her buddy are down there in front of me. The water is a bit darker and greener than the Northern Reef, but visibility isn't too bad underwater. I can easily see 5 - 10m and the only impairment is the sediment and plankton in the water. I keep equalising my ears on the way down - no problems.

The 4 of us are standing now on the sea bed in about 7 metres and we are all still hoping we might see a Manta. The weather hasn't been too great the last couple of days so they haven't been around. We have a rough route through the site planned (swimming into the current for the start of the Dive and then drifting back in it towards the boat when we are tired towards the end of the Dive), and turn to head off across to the first Bommie............all of a sudden a beautiful 4 metre wide Manta glide's effortlessly past us and glides serenely round us for about 30 seconds. We are litterally choked - it is such a beautiful sight and they appear so graceful. It is impossible to say anything much through your regulator - but I guess we don't need to - we are each giving one another the Okay sign as the only way of passing on one anothers excitement!

It has been another one of my dreams for so long to dive with a Manta - and I remind myself of this as I watch it glide into the darkness. It seems over all too quickly! We've only been going a couple of minutes and I look down at my Dive Computer to see how much the excitement is costing me in air! I seem to burn through an 11 litre tank at the moment faster than Meantime and I would demolish a Nando's full platter, so I have to try and keep my breathing slower and more relaxed. It is hard though - we are concentrating so hard on looking out for stuff and there is the whole ombination of excitement, adrenalin and nerves swilling through your mind wondering what might come out of the darkness next!

My Buddy Reiss and I set off down through the gully between the Bommies - an inquisitive Green Turtle appears besides us for a few moments and Reiss grabs some cool shots with his camera. It swims around us for a few moments before heading back up to the surface to breath.

The 4 of us progressed down through the gully, heading deeper into the channel between the 2 rocks. The Dive Master on the boat had warned us that it was a stong current - if we sat in it long enough we'd end up in New Zealand and he
wasn't kidding, I am kicking fairly hard to swim into it. I catch a glimpse of another Manta swimming away in the distance as we reach a Sandy area in about 10m. Suddenly right below me I see 2 Blue Spotted Sting Rays buried in the
sand. Before I put my feet down they are scared off by us and quickly come up through the sand and as one accidentally flicks the other they change pace and dart off into the distance. They are really fast when the want to be!

Reiss and I continue on, following Clare and Maurice down through the gully. We reach the bottom of the Channel and I am in complete amazement. I am down about 14/15m and the floor of the Channel is awash with beautiful big Leopard Sharks! There are at least 15 or more within my range of visibility - who knows how many more are down here! They are all sitting here at the Cleaning Station covered in Cleaner fish. It is like the most amazing shark car park you have ever seen! It is totally surreal!

Reiss is keen to get some close up photo's so we approach one of the larger sharks. My bouyancy control is rubbish, and I catch a rock on the way down. We kneel down on the ocean bed and slowly move up towards the Shark. It doesn't move and we reach out and touch it. I'm amazed that it doesn't swim off or flick it's tail at us aggresively. Instead it just lays there and we can feel it's hard leathery skin.

Eventually we move on and see more Sharks close up, grabbing photo's on the way and gently touching those that lay still. We find Clare and Maurice and I accidentally catch a Shark with one of my fins - I felt so guilty - it seems bonkers to say that but I've never bumped into a Shark before and I almost found myself apologising to it! I also turn round to the others and hold my hands up - I think Reiss was trying to get a picture of the Shark at the time!

We swim on over more and more Sharks, and I spot another Manta in the background. We also come across another huge Ray - I'm not sure which type and make a note to check with the guys later as it isn't a Manta but is way bigger than normal Sting Rays. It is resting on the Ocean floor and we don't approach too close - it could try and defend itself if we swim too close on top of it.

I signal to Reiss I'm down to 90 bar - we need to steadily start ascending as the legal limit here for hitting the surface is 50 bar remaining. The four of us group together and decide that Clare and Maurice will have a few more minutes as they have more air. Reiss and I start our ascent. We stop fighting the current and begin drifting back up through the wall of the channel. We are building up a fair bit of pace and steadily ascending all the time. We see loads more stuff on the way back, and then complete a safety stop in 5m before going all the way up. We surface about 50m down current from the boat and snorkel back - which seems to take ages in the seriously rough water!

Clare and Maurice surface 5 mins later - excited that they have seen a massive Loggerhead Turtle on the way up - Clare felt it was the same size as a small car - and it had circled them in touching distance.

Back on the boat everyone else was cold, shivering and sea sick. We had to abandon the second Dive and head back ( we got a refund for the second Dive - tight Northerner eh?!).

We didn't care the trip ended early - it meant we made the ferry and we were grinning from ear to ear from the sea surface back to Brisbane. It was the most incredible Dive and we were so lucky to see all that we did.

We also got back to Brisbane to discover we don't need to get up early after all - our trip tomorrow is cancelled - thank god - a lie in!

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