AD 2018 Q1

From far left: At the base of Lighthouse Bommie resides a large school of bluelined snapper. The far northern coral reefs
are both diverse and pristine, with lettuce corals and gorgonian complementing the prolific branching corals. A broadclub
cuttlefish finds refuge amid staghorns. A coral grouper sits under a lavishly decorated overhang on The Pinnacle.
white. I understand they might have been previously
bleached, but we saw scant evidence of that.
Our next dive was at Lighthouse Bommie, one
of several popular pinnacles in the region. Rising
from around 100 feet to within 16 feet of the surface,
this coral chimney is notable for the large school of
bluelined snapper resident at its base and the large
school of bigeye trevally that swims in the midwater.
Green turtles are exceedingly common here, especially
in the late afternoon and evening as they find safe
crannies in the pinnacle in which to rest for the night.
Over the years I have often dived the pinnacles of the
northern Ribbon Reefs, including Pixie Pinnacle and
Steve’s Bommie. This time I saw weather damage that
I had not seen in years past. Many cyclones had swept
these waters in the preceding years, affecting the soft
corals. They are the first and fastest to regenerate, and
I saw signs of new growth.
Our next dive featured some of the most charismatic
fish in Australia. We were at the Cod Hole, perhaps the
most famous GBR dive site. As I geared up, my mind
wandered to another time: a trip to South Australia
with Ron and Valerie Taylor in the early 1990s. Ron
was Australia’s premiere filmmaker, and Valerie was a
renowned underwater photographer, model and marine
conservationist. We were waiting for great white sharks
to show interest in our chum line, and we had a lot
of time to talk about dive adventures gone by. Valerie
brought up the subject of potato cod (Epinephelus
tukula), recalling how critically threatened they once
were. Bold and inquisitive, they would swim right
up to divers, oblivious to the presence of spear guns.
They were so fearless that their survival as a species in
Australian waters was in peril. Through Valerie’s photos
and impassioned words, even nondivers in government
were made to believe in the value of these fish, and now
throughout most of their range in Australian waters it is
illegal to spear them. The site that benefits most from this
protection is the Cod Hole, located on Ribbon Reef #10.
In the decade since I had last dived the Cod Hole, the
coral had been damaged, but by cyclones rather than
coral bleaching or diver contact. This was no surprise, as
an average of four cyclones affect Australia’s east coast
every year. With such significant coral cover in less than
60 feet of water, big waves can take a toll. This dive is
more about the marine life than coral cover anyway:
The site’s namesake grouper, which can be 6 feet
long and 200 pounds or more, are long accustomed to
interacting with divers (in hopes of handouts).
We did two dives on this site; on the second one,
I got in before the divemaster. The potato cod were
there when I entered the water, but they were distant
and indifferent. When the guide hit the water, the
presence of the bait-bucket changed everything, and
the potato cod quickly approached. With that I saw
how thoroughly classically conditioned these fish had
become. I would not say this was a fish-feeding dive so
much as it was a fish-attracting dive, as there was not
a lot of bait actually fed to the fish. Apparently their
atavistic memories conjured “diver equals free food,”
and thus achieving proximity was never an issue.
We steamed 162 miles overnight on our northward
trajectory. We reached Bisou Point in the Tijou Reef
region, which represented our arrival in the “far north.”
ALERTDIVER.COM | 71