AD 2018 Q1

polyps, and I want to see and record all that I can.”
From far left: The charismatic stars of Cod Hole, potato cod are acclimated to handouts from divers and
have enjoyed decades of protected status, so close encounters can be expected. During a night dive on
The Pinnacle, the anemone spawn was closely synchronized with the coral spawn that same night.
the animal that preys on the turtles: the tiger shark. You
will find other sites that offer better coral cover and more
diverse fish populations than Raine, but its concentration
of sea turtles cannot be beat. Weather and timing are
important with this site — sometimes the turtles are not
there en masse, but when they are, it is astonishing.
We cruised overnight to the Great Detached Reef
for a morning dive at Perisher Blue. I remember this
site from a decade before, primarily because of the truly
astonishing visibility we had that day. It was pretty good
the second time, but the blustery winds that dictated
our schedule around Raine Island made the water a
little fuzzy. It was not so bad, however, that we were not
thoroughly inspired by the site’s staghorn colonies.
I know I go on and on about staghorn. It is not only
because we had been led to believe they were dead
here, and they were not; it is also because really good
staghorn is rare everywhere these days. I am a Key
Largo, Fla., guy, and when I came to town in 1978 the
whole of South Carysfort Reef was cloaked in staghorn
and elkhorn. For whatever reason, mostly because I
thought it would be like that forever, I never got around
to properly documenting those corals before they were
gone. Now whenever I see amazing coral like that, I am
happy to invest time in photographic coverage. We are
in an era in which pixels might last longer than polyps,
and I want to see and record all that I can.
The afternoon and night dives were at a spot
simply called The Pinnacle. This one had more soft
corals and other colorful filter feeders than we had
seen elsewhere, and these made for great wide-angle
photos with divers and environmental portraits with
extravagant backgrounds. One particular overhang,
draped with red sea fans and soft corals and rich with
coral grouper, seemed emblematic of the site. What
really blew me away was the night dive here.
Stepping off the swim platform and dropping onto
the top of the bommie in only 20 feet of water seemed
like a civilized way to end a good day. There was no
current or surge, and I doubt I ever descended below
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