We had just done a dive to north head and were due to do red Indian fish reef for the double when we looked around the harbour was deserted. Might have been because it was overcast and had forecast rain. So we decided for a bit of adventure. We dropped a shot line with a dive flag at red Indian fish reef right next to the old wave rider bouy mooring (fluke) . The plan was for two groups of divers individually to go down the shot and leave it following the reef and sand line all the way to Cannae point. This would gradually get shallower giving the ideal dive profile. Janet & I went first with Cuong as the third spoke in our dive wheel.
At 22 meters, the wall is impressive but it was bit dark and cold at 16 degrees Celsius. We put the reef on our right and swam west. Sponges and fish life were prolific. In addition, as we went turning to the north and then the west again, the light improved and depth gradually came up to 7 meters and the water warmed to 19-20 degrees. Wow as Tammy said later when she returned with Greg and Mark, we did not want to come up. After 50 minutes of a great dive we surfaced up our SMB which was deployed by yours truly to find the boat waiting next to us. Thanks Greg. We were within say 50 meters of Cannae Point on the Quarantine station harbourside shore.
As well as the usual reef fish, we saw a school of kingfish, a school of small snapper (squire), a school of luderick, and lots of schools of yellowtail, mados, silver biddys and hula fish. We also saw many (50-100 I should have counted) stingarees and a lot of slightly larger darker rays some buried in the sand, some swimming, and some feeding. Also, saw flat head, but no Red Indian fish. Other highlights included a big angel shark and a fiddler (banjo) ray. However, the real highlight was the improving light and temperature with the dive getting easier and shallower as we went. No need to find your way back to the anchor and no need to go back deeper. You just need to trust your skipper to be there at the end, which is easier when they are also a URG buddy who you will see next week.