A day at Mary Island (from Kellie’s last trip on board)Today we are anchored at Mary Island, the sun is shinning and the air is warm, the sea is flat like a blue mirror. The first dive was Barracuda Point, there is a mild current running and a huge school of barracuda circle and swirl, swimming round and round. Spectacular to see and even better if you can get inside the barracuda tornado! Looking down, the hard corals at the dive site overlap so much that it is hard to see anything else. A turtle wizzes by me. After the dive I eat lush homemade chocolate chip cookies.
The second dive was at Jackfish Point where the current is now much stronger, a few other divers hook in with reef hooks and let the massive school of jacks surround them. Out in the blue, five tunas the size of horses swim past checking out the petite dive master, they look as though they could swallow her whole! Grey reef sharks cruise the depths, white tip reef sharks the reef wall. Midnight snappers cascade down the wall in a torrent while jacks school above and tunas patrol below.
After taking a million photos of the trillions of jackfish I let go of the reef and drift along the reef top while doing my safety stop, I see the beautiful but shy flame angel fish, millions of anthias feeding in the current, their pinks and purple colours standing out against the yellow and green corals. When I surface Ben the Bilikiki tinny driver has been flowing my bubbles and picks me straight up and drives me back to the Bilikiki. Lunch is ready, a delicious meal of BBQ chicken, tomato soup and three different salads, tropical fruits and bread. I wonder what waits for us on the afternoon dives.