The undersea world

After our day diving off Anse Marin we thought it may be worth diving from off Hocus Pocus. There were several buoys marking areas of no anchoring etc. We thought these might indicate the presence of a reef. The following morning Dave and I donned snorkelling gear and swum off the stern, at first there was just a flat sandy bottom full of sea grass.As we headed towards the shore soon out of the blue water loomed a small reef. It was if anything better than the one we had explored the previous day. I did a quick orientation recce and I hurried back to get Lynne. Soon we were entering a whole new world.

Because of my prior exploration I had a reasonable idea of the labyrinthine layout and we swam between rocky cliffs and over precipices that fell away to a sand bottom. There was life everywhere.

The water was clear as glass and the dappled sunlight made the colourful corals extremely vivid.

I am afraid my photos don't really do it justice.

There were sunken gardens of fan coral and anemones, the coral had built up amazing formations, some looked like pottery and others resembled giant clams.

There was one particular brain coral that I swear was looking at me.

We swooped and swam through this wonderland for what seemed ages before heading over to the jetty for a rest.

Even the pillars supporting the jetty were full of tiny plants and creatures.

We returned to the  reef in the afternoon, Dave took Carole out in the dinghy so that she could look through our glass bottomed viewer " the all seeing eye", I decide to surprise her which resulted in possibly the only photograph ever taken of Carole smiling at a camera.

It really is a fabulous privilege to dive on these reefs. On our return home Lynne and I will retrieve our diving gear and load Dark Tarn down even further!