January 2013 on the Great Barrier Reef

We Have to Go Back
Captain Trevor Jackson.

It’s not just unusual. It’s not just uncommon. It’s downright rare. To go on a true exploration trip and not just find something new…….but something new and extraordinary…..Something worth talking about, something worth going back for.

A few Thursdays ago the time had finally come. We’d been planning it for a year. The logistics were in place, the key crew members were on board, the special equipment strapped the deck…..All we needed was the weather…and Neptune was shining upon us there as well. I won’t bore you with the details ….or tell you how perfect it all was….I just want to talk about one thing really…our new discovery! A dive site with so much WOW factor it has 30 year veterans week at the knees, longing to go back to see if they weren’t imagining it the first time…The incomparable, the indescribable, the exquisite…..Deep Sea Arcade.

Stretching for about 300 metres along a deep cliff face…..at a depth surrounding 65 metres, a wave shaped cavern cascades over a white sandy steppe. Festooning down from the edge of the wave is all manner of soft coral. Coral so abundant, so diverse and so colorful you have to check your gas to make sure you’re not imagining things.  A virtually indiscernible current pushes you west along the cavern; the marine life just ramps into view…..one grey beast after another. Silvertips, Hammerheads, even a Thresher. It’s as if Disneyland developed a dive site and made sure all the key elements were there…geography, life, color, drama…all in droves. It’s so good it has to be make-believe……..but it’s not. It’s the real deal. We found it, we were there, we saw it. Strangely though, just a few short weeks later, it’s hard to imagine it was really true. I guess there’s only one thing for it…….we have to go back.

7 Night Deep Reef Expedition 21^st November 2013. Direct enquiries to Dorothy at resv@mikeball.com.
7 Night Deep Reef Expedition 21^st January 2015

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