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and I had to leave early due to a tropical cyclone that was
bearing down on us. But what I saw in those few days was
more than enough to make me want to return.
My first dive there was at the Auriga Bay, which gave
its name to one of the first liveaboards to cruise the Great
Barrier Reef. The hard-coral cap starts in 10 to 20 feet
of water and then drops off to way beyond recreational
diving depths. A second dive farther along the same
dropoff, Rosie’s Wall, offers much of the same topography
and marine life but combines these with a sense of wild
remoteness To be alone at the precipice of a plunging,
vertical reef and realize that relatively few divers have ever
visited it is inspirational. Much of the Far North is like that:
undiscovered and untouched.
At Northern Small Detached Reef whitetip reef sharks
and squadrons of barracuda patrol the waters. Named for its
topography, Grand Canyon features steep walls washed by
spectacularly clear, electric-blue water. Sweetlips, parrotfish,
anemonefish and fusiliers are found all over the place. It’s a
challenging site for liveaboards to visit because there is no safe
anchorage, so trips here depend on weather conditions.
At the Great Detached Reef we had dives in which sharks,
barracuda, fusiliers, bluelined snapper, moray eels, potato
cod and turtles would all appear over the course of 3,000 psi.
Perisher Blue is a hard-coral wonderland — enough to make
one believe in the health and bounty of the sea all over again. I
saw at least three cuttlefish on that dive; by the end of the trip
I had pretty much stopped photographing them given their
abundance throughout the range.
The best dive of the day and probably the best of the trip
was a site simply named The Pinnacle. Up to that point we
hadn’t seen much in the way of soft coral, but here we dived
into stellar visibility and magnificent decoration. The spire
rose from a depth of 120 feet to within 15 of the surface, and
each circumnavigation revealed a different wide-angle wonder.
Gorgonians punctuated by hawkfish, huge soft-coral trees
and clouds of wrasses dominated the view. Closer inspection
revealed coral grouper, scorpionfish, lionfish and pufferfish.
The Pinnacle was so good we did it as a night dive, which was
spectacular, and as an early morning dive, which was even better.
Raine Island, a marquee destination of Far North
itineraries, is famed as the nesting site of the world’s largest
population of green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas). David
Doubilet, who famously covered the island for National
Geographic in 2009, described it thus:
“The turtles begin to arrive at Raine Island in early October.
Males arrive first, full of anticipation after a 1,000-mile swim.
When the females arrive they mass outside the reef. At dusk
they cross the reef, gather in the shallows and crawl onto the
island under cover of darkness. This is prime reptile real estate:
there may be as many as 10,000 females on the island laying
eggs in one night. It is bedlam in slow motion, with turtles
arriving, digging, uncovering another nest and covering theirs.
At dawn though, the place was deserted as the sun rose to
illuminate an island mangled by tracks of the silent horde.”
Encountering more than 250 turtles during an hour in
the water is common when you visit during their breeding
season (October through February). Adding to the drama
during the turtles’ nesting season, tiger sharks come in for
one of their favorite meals.
My final dive in the Far North before we evacuated
in anticipation of huge cyclonic winds was at Sushi, a
reef flat beginning in only 10 feet of water. The shallows
provide huge tridacna clams, hard corals and the ubiquitous
cuttlefish, one of which was laying its eggs into the crevices
as protection from predators. But the Pacific double-saddle
butterflyfish knew the routine and repeatedly swarmed in
like pirate raiders, eager to scarf up the eggs.
I wish the weather would have allowed us to continue
northward, for the chart showed we were edging ever nearer to
the remote reefs separating Australia and Papua New Guinea.
Yet, having that trip truncated is merely inspiration to return.
With Cairns so close and convenient, the offshore attractions so
photogenic and biologically diverse and the Australian people
so warm and welcoming, Tropical Queensland by liveaboard
remains one of diving’s great adventures. AD
STEPHEN FRINK Douglas Seifert Douglas Seifert