Heron Island day 18

Last full day on Heron!

Two dives, one at a "mystery bommie" not on the charts; very nice.

Stats:
Specimens: 268
Species: 18, 43 including morphs
Beers remaining: 3
Sharks seen while diving: 8 to 10
Deepest dive: 29.3
Shallowest dive: 2.2, plus intertidal walks
Best lunch: Tuna steak with wasabi mayo
Best dinner: Tough to call, but chicken and pasta?
Best dessert: Sticky date

Until next time...

Heron Island day 17

Second to last day of diving, visited Masthead Reef. Some samples, and a school of sweetlips hanging out under a bommie made the dives enjoyable.

Sunset drinks at the resort, and a great dinner (as usual with the chef's great talent!).

Stats:
Samples: 258
Beers left: 5 + some more with Kareen

Off to do laundry. Last post (?) from Heron tomorrow.

Heron Island days 15 and 16

Day 16: Windy and our first real rain here today. The island now smells like guano.

Spearfishing in the morning for fish parasites, followed by a single dive at North Wistari in the afternoon. No new species; two samples.

Dinner: Pork in bacon with rice and apples
Beers: 2
Papers accepted during this trip: 2
Coffees: 3
Chai: 2
Samples total: 247
Species: 17?
Sharks seen today: 1 gray

Two dives tomorrow, weather permitting. In the last four days, Aaron, Rae, Monika and Lynda have left. Gary leaves tomorrow!

Day 15: Great dive, one more zoanthid species! And a looooong nap (5 hours). Must have been tired.

Heron Island day 14

Very exciting dive today.

First dive was the channel, deep and interesting, but pretty mellow. No current, and only few samples. However, during the second and more shallow dive, a school of baitfish swam over me. Then, six gray sharks swam by me, and one hung around. They were eating the baitfish, and were very "alert", twitching as I breathed. Cool, but pretty scary, they were probably 20 feet from me. Needless to say, stuck with my buddy after that.

Stats:
Samples: 238
Species: 16?
Beers consumed: 35
Longest nap: 5 hours 10 minutes (today!).

See you tomorrow.

Heron Island day 13

Great dives today at Sykes, tomorrow looks like the weather is getting worse... First dive was a deep wall, followed by a shallow bommie dive. Lots of nice samples, especially on the shallow dive. Sunset swim and beer, great dinner (roast beef) and dessert.

Facts:
Samples: 223
Species: 16 or 17 - one new Zoanthus today (vietnamensis sensu Uchida)
Beers consumed: 31

Tomorrow is a 7 am start, so up at 6! Zzzz...

Heron Island day 12

Day 12; back on diving. Two dives, one shallow and one deep. Great samples from the deep dive, including the new species and some nice octocorals.

Samples: 204
Species: 15 or 16 (one mysterious sample today)

Dinner: Kangaroo!

Tomorrow is Sykes Reef again, our favourite spot thus far!

Heron Island day 11

Finally a day of rest - no diving! Caught up on laundry and other important things.... And had a nice snorkel on the reef in the afternoon.

Stats
Samples: 192
Species: 15

Dinner was a nice (sirloin?) steak, followed by dessert. Tomorrow is diving again, need to do more intertidal work as well.