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Trip Report #3
Far Northern Trip
By Larry Lozuk - December 2005
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Every year for a brief period in early Australian summer the green turtles come to Raine Island to lay their eggs in the sand. This year we decided to join them.
"The Raine Island Nature Refuge is the nesting site for the world' largest remaining population of the vulnerable green turtle (Chelonia mydas). The green turtles which nest at Raine Island and Moulter Cay are a genetically distinct population of ancient lineage which has long been isolated from populations in other parts of the world.
Tens of thousands of adult female green turtles come ashore each year to nest on Raine Island during the peak breeding season. In an exceptional year, 14 500 females were counted in a single night of nesting! The number of turtles that nest at Raine Island each year bears a relationship to the atmospheric phenomenon known as El Nino."
from the Raine Island Corporation website
American took me to LAX, then Qantas to Sydney and to Cairns. Thirty-one hours no matter how you look at it. However, Qantas was nice enough to give me some One World status perks, and I had no one next to me on the flight over or back.
This report is about the dive expedition, so the only thing I'll mention about Sydney and Cairns is that if you're going to fly to the other side of the globe anyway you should plan on a couple of days in each location.
The EDG exists for a reason. We want to go places and do what we please without hindrance from the dive operator. Only experienced, capable divers are invited. The group requires very little hand-holding. It is often challenging for an operator that wants to dictate schedule, profiles, rules, and generally structure a week the way they do for most tourists. Typically this gets worked out in the first couple of hours. We listen carefully to the dive briefing, then hit the water and scatter. After frazzles nerves on the first couple of dives the operators work out our routine and leave us alone to do our thing.
We did the far northern itinerary offered by the Nimrod Explorer. It is a remote location -- really remote. If you're uncomfortable with a lack of infrastructure (like scheduled flights, docks, or asphalt) this is not the trip for you. It's a long way from Richmond. However, remoteness has a huge upside. We didn't see another boat the entire week until the last day. Only a few divers get to do this area every year. At night there is not a single point of light anywhere on the horizon. You are alone.
The trip begins with a two-hour flight from Cairns to Lockhart River, a runway laid in a spot where the rainforest was cleared away years ago when the Australian military decided to see what would happen if they detonated 40 tons of TNT. It was quite effective.
It took four Shrike Commander 500's to get us and our copious luggage out of Cairns.
The flight north is made at an altitude of 8,000 feet. It offers some nice sweeping vistas, a preview of things to come.
Mike the pilot, sated by his in-flight sandwich, set us down smoothly on the (surprisingly) paved strip.
This should bring back some nice memories if you're been there.
We arrived at the Iron Gate terminal and waited patiently at baggage claim 1.
At Lockhart River we boarded an Oz Tours bus. Rick makes the trip to Lockhart River from Cairns once a week just to take dive groups to the Nimrod boat. He drove us from the airport to Portland Roads, a mere smudge on the map where there used to be a dock. The trip takes about thirty minutes through incredible rainforest. The bus stays here for the month or so that the northern itinerary occurs. Rick drives it to and from Cairns at the beginning and end of the season, a trip that takes him three days each way. If it doesn't get out before the rain starts the bus stays at Lockhart River until the roads dry out six months later.
They manage the area very carefully. The pile of trash is from the previous week on the boat. It is removed from the boat and bused to a location where it can be disposed of properly.
At the end of the road we finally got our first glimpse of the Explorer.
The Army stopped maintaining the dock decades ago after WWII when there was a dispute about who would pay for repairs. Then they bombed it into the ocean, just for spite.
We waded to the tender, then made our happy way to the boat.
(Note to future travelers -- do not put the five large Americans and their luggage in a small dinghy and expect a diminutive Japanese dive instructor to be able to lift it off the rocks.)
The Nimrod Explorer is a big, beefy twin-hull boat. The one day we sailed through some heavy seas the boat handled it well. It has a crew of five -- Andy the captain, Mark the engineer, Tim and Demi the dive instructors, and a hostess named Carlie. I understand that at least two of these are replacements for the regular crew, but you can expect to see Mark as captain on a different itinerary.
The Explorer is a very stable, capable platform. Every engine, motor, compressor, and winch on board started on the first turn, without fail, and purred smoothly through the entire week we were on board. It is a very well-maintained vessel.
There are four quad cabins belowdecks and two doubles up top. For a special treat request the honeymoon suite, complete with silk bedcovers. The main salon is used for eating and lounging. It is equipped pretty typically -- tables, TV, DVD, CD. The Nimrod Explorer is not a luxury craft, but it is comfortable. The entire inside space is air-conditioned, although the AC in the salon is very weak, making the room unbearable at some points during the day. The cabins were all adequately air-conditioned.
The covered upper deck is suitable for lounging, drinking, and is the only place on the boat where smoking is allowed. One minor nit is that there is really no place on board for sunbathing, something that most boats offer. No big deal for me, though -- I planned to avoid the sun as much as possible.
The dive deck is spacious, easily accommodating all 18 of us. There is room for two cylinders for each diver at each dive station. The seat at each station lifted to show a spacious dive locker to keep personal dive gear. The boat pumps nitrox, but it turns out that it does not have the capacity to keep 16 EAN divers filled for five dives a day. Consequently, half of us got nitrox on every dive, the rest dove air. We rotated to keep it equitable, and the company only charged us half the usual price of an unlimited week of nitrox. Fills were consistently in the 2900-3000 psi range, very adequate for the dives we did.
As usual, we threw off the routine a bit right after boarding. The hostess wanted to assign rooms and bunks. We had to explain the whole EDG thing, and after a bit of coaxing we did it ourselves. As I said, this is a capable group.
Another minor nit. The website mentions that where possible this itinerary would allow a couple of shakeout dives the first day on board. This seemed reasonable, since we were on the boat by 1pm. As it turns out, the first day is always consumed with steaming south and meeting up with a barge for fuel and food. This is understandable given the remoteness of the area, the lack of a dock, and the difficulty of the logistics. Just tell people the facts and don't let them expect to dive the first day. We spent the time well, prepping gear and cameras.
Did I mention cameras? Of 18 divers (16 in our group and two other poor unsuspecting souls) there were four non-photographers. That's a lot of cameras, strobes, and housings. The boat has two decent-sized camera tables but our stuff was just ridiculous. I hadn't taken a photo underwater in almost two years and was excited by the prospect of breaking in my new rig.
The schedule was typical of dive boats everywhere, with two breakfasts, lunch, dinner, snacks, and four to five dives interspersed throughout the day. The crew was flexible enough to allow us a dawn dive in place of a night dive on Wednesday. Diving was done both moored and drifting, as currents and wind demanded. We had no issues with the boat procedures for either whatsoever, and once they found out we were capable they allowed us free rein. Most dive sites offered the opportunity to go well beyond recreational limits, but we tended to stay shallow where the marine life was. Dive times were limited to 70 minutes in order to keep the heavy schedule. We squeezed every minute out of every dive.
Our dive itinerary took us from Portland Roads up to Raine Island and back. We dove both the Great Barrier Reef and the Coral Sea. The sites ranged from Southern Small Detached Reef up to Raine Island.
We did have one very interesting event. Upon arrival at Raine Island, the highlight of the trip, we geared up as per usual and were prepared to enter the water. Demi the DM hit the water to check the current. He stayed down about five minutes, a bit longer than usual. When he hit the surface, Demi informed us he had seen ten turtles in the first couple of minutes in the water. We were primed in big way for a big dive.
Just then, literally seconds from splashdown, a small inflatable pulled up alongside carrying two park rangers. One informed the captain that the vessel was not authorized to dive Raine Island. The ensuing conversation took most of two hours, but it ended with us leaving the area and diving nearby. A flurry of satellite phone calls ensued between the boat and the Nimrod main office in Cairns. We spent the rest of the day diving other reefs. There was much hand-wringing.
As it turns out, the ranger was new to the station and had misinterpreted the area where diving was allowed. We approached the island again overnight and made five successful dives there. In a show of class, the ranger got our group together, came clean about his error and apologized for the inconvenience. No one but researchers are allowed on the island, but we could see turtle tracks literally covering every square foot of the beach.
While the highlight of the trip was Raine Island, there were a couple of other spectacular sites that should not go without mention. Pinnacle, Monique, and the triple-pinnacle Botek Koek had spectacular marine life. The reefs were as healthy as any I had seen anywhere. Many times we talk about putting a finger down on a dead or bare spot to maintain position while watching or photographing. That opportunity just does not arise here, as the coral is prolific and healthy everywhere. While it does not have the visibility enjoyed elsewhere in the South Pacific, this is world-class diving.
11/27 #1/#2 Auriga Bay Southern Small Detached Reef
11/27 #3 Rosie's Wall Southern Small Detached Reef
11/27 #4/#5 Nature's Way Lagoon Reef
11/28 #1 North West Point Morth Small Detached Reef
11/28 #2 No Name (Back to School?) South Mantis Reef
11/28 #3 Lloyds Reef
11/28 #4/#5 Black Rock
11/29 #1/#2 The Pinnacle Great Detached Reef
11/29 #3 "Rubble Reef" (make-up dive for missing Raine Island)
11/30 #1-4 Raine Island
12/1 #1 Raine Island (dawn dive)
12/1 #2/#3 Moniques Great Detached
12/1 #4/#5 Botek Koek
12/2 #1 Black Rock
12/2 #2/#3 Eden/Last Oasis
We left the boat on Saturday, eight days after boarding. The trip south to Cairns was the reverse of the northern version with a couple of twists. First, Rick from Oz Tours make a few stops on the trip from Portland Roads to the Lockhart River airport. We did a brief rainforest hike to an old mining camp and saw a small Aboriginal town by the airport. Second, as we had been out of the water less than 24 hours the chartered planes flew at less than 1,000 feet for the entire journey back. For the really nice part over the reefs Mike played bomber pilot and gave us the view from 100 feet over the water, banking to follow the reef contours.
Overall this was a very good trip. We didn't get to see whale sharks or mantas, which was surprising considering the amount of stuff in the water. Visibility was often limited to 50-ish feet because of the abundance of sea life. Much to JudyG's consternation we did not see a single sea snake.
We did see turtles, though. Lots of turtles. These creatures alone are worth every bit of this trip. They come off the beach exhausted and are easy to spot along the edge of the wall. Those with any energy left are skittish and bolt at incredible speed. Some simply don't have it in them and allow close proximity, though they remain wary and are obviously relieved when you leave them. They are difficult to photograph. The fast ones are -- well, fast. The tired ones tend to lay in the reef in un-photogenic positions. I feel fortunate to have gotten a couple of good snaps.
It was a great group. I'm privileged to have shared with them.
These are some of my favorite underwater shots from the trip.
The anemones here are different from their Caribbean relatives. I enjoyed poking around and getting details.
The giant clams are absurd and fascinating. The color schemes are psychedelic.
This is what the EDG is all about. Hold position at 35 feet while swimming horizontally in a current next to a pinnacle, shooting through a small hole for 25 minutes without touching the reef. The pain we go through for cleaning station pictures. ;-)
This guy is in a quarter-inch hole.
Crinoids are carnivorous, vicious, and highly dangerous. They will attack without warning and always go straight for a jugular. When you see one, think Sigourney Weaver in
Alien.
This one was posing as a palm tree, but we were not fooled. It's just waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting diver that ventures too close.
Why is a big turd so fascinating?
Pair of filefish, dreaming of being puffers.
These guys are incredible photogenic, particularly on a dawn dive with the sun coming up behind them.
