Exmouth

     I spent time exploring Exmouth while I was not able to be in the water. I found several groups of wonderfully friendly people. Unfortunately, a car is needed to see anything outside of the Exmouth proper. We had time to see a little of Cape Range National Park on our last day of the tour up to Exmouth but there is much more to the national park.
     My first day to explore was with an incredibly nice Irishman who I met on the whale shark boat. He lives in Perth and had 2 friends visiting. The second day was with an Aussie who works in the mining industry. He was exploring with his 2 friends. We met in the car rental shop as we were both inquiring about renting a car to dive for the day and then drop at the airport. There was only 1 car. I let him have it and then he was nice enough to invite me to join them. I really enjoyed both of my days out and about in Exmouth. It is nice to be traveling and run into some more great people.
     Both days we explored the national park on the south side of Exmouth. There are 2 roads that lead into it. Shothole Canyon Road is 14km outside of town. The road is in the valley of the canyon and is not the smoothest road. There is a picnic area and scenic overlook spot at the end. The colors of the rocks were amazing. It was a beautiful drive.
The other road, about 21 km outside of town, is the Charles Knife Canyon. This dive is up on the ridge so the views look down into the canyon. The sheer drops are pretty impressive. You can also see the ocean from some of the overlooks. It was really pretty.

Shothole Canyon Road

Charles Knife Canyon Road

     Pebble Beach is on the way back into town. It was, just as the name indicates, completely comprised of 2-4cm round rocks. Apparently it is a great place to see whales in September/October when they migrate down south. The most interesting thing on the beach was a sign that talked about the seasons for the animal life in the Exmouth waters.

On the other side of Exmouth, we drove up to the lighthouse. Exmouth is situated on one side of the peninsula because it was initially not a tourist destination but a support town for the Naval Communications Station. The lighthouse is at the tip. It was able to get a picture with water in the background...this is impressive since the lighthouse is SO FAR back from the coastline. The overlook is actually closer to the water than the lighthouse itself.

We stopped by a Turtle Sanctuary information center. During the turtle season, this is a good beach to watch them come in to lay eggs or to see the hatchlings start their fight for life as they work their way out into the ocean. It was a strange area. There was a story board that had was written as if it were a child's book with rhyming but the story was quite morbid.  The pictures....well....the pictures are a bit...I don't know how to put into words how I felt a picture of a crab decapitating a baby turtle. A bit graphic.
There is a ranger station where you have to pay to enter Cape Range National Park on the beach side.
The very end of the road is Yadie Creek. We took the Nature Hike. The hike wound along the top of the gorge and looked down on the creek. The area is known for rock wallabys.  We did manage to see one of these shy animals. We also almost walked over several wallaby and kangaroos eating a snack. They were not concerned about us at all. It was a nice hike and highly recommended.
Back to the Water -

I think one of the reasons that Exmouth beaches have such great coral is that the beaches aren't really in Exmouth. The beaches are protected by the national park and therefore access is more restricted than Coral Bay.

I tried snorkeling at Lakeside (the first spot to park in the national park). I think we went to the wrong area because it was recommended but the marked area for snorkeling was pretty boring...mostly algae. The only thing that saved it was that the beach was pretty and we saw a shoveled ray in the first 2 minutes of the snorkel.

We went to Turquoise Bay each time I went out to the National Park.  Turquoise Bay is beautiful.  I wondered down both sides of the beach.  One side is beach and more beach.  the other side gets rocky.  iIt was fun to walk along the flat rocks...I kept hearing scratching noises and felt like I was being watched.  Turns out there were tons of little crabs in the rocks and they were watching.  If I approached, the scurried to a hiding spot in the rocks.  There were also lots of Chiton (which look like a funny shaped rocks but are animals that seal themselves in a moist environment so they can survive when exposed to air for extended periods of time.

Sea Cucumber in Turquoise Bay

I rescued a sea cucumber that had come in a bit too far and was left stranded when the tide when out. Sea cucumbers do not have any protection if they are out of water. He was baking on the rock.  I put him back into the ocean.
It was a fun tidal flat area with lots of critters to see.

Trigger fish

Parrot fish

 I also enjoyed more time snorkeling at Turquoise. I was there for a sunset snorkel one of the days. It was beautiful to see the amazing color and animals below and see the sun doing its best to paint the sky with its own brilliant color. It was beautiful.
I liked where I stayed in Exmouth. Most of the people who I met stayed at Potshot backpackers or hotel so I had to walk down to meet them but it was not a long walk. Potshot Backpackers was not the nicest or cleanest place. It was not warm and comforting and it FELT like an old backpackers place that was not cared for. The nice thing was that the communal kitchen did have cooking equipment (knives, pots, pans) and (for a deposit) they would hand out place settings (but watch out for the cracked mugs). There was also a toilet/shower in each room BUT in the backpackers, there were 10 beds in each room. I did not like it there.

Visitors outside of my room

I moved to Aspen Holiday Park. It was really clean and nice. I was more at home from the minute I walked in...well maybe after about 5 min. The guy at the front desk was quite abrupt when I told him that I had a reservation and gave him my name, he responded with "No you don't!" ;I thought he was joking....so I repeated myself and then asked if he wanted to see the reservation. He said yes because he did not believe that I had a reservation (apparently I was not in the system). I presented my printed reservation after digging it out from the bottom of my bag. He was quite confused. The lady at the other end of the desk overheard my name and said, "is this her reservation". She thought it was a joke because of the combo of my name and email address...so she did not enter it but kept it around. At that point they were very nice and laughed about the whole situation with me and we made jokes about it the whole time I was there. I even was given a ride to my room in a golf cart. My room felt really new. There were only 4 beds per room (and since it was the off season...I had the room to myself). The bathroom/really nice warm showers/laundry were a quick walk across the park road.

Visitor at the picnic area

The grilling/cooking facilities were fantastic however you had to provide all your own things or you could rent a well equipped cooking kit from the front desk. If you needed anything...just a plate and knife...that was your only option.
They also has a nice shaded pool area and they showed 2 movies outside on a big screen twice while I was there. They were kids movies. I took my sleeping bag and picnic dinner over to watch the shows. I really liked the place.

Since there were not a lot of city lights, I did take the opportunity to go outside and try to get the southern cross in a photo again. It was fun but I did get bitten by mossies (an Australian mosquito) on the walk. The Southern Cross looks like a kite (I would say a cross but there is an extra star). It is featured on the Australia flag. There are 2 pointer stars that point to the south. They are the brighter than the southern cross. It is strange to look up and be disoriented with the stars in the sky. When I returned home from living in Australia I found that I really missed the southern cross when it no longer looked down on me.
The other funny thing is that I could not escape the song from the fire display during Vivid Sydney.  I like the song...makes me think of the fun we had walking around Vivid Sydney (see my blog post for a video of the fire display).  I heard it everywhere.  If it is not a big thing anywhere else, it sure is popular in Australia.

View from plane - Exmouth to Perth

The airport in really small...in fact there is nothing to buy, eat, drink once you pass security...even the bathrooms are outside the secure area. It is on a military base so you are also not allowed to take pictures of any kind. It was cute. My flight pack to Perth was pretty and Eddie (who I met at the car place) was nice enough to drop me at the backpackers in Perth.
By the way...never stay in Governor Robinsons hostel in Perth...well...I don't mean never but I would not stay there again.  They were not the warmest of people and the long term residents there really complained about the lack of help and support.  They ended up calling the wrong shuttle service for me even though I handed him my voucher.  It made for a VERY unpleasant morning.  The shuttle service they called has regular routes and pick up times.  The front desk clerk told me to be up and ready 45 minutes earlier than what I had been told when I called the shuttle company previously.  When they arrived, I jumped in the shuttle and was told that my voucher was for the other company.  Luckily I had not shut hotel front door enough for the lock to engage and I was able to get back in because it was cold.  I paced and fretted about if the right company would pick me up.  They did.  City Link picks up based on request and that is why I would have had 45 min extra sleep.  I made it to the airport with time to spare and bid WA goodbye until next time.

Whale Sharks!

Whale Sharks are amazing.  The whole goal of my WA trip was to see whale sharks.  I booked my trip that was linked to a 3-Day Live Aboard Diving trip and the Navy Pier dive and negotiated a great package deal with Whale Shark-n-Dive (WSD).  I had also negotiated a discount deal (the YHA discount price) with Ningaloo Reef Dreaming (NRD) and thought it was good because they give you a free picture CD according to the advertising.  Matthew paid for a trip with them at the price I negotiated and since he could not go...he said he booked the trip for me (SO SWEET).  I was a bit stressed because NRD sent a voucher (and said I needed to have it) but it had the wrong date.  I had to get them to reissue it and then could not find a place to print it.  Ended up I did not need the voucher.
     I found out, once I arrived in WA, that NRD's reputation is that they are "a bunch of cowboys" and do not do things in a professional manner.  They have their own plane but the rumor is that sometimes they don't even put it up.  I don't know if all the rumors are true but I was concerned about booking through them.
The day I went out with NRD...there was only one other company that braved the weather and sent a boat out.  The good thing was that there was no concerns about another boat getting our shark...the bad thing was that it was rough and they ended up going in early (after we saw our shark and he dove) because of rough weather (high winds).  Their normal boat had a hole in the hull (rumors are from hitting the reef - very bad for the reef and boat) so we used their spare boat (actually it was their old boat that they had sold but were now renting it back until their new boat was fixed).  The waves crashed over the sides as we were going out to look for sharks.  Anything that was not in a tub with a lid (which they provided) was soaked.
The crew was fun and worked hard.  They were very blunt about the international regulations to protect the sharks which was a good thing.  They did push very hard with respect to swimming fast and the speed of entry in/exit out of the water.  Getting in and out of the boat was really hard.  I saw more people with bloody scratches and cuts and if someone was not bleeding, they were bruised.  We were on the hunt for sharks...but not the kind that are attracted by blood.  It was a rough trip.  I also felt a sense of stress to get in and out with urgency...it was not an excited urgency but a stressed one.
They did have a photographer on board, however, we were not given a picture CD. Instead they gave us a little slip of paper with a link to a website that had the photos for us to download (if you acted within 2 weeks). I want to highlight that all of the photos featured in this blog were taken by me with my camera.
The snorkel they provided was the cheap kind with no splash guard or relief. It was not good equipment for this type of swimming...it made it difficult to get the water out.
They did have snacks every time we came in from the water. They served lunch on the boat which was basically sandwiches...it was good.
At the end of the trip, everyone was happy because we did see a shark. In total we saw 2 manta rays from the boat, several humpback whales (including one that breached) and had 2 swims with a fantastic shark.

Whale Shark-n-Dive had a reputation of being professional, customer-oriented...a great company.  They have the best equipment and the fastest, nicest boat on the water.  (by the way...I did find out that generally speaking, if a dive shop is located on the premises of your accommodation, there is a local discount for the trip (Aspen Holiday Park had a discount for WSD))
They lived up to the reputation.  The equipment was very good (relief and splash guards on the snorkels (which made a big difference in the overall experience)).  The boat was fantastic...nothing got wet unless it was meant to.  It was FAST! Getting in and out of the boat was significantly easier...the board on the back of the boat is lower, I think, and it seems softer for some reason.  I did not see any blood.  I liked the upper deck area and the boat had a hot water shower on the back so you could rinse off and warm up a bit. They have a videographer on board and he sells videos from the trip.  They too had snacks every time we came out of the water...the snacks were excellent (more than just opening a bag of cookies).  Lunch consisted of sandwiches and salads and was very good.
My original trip was canceled - no boats went out due to 3 meter swells so I rescheduled (to my back-up day).
On my second attempt, it was a beautiful day on the water...sunny and calm.  We saw everything including a ray during the morning snorkel, two mantas (that we swam with), humpbacks including a little baby on his momma's back, a sea snake on the surface, turtles and a crazy marlin that jumped out of the water no less than 15 times.  We did not see a shark.
I rearranged my return to Perth (with Matthew's help) and rescheduled for the third attempt.  The weather was not as nice on my last trip but we did get to swim with a manta and swim twice with a very slow moving shark. Both trips with WSD were great. I did not feel rushed or pressured...there was only an air of excitement but no stress.  I would highly recommend WSD (and tell them Noel said "Hi").
Overall I LOVED my time on the water in Exmouth.

The structure of all of the trips were the same.  The bus picked me up outside my accomidation at about 7:15am.  We were taken to Tantabiddi Boat Ramp.  There was a tidal area that we had to cross...sometimes it was dry and sometimes it was a river.
On one of the trips out it was guarded by a very brave crab.   He was standing at attention as ridged as I had ever seen a crab.  The gal in front of me thought it was fake until she stopped and bent down to look at him and he snapped his claws so hard and fast that she jumped and let out a yelp.  It was funny.  He stayed at attention.  An aggressive and brave crab.
Everyone going out to see sharks met at this beach.  The individual boats sent tenders to collect the passengers.

Beautiful Coral Interaction

Once on board the shark boat, snorkeling equipment was sorted for everyone.  They gave the boat safety talk and then the snorkel brief. The boats then moved to a spot to do a morning snorkel.
The morning snorkel was an opportunity for everyone to test out the borrowed equipment.  It also was a good way for the crew to get a read on everyone's snorkel ability.  NRDs snorkel spot offered nothing...there was nothing to see and it was a big race.  Everyone was with their group (2 swimming groups on the boat) and we were told to just follow our spotter.  The snorkel time with WSD was on your own. A pleasant experience.

Fungidae Corals

Nudibranch

     We went to a beautiful spot and saw some fantastic coral and reef fish. We saw a huge ray under a coral overhang. There was a great variety of different coral, each fighting for their spot on the ground and their access to sunlight. One of my favorites is the Fungidae. They are the most mobile of the hard corals.  I saw other invertebrates including nudibranchs (shell-less snails) of different colors and shapes.

Parrot-fish at
Cleaning Station

Turtle

We were able to see many different reef fish.  I like watching the cleaning wrasse work away at cleaning stations (see picture with a parrot fish).  Parrot fish are fun...the front of their faces look like a parrot beak.  While snorkeling you can hear crackling in the water...that is the parrot fish scrapping coral to get the algae out of the coral.  You can even see scrapes on coral from the parrot fish.
The turtle was a nice goodbye to my last whale shark snorkel experience.

The snorkel ended and everyone was back on the boat by about 10am when the spotter planes went up in the air. The waiting game began....During the wait to get a good call from a spotter plane, we kept an eye out for other marine life.  Mantas were a exciting spot.

      On the two WSD trips, we were able to swim with the mantas.  Manta swimming is different from whale shark swimming.  You don't want to swim after them.  If they are curious, they will approach you.  We silently lowered ourselves into the water and floated over to them but kept a distance.
It was beautiful!  They are so graceful and beautiful.  Mantas feed on plankton and small fish.  They funnel food in and have gill bars to keep the good stuff and let the water through.  Mantas were called devil rays in old lore but they are harmless beautiful animals that are among the most awe-inspiring things I have seen.  I remember the silence in the water as the beautiful animals danced in the water to music that they seemed to create. It was stunning.  They were curious enough to stick around and show us part of the symphony that they create daily.  It is magical; beauty and grace itself.

Humpback whales were migrating up from Antarctica to their nursery up between Indonesia and northern Australia.  Up there they have their young, train the young whales, breed, etc.  They return in the spring to go back to feed.
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From the boat we saw some whales in the distance...we only saw water spouts.  Others surfaced close to the boat.  I was able to see two different whales breach.  It was so exciting to see the beautiful animal thrust herself out of the water and twist so that her fins wrapped around her body.  Apparently, they normally are very focused this time of year and are not more active than they need to be....so this was a special treat.  In September/October, they tend to be more active and they jump and play much more.



Spotting amazing animals is to fill the time while the waiting game continues for big spotty fish.  We were given a talk on whale sharks.  Very little is known about whale sharks.  They are the largest fish in the sea.  They can grow up to 18 meters.  Most of the sharks around Exmouth are juvenile males (5 to 7 meters long).  They don't know where they go when they leave the Ningaloo waters or why they surface.  The guess is that they follow their food source.  They do tend to surface more when it is sunny out (and it is MUCH easier for the spotter planes to see).  All of the world's largest animals including whale sharks are filter feeders.  The largest animals feed on the smallest.  Whale sharks are beautiful and graceful. They have large tails that help propel them.  The top of their body is hard for protection while their underbelly is softer.

Whale sharks are protected in most nations.  Only 10 snorkelers are allowed to swim with a shark at one time for a maximum of an hour.  You must maintain a distance of 3 meters from head and body and 4 meters from their tail.  You are not allowed to swim over or under them.  Diving down generally scares them and that makes them dive...so duck diving is not allowed (also why you only snorkel and not dive with them).
When a shark is spotted, the boat engines rev and they tell you to get ready.  People get with their group (20 people on the boat = 2 groups) and get masks ready and puts fins on.  The boat pulls up in front of the shark.  The crew member who is the spotter gets in and indicates that they see the shark by raising their hand in the air.  The group gets in as fast as possible with a giant stride entry into the water and you must position yourself behind the spotter or on the other side of the shark behind the sharks eyes.
I got in the water and looked for our spotter.  I was also looking in the water...looking.  I saw a shadow and soon the shadow became defined. He was beautiful and right in front of me...swimming straight at me.  It was like a dream.  I woke out of my dream moment and remembered to swim out of the way. Once I was behind the spotter, I just swam.  My goal was to keep with him as long as I could. Sometimes they swim fast and all you get to appreciate is their huge powerful tail. If the shark swims slowly, there is time to look down his amazing body.Then swim like mad and take it all in until you are told to stop to let the other group take their turn.  It is wild and amazing!   The boat comes around and picks you up. Then, if you are lucky enough, you get ready to do it all over again.
I experienced both. I remember kicking for all I was worth (by the way when the say anyone can swim with whale sharks...that is true. But you may see lots of tail).  In my moment, swimming, all others did not exist. Just me and my big spotty fish.  His beautiful pattern with rows of white spots in perfect lines. Then down the length of his body are ridges.  So amazing.   They also both had a whole community of fish including ramora and little reef fish.  It is a whole little ecosystem around the animal.  The fish use the shark for protection.  It is crazy how many fish travel with this giant of the ocean.
I was lucky to get two swims with the sharks I saw.  They are beautiful powerful animals that give us the gift of visiting the surface.  I remembered to take pictures and the second trip, I took video. Excuse the quality, I was swimming fast even if it does not seem like it. :)

What an amazing animal...what an amazing experience!

Navy Pier Dive - Exmouth WA

The Navy Pier in Exmouth is rated as one of the top 10 dive sites.

The pier was built to install the radio towers for the US Naval Communication Station in the 1960's. The radio towers were used to track submarines in the Indian Ocean during the cold war. There are only 2 other stations like it in the world.
For some reason the pier has a huge biodiversity due to the location of the pier, tides, proximity to the continental shelf, etc.  The dive is known for the large schools of fish, large fish as well as invertebrates and passing pelagic animals that frequent the pier. The pier has been made a sanctuary and therefore no fishing is allowed.
Dives at the Navy Pier have to be coordinated with the tides as the tides are quite strong. Due to the limited space and the sanctuary status of the pier, only one dive shop is given the rights to dive the pier. The contract changes hands among the certified dive shops each year. Luckily, the dive shop that I did my 3 day live aboard also had the contract for the Navy Pier. Unfortunately, due to the tides, there was only one dive a day on the pier.
I went to the dive shop about 3pm for my twilight 5pm dive. We packed gear, had the dive briefing and signed our lives away on all of the legal forms. Everyone loaded into the van and we drove out to the Naval base. Because it is still a working base, we had to show ID to the military personnel. We also were also not allowed to take any pictures out of the water.
After the checkpoint, we drove through a series of gates. The bus rattled down the planks of the pier out to the end. Everyone gathered and assembled their gear including wet-suit, tank, weight belt, BCD (buoyancy control device), regulator, mask, fins and flashlight. We were told not to worry about the bird droppings on the pier...it was good for your feet. Ha Ha!
After getting into dive and buddy groups, I put on my equipment. It was much easier to put equipment on when you have a bench...from the pier, I needed help to hoist the gear on. Dive gear is not light or elegant...it is in fact the most awkward, bulky thing to have to walk around in. I grabbed my fins and headed down the flight of stairs to the lower pier. This is where it gets interesting. I put my fins on (while standing there in all my dive gear) and looked at my entry.
Normal entry into the water for diving from a boat or a pier is called a giant stride entry. Once you have all of your equipment on, you take a giant, over-exaggerated step where you push yourself away from the edge while holding your regulator and mask with one hand and your gauge in the other. Once in the water you put your hand on your head and form a giant O to indicate you are OK and then move out of the way for others to enter. This dive required a giant stride entry but the difference was that the water was 3 to 3.5 meters below the entry point. That is a LONG way down when you are loaded full of bulky gear. My heart clinched a little when I looked down. 3 meters is even farther when you are standing there at the edge.
I sucked in a deep breath and took the biggest step that I could take. It is not normal to be able to count seconds before falling...but just as I was beginning to take inventory of if I missed something...SPLASH...the cold water seeped into the wet suit and my head was under. Yea! I surfaced and signaled that I was OK and swam over to the descent rope.

Octopus hiding in a hole

I was the first down the rope from our group. As soon as I went down I saw one of the animals I was hoping to see. An octopus was looking out from a hole just about 2 feet away from the bottom of the line. YEA!! He was beautiful but shy. We did see 2 others on the dive but they were even more shy than this guy. I love octopus...they are amazing. They turn colors to try and blend in or signal to other animals. They come out more at night...so I was really excited to see one so early in my dive.  The pier dive is not for inexperienced divers. The entry into the water is a heart pounding event, the tidal flux is a challenge, and the structure of the pier adds to the challenge of navigation, and there are of course all of the stinging and biting things around.  It is really important to be able to control your buoyancy well as you could hurt yourself on this dive if you are not careful.
Looking up through the pier structure (particularly with the light diminishing during twilight) added a certian ambiance to the dive. I kept hearing the music that they play in movies when they discover a ship wreck and it is earie and amazing all at once. I liked it.
I saw two eel catfish on this dive.  I had only ever seen one of these before snorkeling in Turqupise Bay a couple days before. This one was larger than the one I had seen snorkeling.
I was also excited to see a rather large puffer fish (or blowfish)...he was over a foot from head to tail.  Puffers are pretty slow moving which make them great to see in the water.  They don't have to worry about too much because they are highly poisonous (I know...shocking...something poisonous in Australia) and have spines when inflated. Most species of puffer have a toxin called tetrodotoxin that is toxic to most fish. The poison in some puffer fish could kill up to 30 people if ingested.  Better to look and not touch...and definitely not eat.

My Wobbegong Shark at the Navy Pier

     Early in my dive I saw THE most exciting animal of the dive.  I initially swam right by him but a diver I had shown the octopus to returned the favor and pointed out the Wobby.  A wobbegong shark (name apparently has Australian Aboriginal roots), otherwise known as a carpet shark, is named for the patterned markings and barbels that look like fringe on the front of his head. Wobby's are bottom dwelling ambush predators.  I found an amazing picture on the Australian Museum Website when I was reading up on Wobbies.  That wobbegong shark did not get the message about the toxic puffers.  It is also funny that on Wikipedia they say that (and I quote) "To avoid being bitten, divers should avoid contact".  Really....really...the online encyclopedia suggests that you should avoid contact with A SHARK to not get bitten...brilliant.  Anyone who needed that explanation should NEVER step foot in Australia, home of the 1001 things that can kill you.  Anyway.  Like most other sharks, wobbegongs generally only bite humans if provoked...but if they are not respected, they have very sharp teeth and apparently don't let go easily.  The one I saw was probably about my size.  They are beautiful animals and I was SUPER excited to see one.

The pier had a beautiful variety of sharks.  I saw over half a dozen sharks in the 50 minute dive.  The proximity to the continental shelf means that pelagic and reef sharks both are found around the pier. It was wonderful to turn around and see another big elegant fish cruising around.

School of Travelle

School of Stripped Yellow Snapper

School of Sweet lips fish
swimming with divers

FISH!!

The Navy Pier is known for its large schools of fish and large sized fish.  While we were swimming, I periodically would look up and see another large group of fish swim overhead.   There were a couple of times that we were in the middle of a school...I would look back and have a hard time seeing the other divers because they were among the fish.
Sometimes the fish were not in large schools...they were just large. I saw this grouper. He was easily several feet long.

Big Grouper

Cornet fish

Yellow Morey Eel

Nudibranch

Beautiful Purple-colored Sponge
(with a flat red sponge) 

I was also happy to see three moray eels on the dive.  Eels have smooth, scaleless skin (unlike reptiles).  They secrete a protective mucus over their skin.  Morey eels have sharp, rear-hooked teeth that are designed for tearing.  They also possess a second set of jaws with teeth in their throat.  They look intimidating but they are shy animals and only attack for self defense unless you look like a small fish or crustacean.  They are well camouflaged and are normally seen in holes or crevices.   I am always excited to see moreys.  A twilight dive is a perfect time as they are normally eat at night.

Invertebrates are also plentiful on the pier. The tides and currents make a fantastic environment for anything that filters or collects nutrients that float by.  There were lots of sponges, some soft coral, mollusks, and crustaceans. I also spotted a nudibranch on one of the pylons.

One of the things I liked about the dive was that at twilight the colors changed as the sun slowly set. The animals also changed behavior. The nocturnal animals started to come out and the day animals were out but beginning to seek their nighttime refuge. It was a beautiful dive at any time of day but...WOW...it was a stunning experience.

Now...getting out of the water....I know I talked about the dramatic entry into the water...getting out offered its own challenges.  Once we surfaced, we made our way to the ladder.  The current was decently swift so we needed to keep our fins on until we were able to hold onto the ladder.  The ladder was metal with 1/2 inch rungs.  The first rung was only about 6 inches in the water (depending on the wave surge).  The challenge was that, once I removed my fins and handed them up, I had to use the water surge to help get myself hoisted up and out of the water so that I could put my foot on the second rung WITH all of my dive gear on.  I did not know if I was going to get myself out of the water especially with my upper body strength.  I mustered enough strength to somehow hoist myself (on the second attempt).  The rungs were not the most comfortable on my bare feet but were only sightly better than the grating of the second set of stairs.
Once up and gear broken down and put away, they had a snack for us with yummy Turkish bread, veggies, and dips.
Overall a fantastic dive experience!