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Scuba Forum / Scuba Locations / September 2005Coral Sea
Who can tell me about the Coral Sea as a dive spot? Any info would be appreciated > Who can tell me about the Coral Sea as a dive spot? Any info would be appreciated. Fantastic diving, except it's not easily accessible unless you're an Aussie near Cairns. http://www.barrier-reef-holidays.com/reefliveaboard.htm http://www.diversionoz.com/en/underseaexplorer.htm You might want to consider purchasing this video to get a good look of what to expect in the Coral Sea. "Coral Sea Dreaming" with great music and video, made by David Hannan. Email: orders@wildreleasing.com.au Wild Releasing Pty Ltd 133 Dowling St., Woolloomooloo N.S.W. 2011 Australia Watching the video may be better than DIVING there. :-) I wasn't impressed at all by the Cod Hole or the GBR when I dived there in 2002. The IMAX films and videos looked much better. :-) -- Bob. > Fantastic diving, except it's not easily accessible unless you're > an Aussie near Cairns. Thats exactly right, Its not a day boat dive, its a live aboard trip, the weather can be as bad as it is good with choppy seas. > Watching the video may be better than DIVING there. :-) > I wasn't impressed at all by the Cod Hole or the GBR > when I dived there in 2002. The IMAX films and videos > looked much better. :-) The Cod Hole is on the Ribbon Reefs not the Coral Sea, and is near to Lizard Island, The vis was quite poor but the Cod were enormous, i have a great shot of my wife side by side with one of these giants. We started our Great Barrier Reef live aboard trip from Lizard Island on Nimrod Explorer, we flew from Cairns about 40 minutes in a 8 seater plane up to Lizard Island. We were also disappointed with the Barrier Reef, it is stunning from the air but for us, not so beneath the waves. If you want Oz dive info then check out www.diversionoz.com Very good company, based in Redlynch just north of Cairns. Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK Take out the "goes diving" bit.... Trip photos on line at www.morg.co.uk > > Fantastic diving, except it's not easily accessible unless you're > > an Aussie near Cairns. [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > The Cod Hole is on the Ribbon Reefs not the Coral Sea, and is near to > Lizard Island, I was referring to those itineraries on the web links I showed, which included the Cod Hole, Coral Sea, AND the GBR. When I dived the Taca from Cairns, we went to the Cod Hole and part of the GBR. Granted 2002 was an exceptionally bad year because of the coral bleaching by nature, but the vis of the GBR is never very "good" using my yardstick of 100 feet vis as "good". :-) > The vis was quite poor but the Cod were enormous, i have a > great shot of my wife side by side with one of these giants. UW magnification and optical illusion. :-) I have several of such pictures. I also have a picture of a Napoleon Wrasee at Moorea that LOOKED three time my size. Those Gropers are no bigger than their cousins (and mine) the Jew fish found in the Caribbean. > We started our Great Barrier Reef live aboard trip from Lizard Island on > Nimrod Explorer, we flew from Cairns about 40 minutes in a 8 seater plane > up to Lizard Island. > > We were also disappointed with the Barrier Reef, it is stunning from the > air but for us, not so beneath the waves. My sentiments exactly. I am sure there are parts of the 4,000 mile Reef that are better than the GBR at that region. But I suspect I would have seen it in films somewhere. In short, in terms of marine life, the GBR is unexcelled -- hell, 4,000 miles of Pacific marine life is nothing to sneeze at. But in terms of diving at any of its famed locations, it's my opinion that they are greately over-rated. -- Bob. > If you want Oz dive info then check out www.diversionoz.com > Very good company, based in Redlynch just north of Cairns. > Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK > Take out the "goes diving" bit.... > Trip photos on line at www.morg.co.uk > When I dived the Taca from Cairns, we went to the Cod Hole and part of the > GBR. Granted 2002 was an exceptionally bad year because of the coral > bleaching by nature, but the vis of the GBR is never very "good" using my > yardstick of 100 feet vis as "good". :-) I had about 100 feet viz on the northern reefs when I did that trip. The reefs nearer to Port Douglas and further south had crap viz on them. But the section down by Airlie Beach was alright too. Tempting to blame the cane field run off. Doing the southern most bit later this year. See how that is. There used to be a company that gave you your money back in you got less than 100 feet viz on Holmes Reef in the Coral Sea. Of course, if the weather was bad, then they couldn't get out there, but I remember being at 50m (was diving with an Italian) and being able to see the ripples on the surface at the top of a sheer wall. > Those Gropers are no bigger than their cousins (and mine) the Jew fish > found in the Caribbean. The Queensland grouper, however, can get huge. Never seen anything bigger than them. They can get a lot bigger than the potato cod. Jason  Signaturehttp://www.scuba-addict.co.uk/ for Australian trip reports including New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia > > When I dived the Taca from Cairns, we went to the Cod Hole and part of the > > GBR. Granted 2002 was an exceptionally bad year because of the coral [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > The Queensland grouper, however, can get huge. Never seen anything bigger > than them. They can get a lot bigger than the potato cod. >From the Taka webpage: http://www.diversden.com.au/taka.htm *> The potato Cods grow to a massive 600 pounds The ones you see in the Cod Hole seldom weigh half that size. They are members of Genus: Epinephelus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goliath_grouper #> The Goliath Grouper (Jewfish) <name change in 2001> #> The goliath grouper or itajara (Epinephelus itajara) is a #> large saltwater fish of the grouper family. #> they may reach extremely large size (record 680 lbs (309 kg), But that's like Gibby Gilligan, a 9 feet 1 inch tall woman. :-) You don't see one like that everyday, or ever. <G> The Jewfish divers see are usually MUCH smaller than that too. In short, once they are bigger than 100 lbs, they are HUGE to any diver. -- Bob. > #> The Goliath Grouper (Jewfish) <name change in 2001> > > #> The goliath grouper or itajara (Epinephelus itajara) is a #> large > saltwater fish of the grouper family. > > #> they may reach extremely large size (record 680 lbs (309 kg), That's a baby. The Queensland or Giant Grouper: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queensland_Grouper the World's largest bony fish and the aquatic emblem of Queensland, Australia. It is found throughout the Indo-Pacific region, with the exception of the Persian Gulf. The species can grow as large as 3 m long, weighing up to 600 kg, and there have been unconfirmed reports of attacks on humans. There used to be one that hung out around Exmouth pier in Western Australia. It was a huge thing. On the subject of bug grouper in Oz. The most I've ever seen was on the wreck of the Yongala. Great dive for fishlife because it's the only spot in an area of sandy sea bed that can attract life. It's more a reef dive than a wreck dive, there's so much life on it. Jason Signaturehttp://www.scuba-addict.co.uk/ for Aussie diving reports including the Coral Sea, Ningaloo reef, the Solitaries and Byron Bay > > #> The Goliath Grouper (Jewfish) <name change in 2001> > > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > That's a baby. The Queensland or Giant Grouper: But have YOU ever seen a baby, or a miniature sized baby half of a baby size? :-) > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queensland_Grouper Had seen that before, as well as what you clipped from it. > the World's largest bony fish and the aquatic emblem of Queensland, > Australia. It is found throughout the Indo-Pacific region, with the [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > There used to be one that hung out around Exmouth pier in Western > Australia. It was a huge thing. Tell us how huge, and how YOU determined how many lbs it weighed. :-) FISH STORY. That's all it is. I can tell you from personal experience, that the largest Nassau Grouper I had ever seen was the well-known one that used to hang around Marilyn's Cut in Little Cayman. I had the good fortune of taking a picture of my wife, with her hand on top of Freddy's (one of its several names) head, to get a comparison of the size of you hand to the size of Freddie's head (which was about 10 times bigger). A Fish Story teller would have said, "It's three meters long and weighed 600 kgs." In reality, it was about 1 meter long and probably weighed about 50 lbs. :-) I'll be glad to send send you a .jpg image of that pic, which was taken on the occasion of my wife's 800th dive, at Marilyn's Cut, in December 1996. Do YOU have any pix of any grouper or Queensland Cod that you think was bigger than 200 lbs? And can tell us HOW you arrived at that 200 lb figure. :-) -- Bob. > Do YOU have any pix of any grouper or Queensland Cod that you think > was bigger than 200 lbs? And can tell us HOW you arrived at that > 200 lb figure. :-) I have several pictures of my wife and BIG Cod that i took while at the Cod Hole on the Northern GBR (ribbon reefs) on a Christmas day 2 or 3 years ago, i can send a pic if you like ? Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK Take out the "goes diving" bit.... Trip photos on line at www.morg.co.uk > > Do YOU have any pix of any grouper or Queensland Cod that you think > > was bigger than 200 lbs? And can tell us HOW you arrived at that [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Cod Hole on the Northern GBR (ribbon reefs) on a Christmas day 2 or 3 > years ago, i can send a pic if you like ? Please do. I want to see if it's any bigger than the one I straddled. I estimated it to be 100 lbs at best. :-) -- Bob. > > > Do YOU have any pix of any grouper or Queensland Cod that you think > > > was bigger than 200 lbs? And can tell us HOW you arrived at that > > > 200 lb figure. :-) In the quote above, I was talking to Jason. And I thought it was Jason who replied (instead of you, Dave Morgan): > > I have several pictures of my wife and BIG Cod that i took while at the > > Cod Hole on the Northern GBR (ribbon reefs) on a Christmas day 2 or 3 > > years ago, i can send a pic if you like ? > > Please do. I want to see if it's any bigger than the one I straddled. > I estimated it to be 100 lbs at best. :-) Thanks Dave for the shots of the Potato Cods you sent! I wish you could show them in a newsgroup post. Those are about the same size as the ones *I* saw, with the similar background of diver(s) closely behind. That's exactly the photo-magnification and optical illusion I was talking about. The Gropers you took the pix are about the same size as that Little Cayman Nassau Grouper Freddie. :-) I would say your Cods were definitely less than 100 lbs. It was when I found an email from Jason (before yours) that I realize it was YOU who was going to send me pix of the Cod Hole Cods. That Jason rascal send me SPAM in his Yoga business. He probably never saw a Queensland grouper as big as the ones you and I saw! Thanks, Dave. When I saw thumbnail view of one of the four pix showing the tape, I thought it was something showing the length of the Cod, until I viewed it in its magnified form and saw the tiny nudibrach on it. :-) It's about the size of the Mandarin fish in Palau, but the Mardarin fish is much more colorful and darts about so quickly that it's almost impossible to take a good pic. Besides, I am a Clueless Newbie when it comes to taking UW pics, so I leave it to others while I file my in my computer between the ears. -- Bob. > Thanks Dave for the shots of the Potato Cods you sent! I wish you > could > show them in a newsgroup post. You probably dont.........i would be posting them so often you would probably get bored with it all. > Those are about the same size as the ones *I* saw, with the similar > background of diver(s) closely behind. Yea, well.......we all know about men and their measurements dont we.....ask a man what 9" looks like and then ask a female.....two completely different sizes eh....... > That's exactly the photo-magnification and optical illusion I was > talking > about. The Gropers you took the pix are about the same size as that > Little Cayman Nassau Grouper Freddie. :-) I would say your Cods were > definitely less than 100 lbs. I have no idea what they would weigh, but thats only 50kilo, i know what my dive bag weighs and i would say or estimate those buggers to be more than 50kilo.....not that it matters. > It was when I found an email from Jason (before yours) that I realize > it was YOU who was going to send me pix of the Cod Hole Cods. Sorry, i thought it was an open question...... Did'nt mean to rain on anyone's parade...... > That Jason rascal send me SPAM in his Yoga business. He probably > never saw a Queensland grouper as big as the ones you and I saw! While we were out in Borneo in June/July, on the front page of a local newspaper was a photo of a grouper that some local fishermen had caught around Semporna (where we get our boat), believe me when i say it was "massive"......hundreds of pounds...... > Thanks, Dave. Your welcome... > When I saw thumbnail view of one of the four pix showing the tape, > I thought it was something showing the length of the Cod, until I > viewed it in its magnified form and saw the tiny nudibrach on it. :-) That Nudi is less than 1/4" a quater of an inch across, it was miniscule, my wife is an expert now at spotting, she spots and i shoot..... > It's about the size of the Mandarin fish in Palau, but the Mardarin > fish is much more colorful and darts about so quickly that it's > almost impossible to take a good pic. Those Mandarins must be the smallest Mandarins in the world, i have never seen them that small.......usually they are about 2" two inches, but i agree they are the absolute devil to photograph, besides having only a very small time frame in which to see them you generaly have to put up with large groups wanting to see them, causing mahem for a guy and his camera, but......i have some Mandarin shots if you would like to see one or two. > Besides, I am a Clueless > Newbie when it comes to taking UW pics, so I leave it to others > while I file my in my computer between the ears. I also am a newbie as you say......used to use the camcorder to take shots for our logbook, then i used a little point and shoot digital, but the June/July trip out to Borneo was the first time i had used my new Nikon and strobe......... My website shows some pics but i have absolutely no idea about how to put websites together, the shots on my site were cobbled together over a few hours one evening with a friend who recomended a simple program for uploading photo's........personly i think its a really crappy site but it shows the photos so ......i hope to do it better in the near future. Have a good day. Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK Take out the "goes diving" bit.... Trip photos on line at www.morg.co.uk > It was when I found an email from Jason (before yours) that I realize it > was YOU who was going to send me pix of the Cod Hole Cods. > > That Jason rascal send me SPAM in his Yoga business. He probably never > saw a Queensland grouper as big as the ones you and I saw! I did what? Haven't sent you any email, let alone about bloody yoga. I've got no pictures of the Queensland grouper that I saw in Exmouth because I didn't have an UW camera back in 2001. And it's a fair while ago. It was an adult and was pretty big. There are some estimates of size on various websites but they were all over the place. Also saw a "baby" one on my first ever dive trip out of Airlie Beach. Think it was probably bigger than your average potato cod, but that was in 1991, so my memory is a bit hazy. Jason SignatureSee http://www.scuba-addict.co.uk/ for UK diving reports and the UK Underwater Visibility Database. View the database or add your own report > > It was when I found an email from Jason (before yours) that I realize it > > was YOU who was going to send me pix of the Cod Hole Cods. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > I did what? Haven't sent you any email, let alone about bloody yoga. You mean it wasn't you, but other Jason that read this thread and used your name to spam me? That was quite a coincidence! I couldn't make up something like that. I wish I hadn't deleted that post. Must have been some clever spammer/forger. See, in my Large Nassau Grouper mailbox, which I use only to collect spams (about 80-100 a day, by Yahoo) and very few get through to the mail box, which I don't use for reading or posting. This Jason got through the Yahoo SPAM filter, and the subject and everything looked just like something you sent. But I'll take your word that some bloddy forger here did it. It wouldn't be the first time, or the last. But it was YOGA spam, in the event anyone else got it too. :-) > I've got no pictures of the Queensland grouper that I saw in > Exmouth because I didn't have an UW camera back in 2001. And it's a fair > while ago. It was an adult and was pretty big. There are some estimates > of size on various websites but they were all over the place. The size estimates are typical because most folks have not seen many "large" fish, and when they did, they didn't have any experience to size it accurately. > Also saw a "baby" one on my first ever dive trip out of Airlie Beach. > Think it was probably bigger than your average potato cod, but that was in > 1991, so my memory is a bit hazy. The first real experience I had with the size and weight of fish was in Cozumel when the DM caught a sizeable mahi mahi while the slow boat was head back. When I held it by its tail fin and stood it upside down, it came to somewhere between my waist and chest. It was 20 lbs. TWENTY. :-) Since then, I notice picture of BIG catfish people caught and got their pix in the newspaper. Just one two days ago -- the lady had it across her chest, held up by the elbows of both hands. About 3 feet long. 35 lbs. You get the idea. That's why I said it would be a RARE event indeed if you see a large fish that actually weigh as much as 100 lbs. Dave Morgan's Cods looked almost that big. The ONLY reliable estimate of the size of any fish is one that's measured by tape or actually weighed by a scale. But then, those are usually dead one. :) -- Bob, > You mean it wasn't you, but other Jason that read this thread and used > your name to spam me? That was quite a coincidence! I couldn't make up > something like that. I wish I hadn't deleted that post. Must have been > some clever spammer/forger. Probably a virus on some infected windows box. It's not hard to write something that scans through Outlook files, picks the from address and the subject and then uses it to send an email. The amount I know about yoga could be written on the back of a postage stamp. > The size estimates are typical because most folks have not seen many > "large" fish, and when they did, they didn't have any experience to size > it accurately. The estimates for the one in Exmouth I found on the net varied by about 50%. There is another huge one resident on the Yongala. It's 6 foot long and of course grouper are quite wide too. Apparently it was there when I dived it, but I missed it. Not something I was that bothered about given that it had decided to swallow a diver's head about 6 months before. Jason SignatureSee http://www.scuba-addict.co.uk/ for Caribbean trip reports to Aruba, Cuba, Grand Bahama, Barbados, St Lucia and Mexico > > You mean it wasn't you, but other Jason that read this thread and used > > your name to spam me? That was quite a coincidence! I couldn't make up [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > something that scans through Outlook files, picks the from address and the > subject and then uses it to send an email. Almost a certainty. I was getting a mini lesson (from my geek guru diving friend Jeff who owns Scuba-SE and other lists as well as a full-time geek pro). He told me about all the rat-ware, ad-ware, and was sure that one of my laptops has been hijacked. :-) I am on the other laptop now, but ... I don't mind spams in my Yahoo box, which is why I use that address for my newsgroup posts. :-) > The amount I know about yoga could be written on the back of a postage > stamp. I printed out a 67-page documented recommended by Jeff about all the spy-ware and rat-ware. It turned out AOL tipped me off 6 spies and none of them was on that 67-page list. It's a jungle out there. The rat-ware folks write rat-ware to sell their own rat-wear killers -- just like Symantec and Norton put out viruses just to sell their virus protection software. :-) > > The size estimates are typical because most folks have not seen many > > "large" fish, and when they did, they didn't have any experience to size > > it accurately. > > The estimates for the one in Exmouth I found on the net varied by about > 50%. That's easy to do. >There is another huge one resident on the Yongala. It's 6 foot long Ok. 5 feet with 20% UW magnification would do it. :) The other factoid I discovered MYSELF was that sometimes the size of the big fish (various sharks, e.g.) I estimated are larger than the max size of those species, as given in fishbooks. > and of course grouper are quite wide too. Apparently it was there when I > dived it, but I missed it. Not something I was that bothered about given > that it had decided to swallow a diver's head about 6 months before. Kinsey was write about fish sizes. :-) Is that why Brits call willies and we have Willy the whale? -- Bob. >> > When I dived the Taca from Cairns, we went to the Cod Hole and part of the >> > GBR. Granted 2002 was an exceptionally bad year because of the coral [quoted text clipped - 46 lines] > >-- Bob. Well I just got back from some Wreck Diving in the Florida Keys and I can tell you that there is a Family of Jewfish living on the thunderbolt wreck that are absolutly huge. The largest one, they say is approx 800 lbs, the Middle Sized one is supposed to be 600 lbs and the small one is 300lbs. I have to belive the reported weights because I saw all three of them and the largest one was the size of a Volkswagon easily. When he came out of the deck hatch that was 6 ft x 10 ft he filled the entire hatch. Scared the sh.t outta me because I was just decending into that hatch when he decided to come out. All I saw untill I backed up was a pair of eyes about 3 feet apart. CyBrSuFr > Well I just got back from some Wreck Diving in the Florida Keys and I > can tell you that there is a Family of Jewfish living on the [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > was just decending into that hatch when he decided to come out. All I > saw untill I backed up was a pair of eyes about 3 feet apart. Nice "fish story". You had imagined at least several world records (pity nobody recorded them), and based on your account, the largest one was probably pushing 300 lbs, not an oz more. Furthermore, you nark easily don't you? :-) -- Bob. > My sentiments exactly. I am sure there are parts of the 4,000 mile > Reef that are better than the GBR at that region. But I suspect I > would have seen it in films somewhere. In short, in terms of marine > life, the GBR is unexcelled -- hell, 4,000 miles of Pacific marine > life is nothing to sneeze at. But in terms of diving at any of its > famed locations, it's my opinion that they are greately over-rated. We much preferred the diving on offer at South West Rocks, Byron Bay, Noosa Heads, but as has been said above, the vis out on Holmes was stunning, the swim throughs in the coral heads was excellent, you never knew what you would find round the next corner.....sharks, BIG triggers.....Holmes reminds me of Nabq north of the Mangroves and shrimp farm just North of Sharm, a shore dive and out of reach of the day boats. Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK Take out the "goes diving" bit.... Trip photos on line at www.morg.co.uk > Who can tell me about the Coral Sea as a dive spot? Any info would be > appreciated. I dived Holmes Reef a few years ago now. Was supposed to do Osprey 3 years ago, but the weather meant we had to stay on the GBR instead. Trip report for the Holmes trip on my website. Jason Signaturehttp://www.scuba-addict.co.uk/ for Australian trip reports including New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia |
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