my happy place – part two

While the Little Black lagoon offered various reef locations to snorkel and to fish, we decided to explore the neighbouring Block Reef by dinghy.  Block Reef is on the northern side of the channel that separates the two reefs. After exploring a lagoon inside Block Reef one day and then returning to the channel, we decided to jump in on the drop-off on the Block Reef side of the channel.  It soon became our ‘go-to’ snorkel spot. It was also where Wade speared his three coral trout!

The coral was so colourful, very pretty and generally undamaged.  The low-tide water was shallow above the reef, so it was great for taking photos with strong sunlight and brilliant visibility on top of the reef, as well as having the sheer drop-off of the channel to duck-dive down to.

These Featherstars and Seaferns are so lovely …

I also found another nudibranch here … I think.  A bigger, fatter and less colourful one.  I do believe it’s actually a sea snail so maybe not technically a nudibranch, but nevertheless, it was an exciting find!  Here’s a few pics …

And the clams …

With the shallow water over the reef and the calm conditions I tried a few split-shots.  Not perfect but these do give you an idea of the above and below view.

And finally a mixed selection of photos …

It was also fun chatting and sharing info with Chris off Anui about photography. (It was Chris who inspired me to purchase my first underwater camera a few years ago.) We both now share the same passion.  All drone photos are from Chris, so thankyou. Thanks also for the editing tips too! Check out Chris’s blog at www.sv-anui.com

We had a bit of fun too …

So what a week! We had such a great time and sharing it with friends on Ilikai and then AQ and Anui, made it even more enjoyable (especially Wade’s coral trout 🙂 ).

We are now about to head south.  We have a four to five day passage to Great Keppel Island ahead of us.  We will fuel up at Hamilton Island, catch up with Waterfront, then island hop south to GKI. We have a few cats still with us, so when there’s two boats …! Hopefully we will catch some mackerel on the way as we lost a very good sized Spanish Mackerel as we left the Little Black Reef channel.  Not happy!