NIMROD, Up Close and Personal

By Bob Halstead

Demi is telling us about sea snakes. “Werry poisonous! Sea snake come to you werry close, and lick. You wave arms, hit sea snake, he bite, you die. Enough poison he bite 3 - 4 divers, they die. But no wully. Still have 12 divers on Nimrod. Trip continue.”

He picks up a copy of my Coral Sea Reef Guide that I have just donated to the boat. Demi says “This Leaf Scorpionfish” and points to the profile picture. “But not like this, very thin.” He pretends to lack the vocabulary to describe the fish. “Wait please” goes to the galley and returns with a left-over taco from lunch. He breaks the taco to leaf scorpionfish size and holds it up. “Leaf scorpionfish like this” and he rotates to show the leafy thinness. But we are all in fits of laughter. This guy is seriously funny, and one of the best, and certainly the most entertaining, dive guides I have ever encountered.

He is indeed a Demi God on the Cairns dive boat Nimrod, and complements an extraordinary crew. Their constant enthusiasm and good humour reflect very real competence and determination to give guests the best time ever. They are led by Captain Trent, sometime commercial aquarium fish collector and very knowledgeable on everything to do with the Great Barrier Reef. I was particularly impressed by his no-fuss ability to moor the boat in record times.
Ben, the engineer and a dive instructor, who loves Nimrod’s classic Gardner engines and generators, kept the boat running flawlessly, and joined us for many dives. Hostess Mossie kept us all comfortable and in party spirit, leaving us blokes weak at the knees by dancing in her miniscule hot pants. Newcomers to the team, chef and gypsy spirit Kerry kept us splendidly replete, and Italian Dive Instructor Ele, helped us all get organised on the dive deck, looked after the less experienced divers, and made sure we were all aboard before departing for the next site.

Nimrod was built as a research vessel in 1983. She is not as sleek and glamorous as some of the fast modern vessels that ply the GBR, but she is a dive boat of sterling character and well set up and equipped for up to 18 guest divers. The dive deck is huge and it was really pleasant to be able to spread out and not wait for space to get kitted up. Getting in and out of the water was easy and I was soon in the water with dive model Leigh Paine to shoot pictures at the Cod Hole.

We dropped down right below the boat and took off down to 20 metres to find the Potato Cod. None there, so we circled round and up to 10 m where one of the biggest decided to come close and personal – and set the standard for the trip. On our three-day cruise back to Cairns from Lizard Island we were to have close, and personal, encounters with an Olive sea snake, Green turtles, White tip reef sharks, schools of Horse Eye trevally and yellow striped snappers, and, even though the season was officially over, fabulous Dwarf Minke Whales.

A few hours earlier I had driven through a glorious Cairns sunrise to get to the Nimrod Explorer office by 7am. Greeted by enthusiastic managers Debbie and John, I enjoyed a coffee in their lounge while other guests arrived. Right on time we were aboard their bus to the airport for our spectacular flight along the reef to Lizard Island. On landing we met the departing guests who were raving about their diving adventures. But they had not seen Minke Whales so I resigned myself to the fact that I was probably too late in the season, which runs through June and July. It was now early August.

But the Potato Cod were certainly in attendance and as friendly as I have seen them. One just followed us around and posed for pictures. On the third dive of the afternoon Demi fed them. It was perfect timing as then the current picked up and it was time to get to our sheltered anchorage and night dive site the “Stepping Stones”. I declined the night dive in anticipation of the morning dive at the same site when I could take some scenic photos.

The next day turned out to be one of the most amazing diving days I have ever had. The Stepping Stones is a beautiful coral grotto, with plenty of thriving corals and small clams. The low morning light made it magic. A lone Solo diver hung by the reef looking around in wonder and communing with nature. The wind had picked up a bit but the sky was clear and we decided to dive the “Snake Pit” next, even though it was not sheltered. I am so glad we did as we soon found an Olive sea snake that insisted on getting as up close and personal as the Potato Cod. If Leigh was alarmed when the snake disappeared between her legs she did not show it, and gently caressed the snake back in front of her mask.

We followed the guide-line back to the mooring – but the boat had disappeared and looking up I could see why. The sea was now decidedly choppy. There were five divers in our group and after signalling them to stay down, I went to the surface to check. Sure enough Nimrod was holding station just downwind of the mooring waiting to pick us up. Demi had covered this situation in his briefing. We were to surface and stay together then Nimrod could manoeuvre to get us aboard comfortably. I signalled OK and for the rest to surface but unfortunately one of the divers decided to swim to the boat underwater. This makes life very difficult for the Captain who now cannot see all the divers to bring the boat close. Eventually we all got aboard safely, and with no shouting nor recriminations. Forgiveness of transgressions is more their style.

So we had already had a splendid time when we turned up at the famous “Lighthouse Bommie”. No sooner had we moored that a Dwarf Minke appeared right beside the boat. Forget tanks, the best way to experience the Minke whales is to snorkel and hang on a line strung from the back of the boat. The whales come to you! Sure enough the whales soon started to appear - first one then a pair. The water was only average visibility, but when one approached me I was able to get a clear photo of it. While this was going on I noticed a strange sight under me. I took a breath and dived down to find a Green turtle chomping on a sea jelly. More photos. Then a school of unusual and very large garfish swam by. I say unusual since I still have not been able to identify them …..

You would think that enough for any lucky diver, but when the whales eventually disappeared and we did scuba dive the reef, we ran into the Green turtle that just insisted on being – up close and personal – and fascinated by Leigh’s trailing blond hair. My faithful old camera did its job and Ms. Turtle was immortalised.

We were offered another night dive and also a dawn dive, but I hung out for more light and dived “Steve’s Bommie” at a sensible hour in now calm seas. The fish schools are magnificent. At the next site down a coral wall we hit the bottom only to have a White-tip reef shark swim right up to us then played taking artsy shots of the bubbles from the divers below us. I left plenty of energy for the “Clam Gardens” in the afternoon which was just as pretty as I remembered and stacked with Giant Clams as big as I have ever seen, surrounded by the most beautiful healthy corals. This is where Chef Kerry made her first ever snorkel – and just glowed after.

We went back to Steve’s Bommie for the late afternoon just to see if we got lucky with Minke whales again. I was standing by – but content in the knowledge we had had an extraordinary dive trip. We exuberantly partied as Nimrod started her smooth cruise home and after a comfortable night were docked at Cairns. Goodbyes were poignant, friends made so quickly and so suddenly scattered. But I hope to return – Nimrod makes special cruises to the Northern Great Barrier Reef. From my experience, this has to be too good to miss.