“WINDARA BANKS”

As the 4^th of July was fast approaching, eleven sets of eyes watched the weather with baited breath and fingers crossed. The Lionfish dive group had a trip to Windara banks booked with Herb from Palm beach dive. Many a phone call was made Friday night the internet was checked, what was this weather doing! I went to bed with the wind howling outside. But waking Saturday morning to a cold but much calmer day we all made our own way down to Kennedy drive boat ramp to meet Herb. Gear was set up and checked and the boat loaded but we had to wait for our new “president” who was a bit late for this he received plenty of ribbing, glad it wasn’t me.

With a quick safety brief on the boat we were on our way out to the tweed bar, it was flat as. Herb logged on with point danger, and away we went. Good conditions, a lazy swell and no wind chop meant that our 18 mile run out to Windara would take around the 50 minutes. As the cape Byron light house came into view on the horizon we were getting close, the first pass over the mark while looking at the sounder the skipper commented “there is plenty of life down there”, as he turned into the wind to drop anchor. After another short brief about the site and where Herb thought the anchor was, followed by, “you all know what to do” (come back to the boat), we geared up got our buddy's sorted and over the side and in to the water. Up to the anchor chain and down we went, at about the 10 meter mark shapes started to come into view the further down we went the better it got about 15 meters viz. A big rock pinnacle rose up to 24 meters from around 40 meters plus with ridges and trenches running around this big structure. There was a slight current running to the south this called for a bit of horizontal rock climbing by a few. As seen in this picture, my flash was struggling to supply enough light for the camera at this dept.

But on arriving at the bottom there were Grey nurse sharks cruising around every where they were not shy. While watching one, another coming from a different direction almost crashed into me.

Big yellow tail kingfish cruising above and around the pinnacle with a bunch of eagle rays gliding around in the current, some small Jew fish and plenty of bait fish just to name a few. But the nurses stole the show, with a little help from the eagle rays. My buddy Rob had an up close and personal with a very friendly eagle ray and he should have some really good video of it. This was my best shark shot of the dive (it’s a bit dark).

So as our bottom time was limited and our computers were telling us “time to go” we had to leave our new friends and head for the surface. We slowly made our way back to the anchor and up to the shot lines and there we hung and pondered the dive... Over all too soon, it felt like it had just begun. Upon arriving back on the boat we changed our tanks in preparation for the next dive. I think it was George who brought Tim tams and they went down a treat, followed by Herbs cup a soup. There was a rush for the Chicken Noodle, a lucky few got one. I was that cold by then I would have been happy with hot water. Someone then handed around some lollies and Shane handed round some cold chook. As we jostled for a spot in the sun to warm up a little, Whales spouted and tail slapped in the distance, as the time ticked by and after an hour and a half surface interval to maximise our bottom time on the next dive. It was discovered around this time that somebody had left there dive computer at home and had to borrow one off Herb more ribbing and laughs. And before we knew it, it was time over the sides we went down to the pinnacle and there before us they were just cruising up and down the gutters. The Nurses on the bottom and the yellow tail kingfish above with a mix of Eagle rays thrown in, and all the time we were listening to Whale songs. Once again it was time to return to the boat only this time there was a lot of very cold shivering and shaking divers, except for the dry suit softies. Tanks strapped in, gear put away, it was time to settle in for the trip home. Elaine handed round a block of the most wonderful chocolate that stopped our teeth chattering for a while. Then before long we were back at the boat ramp and time to pack up and get warm. We then headed home thinking about a very special place and the critters that live there. One word to describe Windara banks AWESOME!!! This was our first trip to Windara banks it won’t be our last.

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