Return visit to a water wonderland

James Woodford -

The anchor was hauled up and while we ate banana pancakes with maple syrup we steamed to Myrmidon.

An hour and a half later there was the usual deafening clatter of the anchor being dropped. I walked out to the back deck to see how Myrmidon Reef had changed in the half decade since I was last there.

In 2004 the weather had been fine and the water blue.

Today it was rough and grey and rainy and the only thing that looked the same was the weather station tower.

The wind was gusting up to 30 knots, there were whitecaps and a strong swell. Petra [Souter] volunteered to be boatie and we prepared to dive immediately as the crew were keen to do the return trip as soon as possible.

When we entered the water I instantly recognised the city-block-like matrix of reefs that was so distinctive to me in 2004.

Back then there was virtually no coral whatsoever as the bleaching event that had hit Myrmidon in 2002 all but wiped the reef clean.

Now five years later it was clear the coral was recovering dramatically. As at Dip Reef, this far out into the open ocean the visibility is nearly always extraordinary - even on a day like this one, where it looked as though heading off in an inflatable was an act of madness.

My friend the GPS boogie board and I were constantly tussling as it was continually getting tangled on the complicated network of steep-walled reefs, towering over where we were diving.

I could feel the relentless tug of the wind and the foul weather on the surface trying to pull the boogie board and me in different directions.

The reel [expedition leader] Madeleine [van Oppen] had supplied me with was slightly broken and if I wasn't careful it would just release all of the twine, guaranteeing a good snaring on the reef. Soon after I got in the water I could feel the tension in the line between me and the surface disappear.

When I looked up I saw that the whole reel had unwound. Somehow I had to wind it all back in, get it untangled from three places near the surface where it had wrapped around coral, keep up with Madeleine, continue to photograph her samples, hand her the ruler whenever she signalled for it and keep an eye on all my scuba gear. The stress of so many competing jobs as well as just diving in such a challenging spot was sucking my scuba tank empty very quickly.

I was learning, however, that the only way to manage the boogie board was to keep it reeled in as close as possible.

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