Check out DiveBunnie's latest in:
DiveBunnie Blog
Jack fish Alley
This site is one that always requires a current check, as quite often this can change direction. If it is running against you in the sandy alley, the latter part of the dive is no fun at all. We always check the current on the alley itself as the folding reef wall can result in some eddying effects that can give a false reading where we usually start our dive.
Assuming that the current is running in the normal direction, we jump in by a cliff that is splotched with a big patch of white guano. If the current is running the other way, we jump in on the sandy alley and simply do the dive in reverse... chuckling to ourselves as we watch numerous divers pass us by finning like crazy into the current, being led by guides who either couldn't be bothered or didn't know to check the current first.
So assuming we have jumped in by the guano splodge, we descend by a proper vertical wall. It is quite important not to drop below five metres initially as we have a little swim through that gapes open at this depth... well four metres to be precise.
The mouth of the swim through is really quite large, although if anyone is nervous they can simply swim along the wall, keeping it on their right hand side, and meet the group as they exit the swim through. Entering the opening in the reef, initially it seems very dark, however within seconds the eyse adjust and we can see the shards of light piercing the gloom and dancing on the sand ahead of us. Once inside look immediately to the left and you will see the bright turquoise of the exit way. A nice little taster of a cavern dive.
Just along the wall from this exit point, there is another swim through, however it does result in a bit of a saw-toothed profile so is not recommended if the dive is running in the normal direction. If the current is in reverse and this is the first cavern reached, then the zig zag is not quite so extreme. This second swim through is a kind of chimney. We enter the chimney at about eleven metres, heading into a crack in the reef wall. Inside we will find shards of light casting down ahead of us into a fairly large room filled with sweeper fish. We turn around to face outwards as we make our way up to about five or six metres where a large opening in the wall appears and we can swim back out. Very nice indeed, if you get the chance to do this bit.
Going back to our normal dive plan where the chimney is usually skipped, we follow the wall to the right which leads to sandy bay. On the sand are several coral pinnacles and mounds. At about twenty two metres is a large mound near the drop off, on which there is a pizza anenome which is home to a whole cluster of transparent cleaner shrimp. It is very cool to spend a couple of minutes hovering here, hand near the anenome to see if they will come out and have a little clean of your hands. Do be careful not to touch however and not to kick the corals as you hover.
After this, we find a large shallower pinnacle surrounded with glass fish. Sometimes the groupers get a bit greedy and the glass fish are a little sparse, however usually there is a whole horde here, together with loads of teeny tiny baby anthias. Because of all this baby fish activity, we usually find a few jackfish hanging around here, and often see the odd giant barracuda getting a scrub down from some of the cleaner wrasse. All great stuff.
We then head out over a garden of corals before heading out over a fissure in the coral at the start of the sandy alley. Here we have the main reef to our right, and a satellite reef lining the alley to our left.
In summer we make a point of heading out over the satellite reef as it is here where there is often the chance of a shark sighting. With plenty of corals and hordes of fusiliers and emperor fish, there is plenty of food for a hungry shark, so it is well worth hanging out there for a bit. The satellite reef is a large plateau at around fifteen metres. It doesn't reach the surface, at its shallowest point, it is around ten metres from the surface. We do have to be careful here if it is our second dive of the day, as it is quite easy to find the no decompression time running low on us, and it is a little swim back to the main reef and a safe place to shallow off.
The final part of the dive is back on the main reef, where again we get the small chance of a shark kipping on the sandy alley, or out on the slope after the satellite reef ends. There is also a rather splendind pinnacle of corals where again we sometimes see barracuda having a clean.
Ras Mohammed
Back to The Beginning
DiveBunnie Home
Be a super cool DiveBunnie! Here is a selection of some of our funky goodies:
home / news / advice /
pickies / shops / about
DiveBunnie / Site Map
Some
other great
places to visit
Tried and tested by us to get you to your
diving destination:
Another tried n tested team:
Please bear in mind that whilst we have researched all the information contained within this site, we are not qualified medical experts
and the majority of suggestions made here are based upon much of what you would have learned in your diving training, combined
with a dash of common sense and shared experiences. Should you suspect that you have a medical condition or issue, please
consult your doctor immediately. If you suspect that you or a fellow diver are suffering from a life affecting or life threatening condition, please
call the emergency services. To find your nearest hyperbaric chamber, click here.
Site
written and designed by: GoodieGoodie
on the award winning i-mac and macbook pro and hosted
by 4d Hosting Ltd
Diving advisosr: Clare and George Wilders PADI MSDT and Staff Instructor respectively.
Copyright © Clare Wilders (formerly Clare Goodman) of DiveBunnie 2003-2012 all rights reserved. Reproduction of any images or articles within the DiveBunnie web-site in any format is not allowed without prior, written permission from the DiveBunnie creators.