Christmas Island

Well, we've landed and found the Golden Bosun pub, just down from the Sunset Resort, so all is good. We are exepecting a couple of thunderstorms tomorrow, but that won't deter DSD's hardy dive crew. (Although the vodka may be the better of some of them).
The dive gear is all set up and ready to go as of tomorrow 7.45am. It's going to be great...

And great it was. 2 lovely dives, visibility of 30-40m, warm water (29 degrees) and lots to see. The reef here is in prisitine condition, there are literally thousands of tropical fish, anthias, triggerfish, fusilliers, unicornfish, anemone fish, Moorish Idols etc. A few people saw a turtle and some others whitetip reef shark.
The wall on the second dive was spectacular, a distinct, vertical drop off to 80m plus. You feel like you are flying as you drift over the edge of the reef into the deep blue water.
Above water the bird life is just as stunning. We spotted Christmas Island's famous Golden Bosun as well as boobies (Callum's favourite!), frigate birds and terns. The birds circling the sheer, tree-covered cliffs of the island are a mirror image of the reef fish below water schooling around the coral gardens. Life is good!

What can I say... Perpendicular Wall was superb. It's a sheer drop off to goodnesss knows what depth. The gorgonian fan corals are outstanding as are the numbers of fish that we swim through on our ascent to the surface. We pass through clouds of blue triggerfish only to be faced with a huge number of butterflyfish that mill around the drop off like scraps of paper in the wind. A feisty Silky shark made an appearance during the safety stop, he/she made several passes at us before heading out into the blue.
Our second dive at Ivan's Infatuation promised Frogfish, but WE DIDN'T SEE ANY!!! Hopefully tomorrow.
The weather is imnproving so there are quite a few red faces around this evening. It's promising more sunshine tomorrow and I hope to use my new Torch at Thundercliff cave.

The weather didn't improve, unfortunately. So the gang headed out to Dale's Waterfall. The red crabs are everywhere, scuttling around your feet, feasting on the forest leaves. The Dales is the best place to see blue crabs, which are much more shy. We saw a few Robber crabs as well, these are huge (by crab standards) and not shy at all.
The walk through the jungle to the waerfall is lovely, once you're at the top you can stand under the waterfall and shower off, it's not too cold, and really refreshing.
After the waterdall we headed off to see the Blowholes. Thousands of years of erosion by the sea has resulted in holes being formed in the limestone. When the swell is up the water thunders through and bursts out through the holes.The sound this makes is amazing.
A few of us did manage to get a shore dive in the afternoon. It was quite a tricky entry and exit at Ethel Beach. Once in the water the reef drops off again to form a lovely wall which was covered in soft corals. The hard corals were coverd in little Christmas Tree worms. I enjoy waving them into their holes and then watching as they unfurl out again. It was a really lovely sdive, so we mau go back there again beofre the trip is finished.