The month of September on Australia's Great Barrier Reef started out with some rough seas and winds of 20-25 knots.  In the second week the seas calmed and the winds decreased to a pleasant 10-15 knots with perfect visibility for people diving and snorkelling.  This period sadly also marked the end of the prevalent whale spotting for 2007 with a Mother and her calf interacting, displaying a perfect breach and approaching very close to the HABA vessel.   

With the close of winter the ocean waters on the Reef off of Port Douglas and Cairns are warming and were back to 25° Celsius by mid-month.

On HABA we are fortunate to have resident Humphead Maori Wrasse at several of our mooring sites including Tongue Reef, Bashful Bommie on Opal Reef and at the Caves on North Opal Reef . They were very active during the month of September.  Humphead Maori Wrasse are one of the largest reef fish in the world, reaching over 2 meters in length.  (One is known to have reached 2.29 meters and 190 kilos).  They are blue-green in color with distinct linear markings.   While in the protected waters of The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park they become tame and are affectionately called the "puppy dogs" of the reef because of their demands for attention and petting.

Also at Bashful Bommie a large resident Moray Eel made appearances and we were very fortunate to encounter an Octopus at Bashful and another at "The Rocks" on Agincourt Reef.  Being extremely  elusive by nature it is rare to get a sighting of an Octopus and even rarer to capture them on camera.