Naiqoro Passage dive

We drop onto this coral wonderland at the Naiqoro Marine Reserve. No current, no swell, vis is perfect. We rummage through the reef like children looking for lost coins down the back of our dads lazy boy.

The striped dascylus like silver coins shimmering and darting in and out of the coral, anemone fish the golden coins just waiting to be spent, the colourful nudibranchs like a lost bag of jellybeans, your favourite kind, and out of nowhere Glass cleaner shrimps with tiny purple claws, like finding a clean twenty tucked far beneath the cushions.

Enough time spent here, we count our riches and head out further into the passage, wham! We hit the wall that is Naiqora Passage and with our belts fastened and our inflight entertainment rolling our journey begins.

Fan coral bending and shaking, fish swimming towards you but not moving at all as you fly past their anemone homes. We stop for a moment, cling onto a rock outcrop and watch a nudibranch, its tiny purple body with intricate orange trim, holding on for dear life as its antennae struggles with the ever increasing current.

We can’t stop, so much to take in. Soon its time to surface, we emerge with nothing, no one says a word, we feel like the richest people in the world and for that moment we probably are.