September has been a mixture of lovely sunny days and quite a few overcast days, with the month ending on a rainy note. The water temperature hovered at 20˚ Celsius. Visibility was also varied, with most of the month averaging from 15-18m but with pockets of low visibility of around 8-12m. These 'bad visibility' days proved to be 'excellent sighting' days due to the fact that the bad visibility was caused by lots of plankton in the water - and we all know what likes to eat plankton - yes, whalesharks!

The first whaleshark sighting of the month was on the 9th. The divers did their backward roll to begin their dive at Aerial Reef, and as they started to descend they saw an 8m whaleshark slowly cruising along next to them. They followed it for a while before continuing their descent.

The following day they saw a smaller whaleshark, approximately five metres in length. The divers were travelling back from a dive at Yellowfin Drop and enjoyed their chance to snorkel with it. As the divers got back to the beach they excitedly told the guests who were waiting to go for an Ocean Experience what they had just seen. Everyone boarded the boat quickly. Sure enough the whaleshark had not moved very far and these guests also got the chance to snorkel with the same one. That was just the beginning of their incredible Ocean Experience - they saw lots of humpback whales as they travelled, many of them breaching and having a 'whale of a time'; then they saw a greater hammerhead shark swimming along the surface, its big dorsal and tail fin sticking clearly out of the water for all to see; then they saw a pod of bottlenose dolphins actively hunting garfish. These small, thin fish dart through the water and actually jump out of the water trying to avoid becoming a dolphins' meal. All the guests hopped in and snorkelled next to the dolphins watching them as they turned on their sides to catch these agile fish.

The next whaleshark sightings were later on during the month - another Ocean Experience provided lots more guests with their first-ever encounter with a whaleshark on the 21st. Then the long weekend arrived and the excitement began! A weekend spent with lots of 'Rocktail Regulars' and a few new additions to the family - and what a weekend it was!

On our first day of diving we were travelling back from a wonderful dive at Pineapple Reef when Clive spotted a whaleshark, divers scrambled to put fins and masks on and got ready to jump in. Everyone was in the water swimming alongside the whaleshark when chaos erupted. Travis, the newest diver in the group, entered the water right in front of the whaleshark and had the best view of all - face to face with the gentle giant! This scared him silly and he almost crawled on top of the water to get back to the boat.

When Clive saw the second whaleshark, Travis decided to stay on the boat, stating that he did not like whalesharks. After lots of laughter and joking, Travis changed his mind and decided that if he ever saw a whaleshark again he would get in from behind the shark so that he could get a look from the back first! Well, the following day gave him his opportunity. We had just launched the boat and were starting our journey to Yellowfin Drop when Clive spotted yet another whaleshark. Everyone immediately told Travis he had to get in as he had stated that he would - dubiously he put his fins and mask on and waited until he was sure that he was behind the whaleshark before jumping in. He swam with it for a while before Clive shouted out that he had seen another whaleshark just ahead. After clambering back on the boat, everyone including Travis jumped in to see it. After this experience Travis proudly proclaimed that we could leave him in the sea with the whaleshark while we all went to do our dive - that's how 'over his fear' he was. Well, as we travelled south we found another four whalesharks within a short distance - that's a total of six whalesharks in one trip - an all-time record for Rocktail. Other first-timers were Nikki and Lee - Nikki had never seen a whaleshark before and has been diving for at least 15 years!

Diving has also been very rewarding this month with schools of baitfish racing down the reef, chased by kingfish and couta (King or Spanish mackerel). A dive at Pineapple saw three giant kingfish, hiding out under one of the ledges. These are the largest and most aggressive kingfish and can range in length from 60cm to 100cm, with some reports of even bigger fish.

On the 16th, while driving along the beach to the launch site, we noticed that the tide mark along the beach looked a little different. We got out and on closer inspection saw that there was krill washed up on the beach! This was the second time in the nine years that we have been here that we had seen this. I decided to look back in our records and found that the previous time was 20-22 September 2004 - almost the same date five years ago! At that time, millions of dead krill had been washed up on the beach while many were still alive in the water. We even scooped up a bucketload and fried them for dinner. Delicious! There was so much that we found dead krill on the beach for two days. This year we only saw dead krill on the beach for one day and unfortunately no live krill for dinner!

Towards the end of the month, Darryl came across an unusual find at Elusive. Out to sea, hidden in the sand at the edge of the reef, he spotted a wide, diamond-shaped ray with a tiny tail. He knew what it was immediately: a diamond ray or diamond skate. These rays are normally found further south in cooler waters and are commonly caught by shore fishermen. Diamond rays feed mainly on bottom living fish, such as sole, but also like sardines, mole crabs and marine worms. This is the first time any of us has seen one of these rays along our coastline, very exciting indeed!

Next month is the official start of turtle nesting season and true to form we have spotted the first eager male loggerhead. He is hanging out at Pineapple Reef, as he has in previous years. We can identify him as the same turtle by the configuration of barnacles that are on his shell and because we have had up close and personal encounters with him in previous years. So, make sure to be on the lookout for him till his female turtles arrive, he is looking for attention!

Yours in diving,

Darryl, Clive, Michelle and Ondyne

-The Rocktail Dive Team-