Crayfish Craze

Today we found a good Crayfish spot at the Cavalli's (sorry it's a long one)

But first, we left our anchorage at Waiiti Bay to explore more of the Cavalli Islands. On our way to the northern end of the island group, we passed the rainbow warrior wreck. Unsure whether we'd be able to see it, we threw Daniel in the water to have a look. While he could get down far enough to see the seabed, he couldn't spot any sign of the wreck. Given the sea was pretty lumpy in that area, we pulled out and headed for some calmer dive spots.

We found a likely looking spot, and Daniel and Jamie headed off while Vela and Nathan chilled out and had some lunch. A pair of very successful divers returned with 3 legal red crayfish (the 3 smallest in the photo).

Nathan and Vela jumped in next. Nathan headed straight for the reef (Vela was still getting ready) but in about 2 meters of water saw the silhouette of a shark just on the edge of his vision. After a calm swim back to the boat we spotted the shark again as it circled the boat a couple of times before losing interest and swimming off. Not sure if Nathan has bad luck or just smells good (Sharkbait hoo ha ha).

The team regrouped and Vela, Nathan and Daniel braved the water again. The spot was mint with awesome visibility and fish all over the place. Nathan and Vela were playing with the fish just 50m off the back of the boat while Daniel went hunting for more crayfish. There were Sandager's Wrasse, Butterfish, Leatherjackets, Parore, 2-spot Demezel, Black Angelfish, Red Moki, Eagle Rays and more! Nathan and Vela fed the friendly Wrasse a couple of kina.

On the way back to the boat, Daniel found one last Red Crayfish (the second one from the right, the big one is the Packhorse from yesterday). Nathan's trigger finger felt a bit itchy and there was a Leatherjacket that was taunting him, so that got speared and brought back for a post dive snack.

A plan was made for the Crayfish (we had a few favors owing) and the Packhorse, affectionately nicknamed "Pinchy" was selected for dinner. While Vela was whipping up a feast, Jamie dropped Nathan and Daniel back in the water for a dive back towards the boat.

Nathan ticked another species off his hit list, spearing a nice pig fish which will go well with Daniel's Butterfish from earlier.

Vela cooked an epic feed, cooking rice noodles in the crayfish head with a garlic sauce for an entree followed by a Japanese curry with the rest of the cray.Leer más