Christmas Island Adventure
FiNS Magazine readers Su-Anne Chia and Lynn Cooper recently visited Christmas Island, and sent us this great write-up about their trip. Read more about their encounters with whale sharks, mantas and much more.
Tucked away in the Indian Ocean, slightly over two hours’ flight from Singapore, is Christmas Island – possibly one of Asia’s best kept diving secrets. Better known for its red crab migration phenomenon, most people would simply shrug their shoulders if you asked them about the diving there. Wanting to satisfy our pangs for compressed air and armed with whatever information we had gathered on the diving conditions, we booked ourselves on this trip through Eco Adventures Worldwide to coincide with the Easter break and kept our fingers (and fins) crossed that the whale sharks would still be around. We were in for a treat indeed!
We touched down at about 6pm and were greeted by Lisa from Island Explorer Holidays. At her suggestion, we popped into a provision shop to purchase the necessities for breakfast. The Sunset, which would be home for the next seven days, was clean and cosy and had a personal touch to it. After checking in, we immediately took a stroll into the night to check out the surroundings. The first thing we noticed was the star-studded sky. We gazed, awestruck. A shooting star went by. Was this a good sign for the upcoming days of diving?
Let’s go diving!
Daybreak! We drew the blinds and were taken aback by the view of the sea, which we hadn’t noticed the night before. We laid out our breakfast on the patio and watched the sky light up as we tucked into cereal and sipped our coffee. It was also unbelievably tranquil; the only sound was the soft hum of the aircon compressor.
Our heads buzzed with anticipation as we made our way to the dive shop, Christmas Island Divers, which was just a two-minute walk away. Administrative details done, we loaded our gear onto the vehicle and made our way to Flying Fish Cove, where the boat would be launched. We were so excited about getting into the water that we didn’t bother setting up our cameras (something we would later regret).
Our first dive was at Thunder Cliff Cave. As we descended into the calm waters, the first things that struck us were the extremely good visibility (easily 20-30m) and the rich coral life. Fish, however, were not in abundance, only a smattering of the “usual suspects” here and there. The caves were beautiful – picture perfect against the cyan-blue backdrop and enough reason to regret not bringing our cameras…grrr!
Back on the boat, our dive guide commented that visibility wasn’t fantastic due to a recent cyclone. We were dumbfounded and wondered what fantastic visibility would be like. The next two dives were at West White Beach and Flying Fish Cove respectively and as luck would have it, just when we didn’t have our cameras, we saw manta rays on each dive.
The quality of the coral life just off the jetty at Flying Fish Cove was indeed impressive, and it offered excellent shore dives.
Day 2 – I (Su-Anne) literally bounced out of bed raring to get into the water on my 200th dive. At the Million Dollar Bommie, we finned over fields of pristine coral that stretched into infinity and gawked in amazement at table coral that spanned 3m in diameter. We descended over the wall, keeping eyes trained on the blue, then…WHALE SHARK!!!
(Check out Su-Anne and Lynn whale shark video clip here)
You could almost hear me squeal with excitement and delight, it being my first whale shark sighting. It was a jaw-dropping moment as the magnificent creature glided gracefully by, and it certainly made my 200th dive a spectacular one.
Back on the boat, we chattered away with great excitement. Needless to say, I was grinning from ear-to-ear and so were Mal and Mary, a couple from Queensland who were also whale shark virgins.
Now, as if that weren’t enough of a treat, we had a second encounter on our next dive at Rhoda Beach. This time, we frolicked with the whale shark for a good 10 minutes or so. It was breathtaking to fin alongside and coming face-to-face with the gentle giant. The memory will forever be etched in our minds.
The next few dives were uneventful in comparison, though The Eisevold, or whatever remains of this Norwegian freighter which was sunk in WWII, deserves mention for being so gaily decorated with coral that one could hardly make it out.
We also narrowly missed another whale shark sighting at West White Beach – the group that got in first while we were doing our surface interval had seen it. However, we did get to see a third manta.
Leanne’s Leap was indeed a leap into a world of pristine hard coral gardens and carpets of swaying anemones – an absolute feast for the eyes. The Morgue, as its name suggests, is a dive site directly below what used to be the morgue at the old hospital, which is now The Captain’s Retreat. It was a nice and relaxing dive, and we spotted a handful of barracuda.
At Middle Beach, on our second to last day of diving, the water temperature was distinctively cooler at 26 degrees compared to the 27 to 28 degrees we had had over the past four days, and visibility was down to about 10-15m, ideal conditions for the big stuff.
We finned over masses of hard coral and dropped off into the blue, constantly looking out…AND there was a whale shark directly above us! Next, we caught a glimpse of the silhouette of a hammerhead, but it was impossible to get any photographs.
Just as we were about to head back up the slope and back to the boat, a huge creature loomed toward us - whale shark #4 was a gigantic 10m! We couldn’t believe our luck, for what were the chances of seeing two whale sharks on the same dive?
After day five and with only one more diving day to go, we recollected in amazement the encounters we had experienced, and casually mentioned that a Napoleon wrasse would really top off the list of possible big things to see. Lo-and-behold, we saw a Napoleon wrasse the very next day while doing a shore dive!
In summary, over six days of diving, we had seen four whale sharks, three mantas, a bunch of hunting tuna, two turtles, a couple of barracuda, one hammerhead, one Napoleon wrasse and one octopus, not to mention an unbelievable variety of pristine coral which would beat most other dive destinations hands down. We couldn’t have asked for more. It was simply mind blowing – way beyond what we imagined.
Topside
We were pleasantly surprised by what the topside had to offer. Renting a car is highly recommended. Alternatively, take a “deco tour”, as aptly coined by Lisa of Island Explorer Holidays, on the no-fly day.
Our first stop was the blowholes. Red crabs scuttled about as we made our way through the forested area, and there was a mighty big robber crab too. We could hear the ocean roar before it was in sight.
Standing on the boardwalk, we watched the ebb and flow of the waves, which created a pulsating whoosh each time the waves crashed into the jagged limestone cliff. Depending on the wind direction, we found ourselves covered with a fine mist of spray from the blowholes.
Lily and Ethel beaches brought us closer to the rushing waves while Margaret Knoll offered a breathtaking view of the coast as we watched golden bosun, bobbies and frigate birds glide by. We got a bird’s-eye view of Flying Fish Cove from Territory Day Park, and with binoculars trained in the right direction, we could even see The Sunset.
Over Too Soon
As our plane taxied onto the runway and prepared for take off, a tinge of sadness welled up in our hearts. The week had flown by way too quickly. We were truly blessed to have had the opportunity to experience the wondrous beauty of God’s amazing creations at Christmas Island, both in the depths of the ocean as well as on land. One thing is certain – we will be back!
For more information on visiting Christmas Island, see: Christmas Island Tourism Association and Austasia Airlines