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We got an early start again, leaving Ribbon 5 to travel another four hours south along the outer reef to Ruby Reef.  There were some great dive sights along the way which we thought about breaking the journey for a dive but when we arrived there they were in 30m and this was too deep for Toby and Dylan.

The weather was still on our side, a gentle 15 knot SE blowing us along with calm seas and blue skies. We had the rods out rolling for pelagic and Toby and Dylan had a double hook-up which ended in a couple of Mack Tuna who put up a good fight. (See video)

By midday we were dropping anchor in about 6m.  We didn’t waste any time and so after a quick lunch Brett took Mahnie, Bev and I for a snorkel along a coral ridge not far away from where we were anchored.

The reef had a few small walls, shallow patches surrounded by sand and abundant variety of coral in the shallows but very little fish life.  The reef patch dropped off to about 16m channel leading to the outer reef but we decided to keep to the shallows where the colours were better. We had been spoilt by the quality of the Ribbon Reef so this was a little disappointing but still good to swim around and stretch the limbs.

The hunting party went out after us for the afternoon.  After a few hours they came back with a crayfish, the fist for this trip.  By late afternoon there was an obvious change coming with storm clouds brewing and the seas starting to stir up.  Then came the rain and winds gusts increasing, so we knew tomorrow we would have to find somewhere to tuck in to sit out the next blow that was on its way.