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Coral Queen (Night Dive)
Though Madang is highly regarded for its remarkably intact wartime wrecks, the wreck of the "Coral Queen" has often been declared by visiting divers to be the most spectacular dive anywhere in the world. |
This is a small colony of "Anamolops" or flashlight Fish, one of several species of 'bioluminescent' fish that abound in tropical waters. They project a brilliant white glow, and at night they have the appearance of large aquatic fireflies. One other species common to the Madang area is the "Photplepharon", which have some similarities to the "Krytophanaron" which divers may have encountered in the Caribbean. |
Bacteria living on a specialized organ just below the eye produce the luminescence of the Anomolop. |
It is important not to have any torches switched on while making this dive so as not to spook the fish into 'switching off'. Not that there is any need for artificial light. The apprehension one feels at descending 100 feet in total darkness is soon relieved. After descending about 20 feet, you can make out a dull glow becoming stronger. Looking down in the hold it seemed to be illuminated within by neon lights. |
The hold is home to an enormous colony of Anamolops. Thousands of dazzling little lights swarmed around us in a dizzying vortex. The fishes' bodies are not visible. Just clouds of tiny, disembodied suns. I could hear the exclamations and sighs of disbelief from others around me. |
After exploring the wheelhouse and accommodation, where hundreds more fish swam amongst us, we returned to the deck and took a seat on a rail at the bottom of the mast. This was a perfect vantage from which to observe the next act in this incredible light show. The fish leave the ship at almost exactly the same time each night. Visiting scientists have suggested that they are probably heading to the nearby reef to feed. They hypothesize that the bioluminescence keeps the schools together in the darkness. As we sat on the rail the vast swarm ascend from the hold in all its pulsating glory. The fish swarmed around the base of the mast, lighting up the figures of the other divers around me. Other smaller groups gasp and sigh, the whole pulsating globe, poured over the side of the deck and streamed off onto the depths. |
After they have gone, an oppressive wall of darkness sinks over the ship and the water seems to become discernibly cooler. As we finned slowly for the surface we could make out the incandescent river flowing into the distance. |
If there is one dive you have to do in your life, it is a night dive on the "Coral Queen", it's impossible to do it justice with mere words. |
Copyright © Melanesian Tourist Services 2006 |
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