Cannons

Cannons is another interesting wreck and reef dive inside the lagoon.

Named after the six cannons which are rusted together in two separate clusters on the seabed.  Here’s a short video of the amazing variety of fish, reef shark, turtles and manta to be seen there.  (I got so carried away with the animate stuff – I forgot to film the cannons!)

Dieter’s theory is that these cannons were probably used as ballast in wooden ships making the journey out to Cocos and for some reason were taken ashore and stored on Cocos. (Maybe if you’re shipping back a boat load of coconuts – you don’t need the extra weight).

Then, like many other things, when it seems they were just in the way, someone decided to go and get rid of them by just dumping them in the lagoon. There are also metallic parts of wreckage of at least one other wreck in the vicinity though the different bits are hard to piece together to work out what much of it may have been.

Of course the wreckage is only the sideshow to the interesting coral and sea life. Mainly because we got to see this VIF of fish – the Cocos Pygmy Angelfish.

Other interesting critters included this Steep Head Parrot

… and a shy octopus.

Also a drop-off at the back of this reef where if you sit quietly for long enough you will see a couple of different types of shark cruising by 28 m.

Or more pleasantly, creep up behind a snoozing turtle.

Also, a perfectly good safe.

It’s rumoured that there is an ex-safecracker living on Cocos who would dearly like Dieter to pull that safe out of the water and to see what’s inside. For now, we can only ponder what treasure it might hold.