In the darkness we made our way to the beach. We crossed the main road carefully keeping a careful lookout for vehicles without lights. At the beach we waited to enter the water as it was a little too dark. We watched the beautiful sunrise shed it's light on the world about 6am and this is just what we needed.
Off came the flip flops, on went the mask. Snorkels in and we entered the water. The wreck lies only about 50m from the beach so we didn't have far to swim in the early morning light. There was little current and good visibility which was just what we needed. We found the wreck, hovered above it and peered down into the depths. Small lights appeared in the distance as the first divers swam underwater to the wreck. This was just perfect as now we could see exactly what they were looking at in the narrow beams of their torches.
We followed them for a very short time before they spotted something. The divers moved in for a closer look and so did we. As we grew closer the beams of light illuminated the school of bumphead parrot fish being cleaned at a cleaning station. This is exactly why we were here! The large fish visit the shallow part of the Liberty during the night. They stay until first light before disappearing deep into the abyss. One fish was bigger than the rest of the group, so let's refer to him as the daddy. We watched as the daddy received special cleaning treatment from the cleaner fish. The other bumpheads congregated just to the side of the wreck. More divers appeared, cameras clicking to acquire that perfect Instagram photo. After the crowds arrived we left the area and let these amazing fish head off to the deep.
Other spots we went snorkeling were the Coral Garden. There were sunken statues here but not really any coral. It was quite deep too. The Drop Off had a deep wall and some shallow areas where there was a little more coral. There was definitely more fish and a resident school of yellow striped scad. The Liberty was the best by far!
