Gordons Bay 29th December 2007

Dive No. 287 10.37 am, 19 degrees, 64 mins, 13.1 max, 8.2 av

Not much fauna at GB and the water was colder than I expected but it ended up being an okay dive. DM Greg led a large group of regulars and irregulars. I buddied with Liz and we saw a dwarf lionfish, various nudibranchs, one giant cuttlefish, one or two wirrahs, a couple of plump scorpionfish, two estuarine catfish and the usual blue gropers, other wrasse, hulas, morwongs, etc.

Clifton Gardens 23rd December 2007

Dive No. 286 1.27 pm, 21 degrees, 53 mins, 8.8 max, 5.8 av
Liz and I were expecting a double boat dive today but the boat didn’t turn up to pick us up at Clifton Gardens so, after waiting for over 2 hours, we decided to go in for a dive anyway. Unfortunately, the tide was out a fair bit by then so buoyancy was a bit of an issue. There are many interesting critters under the jetties at Clifton and today we saw some huge pufferfish, a seahorse, a decorator crab, large mosaic, pygmy and fan-bellied leatherjackets, large red morwongs, schools of surgeon fish and tarwhine, silver drummer, mado, hula, etc. plus a lovely, tropical-coloured fish (above left) which I haven't fully identified (maybe a juvenile leatherjacket, but which genus?

Bare Island 22nd December 2007

Dive No. 285. 10.45 am, 17 degrees, 57 mins, 14.9 max, 10.1 av
DM today was Dave Young; I buddied with Liz and Amanda and we ended up doing our own thing; there were a lot of beginners on the dive and it was good to get into areas where sand wasn’t stirred up to seriously compromise the visibility. On the surface, the water was 22 degrees, then 21, then 19 at around 4 metres deep and then we hit a thermocline where the temperature plummeted to a chilly 17 degrees! (And me sans hood!) There were jellyfish galore in the water and many of the divers expressed disgust at the feel of them sliding across their faces but it doesn’t worry me too much. There seemed to be a lot more jellyfish in the colder water. We came across some small cuttlefish and one giant one; two weedy sea dragons hunting together, a few nudibranchs, a large school of pomfreds and a largish school of drummer. Nice dive overall, despite jellyfish and cold water. We practiced safety-sausage deployment at the end.

Fairy Bower 15th December 2007

Dive No. 284 11.16 am, 21 degrees, 72 mins, 8 max, 5.5 av
Rough conditions with a brisk north-easterly wind sending waves crashing against the wall at Fairy Bower. Entry was fun and exiting was even more fun. The sunny weather brought a large group with Peter as DM and once again a splinter group was formed, comprising Liz, Sharon, Chris and me. We headed west first, exploring all the nooks and crannies, there weren’t many large animals (a metre or more) around the joint but there seemed to be a surfeit of the really small fish, like mados - more than usual. I caught sight of a wobbie’s tail and there were some really large red morwongs hanging around and more leather jackets than usual (maybe the churn stirs up the food they like). We headed east and discovered a nice reef which must be due north of the beach, about 50 metres from shore. The best sight was a small school of rather large squid, which hung around (they usually scarper pretty quickly); maybe this lot had just laid some eggs. They have such intelligent eyes and they change colour slightly as they back away from you - nowhere near as dramatic as the colour changes of their cousins, the octopus and cuttlefish, but they have a lovely iridescent look to them. We headed back and I got separated from the others. There was a large school of good-sized mullet just near the exit. Getting out was fun, with waves crashing against the stone wall (apparently Liz had a hard time of it and sustained a few bruises).

Fairy Bower 8th December 2007

Dive No. 283 10.53 am, 19 degrees, 72 mins, 7.2 max, 5.2 av
Liz, Sharon and I went off from the main group (led by JP) and were planning to go west when an exiting diver responded to Liz’s question about dusky whalers by saying that they’d seen “lots of big ones”. So we got all excited and headed east to the seagrass beds but, after much searching and me losing the others and finding them, after surfacing, about 100 metres away to the north, well on their way to China, we decided, after surfacing again about 50 metres from Shelly Beach and having a brief discussion, that the exiting diver must have meant wobbegongs instead of dusky whalers. We certainly saw plenty of the former, like last week I counted at least 8 of them, including a dead one on the western side, its carcass all grey and washed-out of the characteristic wobby pattern and, curiously, no scavengers tearing the ample flesh from its bones (Liz suggested we have a look in the same spot if we dive at Fairy next week to see if the carcass is still there and whether it’s been eaten very much by then). Apart from the wobbies we saw a couple of giant cuttlefish, nudibranchs (a whole conglomeration of white ones on a rock), blue, green and yellow gropers, yellowtail, mullet, estuarine catfish, tarwhine and morwongs -- and a champagne bottle (probably empty).

Shelly Beach 1st December 2007

Dive No. 282. 10.53 am, 21 degrees, 68 mins, 12.8 max, 8.2 av
Liz, two newies, Patrick (DM) and I had a nice dive with good vis and warm-ish water. At least 8 wobbegongs, including one that scattered a large school of eastern pomfreds before resuming the customary wobbeging sleeping position on the rocks; scores of stingarees; three nudibranchs, one the standard black and white, the other two larger and more colourful; and 3 octopuses (Liz said two were staring a mating dance/ritual or whatever it is that octopi do when feeling amorous). We went to the kelp gardens but Patrick wasn’t able to find any weedy sea dragons (he usually does) and visited the motorbike on the way back.