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).