Shelly Beach 22nd March 2008

Dive No. 302. 10.56 am, 20 degrees, 63 mins, 11.9 max, 7.6 av
Crap conditions with poor vis and the water felt colder than 20 degrees. Only consolations were a passing yellowtailed kingfish and two giant cuttlefish out in the open. Still, any dive is a good dive!

Bare Island 15th March 2008

Dive No. 301. 10.44 am, 20 degrees, 45 mins, 18 max, 10.4 av.The water was murky and cold - very disappointing after the fantastic conditions last week. Liz, Keith Clarkson (making a welcome return) Lily and I entered from the southern side of the island. The mediocre conditions were enlivened by our discovery of a sunken speedboat, at about 15 metres off the western point. The boat can’t have been there for too long, with no barnacles or bryozoans and a light covering of algae. We saw a lovely and large octopus later and a very cheeky, big, intensely-blue, blue groper came so close I thought he was going to kiss me on the lips!

Bare Island West Side 8th March 2008

Dive No. 300 11.02 am, 21 degrees, 42 minutes, 15.7 max, 7.5 av

I celebrated my 300th dive in style at Bare Island in beautiful conditions: great vis, warm water, lots of critters and plenty of cake afterwards!

We entered on the western side, going through the "rockpool", descending and heading south, south-west.

Notable sightings included a snake eel, flying gurnard, giant cuttlefish on the hunt, three weedy sea dragons and a large school of yellowtail.

Clifton Gardens 2nd March 2008

Dive No. 299. 9.53 am, 21 degrees, 46 mins, 5.5 max, 3.4 av
Clean Up Australia Day with Project Aware, buddied with Liz and collected about 10 kgs of rubbish. Along with plastic bags, fishing line, a bra, hats, cans, bottles, nets and an anchor, we saw fan leatherjackets, a school of yellowtail, an octopus, garfish(?), a funny fish living in a glass bottle (Liz thought it might be a blenny, though I thought it seemed a bit long for a blenny), pygmy leatherjackets and a few other rgulars. Clifton Gardens is a great critter spot!