Fairy Bower 26th April 2008

Dive No. 306. 10.39 am, 20 degrees, 76 mins, 8.5 max, 6.4 av
Again, the conditions were surprisingly good, given that it had been raining torrentially all week (perhaps it’s to do with the time of year?); Amanda, Sharon Savage (on last regular D2K club dive for the time being, as she’s relocating to the Gold Coast) and I headed east and I saw two dusky whalers almost immediately. We kept heading east/north east until we got to the seagrass beds. There were plenty of duskies around, though the milky vis kept them only just in sight – it’s great watching them quickly swim away when you try to chase them, their bodies swaying.
Also saw a very large giant cuttlefish lying on the sand underneath an overhang – he looked pretty sluggish but made aggressive motions toward us when we got too close; also an estuarine catfish that was either dead or dying. There were plenty of fish around, including yellowtail, mados, hulafish, morwongs, old wifes, gropers, large tarwhine feeding on the seagrass beds, bream, etc.

Kurnell 13th April 2008

11.42 am, 20 degrees, 59 mins, 12.2 max, 7.6 av

Dive No. 305. Dive 2000 picnic and spud hunt (a certain recipe for rain!). I buddied with Liz again and we didn’t find any spuds but it was a great dive at a site the club hardly ever does these days. The highlight was a HUGE bullray lying on the sandy bottom, but there was also three large swarms of striped catfish, a huge giant cuttlefish, an octopus, a large bright-blue groper and the usual parmas, mados, hulas, yellowtail, morwongs and wrasse. The sponge gardens are great and diverse and the multilayerd rock ledges are fantastic for exploring. A very enjoyable dive.

Gordons Bay 12th April 2008

Dive No. 304. 10.27 am, 20 degrees, 57 mins, 14.6 max, 8.5 av
Patrick DM and a group of eight D2K stalwarts. I buddied with Liz and the vis was quite good. We went quite deep for Gordons Bay, almost 15 metres and saw the usual critters: a large cuttlefish came out to play, a crested horn shark rested under a rock ledge and there were stingarees, a beardie, a large scorpion fish and nudis.

Bare Island 5th April 2008

Dive No. 303. 10.39 am, 19 degrees, 49 mins, 15.5 max, 9.8 av
Splinter group of me, Liz, Amanda, James, Caroline, Julian, Lily and John entered near the “boat ramp” because the tide was high and conditions were too rough to enter elsewhere except via the goat track on the northern side (mainland). Water was colder than exiting divers reported and I had elected to enter sans-hood based on their recommendations but strangely I didn't feel too cold. Vis was average and the sponge gardens were lovely before the sand-churning crowds arrived. Not much in the way of fish except for a WSD. There were a few octopuses; overall, a nice dive on an absolutely beautiful day.