Bare Island 28th June 2008

Dive No. 311 10.45 am, 16 degrees, 51 mins, 14 max, 10.4 av

Large group so Liz, Amanda, Julian, Sharon S and I went separately.  There was a swell on both sides of the island so the best place to enter was at the boat ramp.  The water was very cold after a month’s break (4 to 5 degrees colder!) and the vis was ordinary.  The best sighting was a crested horn shark emerging from a “cave” and swimming past me but, as usual I couldn’t get anyone else’s attention.  We also saw a dwarf lionfish two small cuttlefish, some nudis and the usual suspects of blue gropers, red morwongs, schools of yellowtail, hulas, etc.

Harbord 31st May 2008

Dive No. 310. 10.48 am, 20 degrees, 46 mins, 11.3 max, 7.9 av
Our group consisted of DM Dave Young, buddy Liz, Julian, Patrick (as a regular diver!), Aussie Amanda and a few ring-ins. We entered on the eastern rock shelf via giant strides and Julian’s buddy fell into the water in a rather ungainly manner and then had to swim away quickly as the surge was coming in strongly. The conditions were good, with warm water and good vis and we saw two giant cuttlefish (one grabbed Liz’s torch), a large wobby (almost 1.8 metres - I measured him by lying beside him), a cranky blue-ringed octopus and a large, free-swimming golden moray. We also did the Harbord swim-through, which is always fun. Overall, this was a very nice dive.