Balmoral Clean Up Day 21st September 2008

Dive No. 321.
11.40 am, 17 degrees, 16 mins, 4.9 max, 3.7 av
Short dive to try and find my knife, which I’d lost on the first dive (I found it!)

Balmoral Clean Up Day 21st September 2008

Dive No. 320.
10.09 am, 17 degrees, 55 mins, 5.5 max, 4 av
Buddied with Julian -- we weren’t there to see fish but there were some small LJs, a lovely either dwarf or baby wobby swam in front of me and settled in a hollow in the sand near the seagrass beds off the beach. There were numerous gobies and assorted small fish though I didn’t see any seahorses because we didn’t go near the nets.

Bare Island 20th September 2008

Dive No. 319.
10.43 am, 15 degrees, 71 mins, 15.5 max, 11.6 av
DM Greg took a large group to the eastern side but I buddied Patrick and we went west, along with Dave B and Charlotte. Conditions were perfect and the tide was really high, which made getting in and out a real breeze. A long dive slightly marred by leaking mask, led to increased air consumption near the end. I exited with only 15 bar and my computer wanted me to do a 4 minute safety stop, I suppose from being at about 14 metres for a long time. The sponge gardens were beautiful because there weren’t too many divers around to churn up all the sand and affect the vis. We saw about 4 PJs, a yellow moray, a dead blind shark, cuttle, etc.

Bare Island 13th September 2008

Dive No. 318 11.17 am, 15 degrees, 48 mins, 17.1 max, 12.8 av
DM Jean-Paul, though there were so many divers on this unusually hot day that we split into two groups. Entered via the south side and descended to 18 metres, heading east. There are some great sponge gardens there plus lots of little caves and there were PJs everywhere (there must have been almost 10 in one small cave). They were also draped over the sponges in the gardens out in the open. Also saw a Red Indian fish, some very friendly blue gropers and the usual assortment of morwongs, leatherjackets (bleck-reef, in a pair as usual), hulas, parmas, tarwhines, Sgt Bakers, etc.