Fairy Bower 16th May 2009

Dive No. 350.
10.37 am, 20 degrees, 63 mins, 7.9 max, 5.5 av
Not as good as the previous dive (that will be a difficult one to better) but still pleasant. Buddied with Liz and Niels, a German diver. Two dusky whalers - this time they were on the western side of the entry point rather than hanging around the seagrass beds. Liz rescued a shovel-nosed ray that had something caught around its snout - she held it by the tail while Niels cut the line off. We also saw plenty of mullet, bream, tarwhine, morwong, loads of tiny mados, yellowtail, one wobby and a flathead.

Fairy Bower 9th May 2009

Dive No 349.
10.11 am, 22 degrees, 63 mins, 7.3 max, 5.5 av
Great conditions at Fairy! 22 degrees, clear water and dusky whaler sharks everywhere (I counted nine); also giant cuttlefish, a pair of squid, huge jellyfish and two schools of striped catfish.

The Nursery, Julian Rocks 1st May 2009

Dive No 348.
11.12 am, 24 degrees, 49 mins, 11.9 max, 9.1 av
Warmer than the previous two days and, again, nothing spectacular except two eagle rays who seemed to be playing with each other. A stronger current today and, though I was nominally buddied with DM Mark, I spent most of the dive alone and on the right side of the strong current to avoid hard swimming at the end.

The Nursery, Julian Rocks 30th April 2009

Dive No 347.
8.06 am, 23 degrees, 51 mins, 16.5 max, 12.5 av
This dive was more enjoyable than yesterday’s, even though there still wasn’t anything spectacular except a lovely big shovel-nosed shark which I initially mistook for a grey nurse. A languid fiddler ray was another highlight. I was buddied with a non-photographer from Singapore. A nice, relaxing dive without a DM. There was a curious snapper hanging around when I was doing my safety stop.

The Nursery, Julian Rocks 29th April 2009

Dive No 346.
8.15 am, 23 degrees, 53 mins, 16.5 max, 12.2 av
Shootout for the Underwater Festival. Conditions apparently had improved from the previous week at JR, when vis was approx 1 metre! (it had rained for most of April up here), but this was one of the least impressive dives ever at this normally great site. The only pelagics were an eagle ray and some yellowtail kingfish. As usual, there were plenty of fish in the Nursery but nothing mind-blowing.