Rick's Underwater Blog

Gordons Bay 13th November 2010

2010-11-12T22:44:00.000-08:00

Dive No. 361 10.34 am, 17 degrees, 46 mins, 14 max, 7.3 av
DM Patrick (buddy) plus 4 others who I've never dived with before. Lovely to get back in the water and on such a beautiful, warm day with a gusty nor easter blowing. I didn't wear a hood and, though it was cold, it was nice and invigorating. Gordons Bay was sheltered but as soon as we headed south there was a lot of stuff in the water, reducing the vis. Not much to see: a couple of stingrays, plenty of maori wrasse, red morwongs, some large kelpfish, mados, hulas, etc.

Fairy Bower 10th October 2010

2010-10-09T15:26:00.000-07:00

Dive No. 360 10.43 am, 18 degrees, 42 mins, 7.6 max, 5.2 av
Bad vis and not too much around but it was great to get wet again after almost three months. Trio-ed with Liz and Aussie Amanda. Nice eagle ray at the start of the dive, a friendly blue groper and a large green groper, tarwhine, numerous yellowtail, damsels, red morwongs, leatherjackets, etc. Liz saw two wobbies but I missed them.

Bare Island 17 July 2010

2010-07-16T22:02:00.000-07:00

Dive No. 359 10.58 am, 17 degrees, 57 mins, 15.2 max, 10.7 av
First dive at Bare since the desalination plant was built. We dived the western side; the tide was high and the water was slightly choppy and there were waves breaking on the western point and also on the south-western and eastern sides.
Peter M was divemaster, I was buddied with Liz and Julian was there as well. We saw about five Port Jackson sharks - one swam underneath me and almsot seemed to be following me. I think he was trying to get away from all the attention of the other divers but ran into me instead! Not much else to comment on: Liz found a knife, there was a pair of plump black leatherjackets and some crested morwongs and even a small school of yellowtail but not much else of note. The sponge gardens seem intact. An enjoyable dive though it got slightly cold near the end.

Gordons Bay 10th July 2010

2010-07-13T14:34:00.000-07:00

Dive No. 358 10.52 am, 17 degrees, 52 mins, 13.4 max, 8.2 av
Lovely to get back in the water after another hiatus. Gordons Bay had good vis but not much marine life. I was buddied with Liz, Sharon G and Allen. The first thing we saw after descending was a Port Jackson shark. We also saw some stingrays and the usual mados, yellowtails, hulas, kelpfish, morwongs and assorted others.

Back in the water! Fairy Bower 18th April 2010

2010-04-17T22:45:00.000-07:00

Dive No. 357.
11.02 am, 21 degrees, 73 mins, 7.6 max, 4.9 av
Buddied with Liz, who was also on her three hundred and fifty-seventh dive! (What are the odds?!) For me, it was back in the water, scuba diving for the first time since August last year. The conditions at the Bower were beautiful: warm water, sunny weather, plenty of fish and other creatures about (but not the dusky whalers, unfortunately). We saw practically everything else you would expect to see at Fairy including beautiful streamlined squid darting away from snorkellers, giant cuttlefish, a couple of wobbegongs, old wifes, bulls eyes, huge schools of yellowtail on the eastern and western side (they're so unafraid of people after living in the Marine Park for all these years - we need more marine parks or sanctuaries in NSW!), large schools of mullet, various leatherjackets, good old blue groper plus numerous other wrasse and an enormous tarwhine.
Very enjoyable dive, in spite of some mask leakage.

Coral Garden

2009-11-19T20:18:00.000-08:00

Acrylic on canvas.

Shelly Man

2009-11-18T00:13:00.000-08:00

Shelly Manne was a jazz drummer who died in 1984; this shelly man is, again, from a portrait by Tintoretto of a nobleman (aka rich bastard). Of course, the original had no shells.

Renaissance or Baroque Rock Cod

2009-11-17T00:36:00.000-08:00

Rock cod (or is it a scorpion fish?), shells, reeds and Tintoretto as a young man (why is he in there?).

The Big Shell is Back!

2009-11-12T14:36:00.000-08:00

Had an appointment the other day with the surgeon who implanted my new ceramic and titanium hip just over six weeks ago. He says I may have to wait another couple of months before I can resume diving! Aarggh!
Tintoretto again with a large shell, small shells, a scorpion fish and a blue tropical fish.
Pen, ink, brush, watercolour, gouache.

Smaller Shells

2009-11-08T16:49:00.000-08:00

Another Tintoretto motif combined with seaweed and smaller shells all grouped together). The figure is from a Tintoretto painting called Christ Amongst the Doctors. Pen, ink, watercolour.

Shell Motif Explored Further part 3

2009-11-05T15:41:00.000-08:00

Under a week to go til I see the surgeon who kept me waiting for almost three years to replace my arthritic hip. That'll be six weeks after the operation. I should be walking by then but it's still a slow process to getting back to normal. One of the first questions I'll ask the surgeon is when I can dive again. I'll certainly follow the experts' advice - I'd hate to have to go through all this again if my hip got dislocated and it wouldn't be worth getting back in the underwater world before my hip was completely ready for it. I can almost walk without crutches and actually managed to do that yesterday in my first session in the hydrotherapy pool. It was great to immerse myself in water again - the water allows you to walk without crutches, which was a weird feeling after 5 weeks of crutch use.
This drawing (pen, ink, watercolour, gouache, pencil, charcoal) one has all sorts of weird motifs and ideas: many of the faces and figures come from a book about Tintoretto's art and life but there are also Jelly Roll Morton and another jazz cat (Teddy Hill I think) plus a dog by Bassano. There's also some seaweed and a starfish leg.

Shell Motif Explored Further part 2

2009-11-04T14:07:00.000-08:00

This one has less in the way of underwater motifs, except for the shell. The figures/faces are from a book about the history of photography except for the prone figure on bottom left which is another lift from a Tintoretto painting (not sure why I'm obsessed with Tintoretto at the moment!).

Shell Motif Explored Further part 1

2009-11-01T22:03:00.000-08:00

This one uses the shell motif, plus faces inspired by Donald Friend (face at left), Tintoretto (two faces on the right side) and maybe an early Rembrandt self-portrait, plus a weird-looking fish. Like the previous shell pic, this one was made with pen, ink, watercolour, gouache and charcoal.

Shells

2009-10-29T21:34:00.000-07:00

I've done a whole series of watercolour/pen/ink pictures using this shell shape and will post the others in coming days. It's an interesting motif.

Get your skates on

2009-10-25T22:25:00.000-07:00

'Ello John - Got a new motor?

2009-10-22T22:41:00.000-07:00

This representation of a fish like a John Dory was done with the old transparent watercolour inks. I wet the watercolour paper in the shape of the fish and then dropped carmine ink onto the wet area, followed by cadmium yellow. The ink stays within the boundaries of the wet area and the colours are mixed by tilting the paper in different directions to get the ink to merge. Then I put some rubber masking fluid around the perimeter of the fish and did the same procedure of mixing the colours on the paper for the background.

Seahorse

2009-10-20T00:48:00.000-07:00

More Fishy Improvisations

2009-10-18T23:13:00.001-07:00

These are all done with ink, brush, pen, gouache and acrylic paint on watercolour paper. The idea is to be as free as possible at first, letting the ink do want it wants, with a bit of help from the wetted paper. Then one can build up the shapes and forms using brush in the eastern Zen style: quickly, spontaneously, freely - hoping something good will happen. The drawings are finished off with gouache and maybe some acrylic paint. The ancient inks I've been using are actually called transparent watercolors, made by an American company that probably no longer exists. I went to my local art shop to see if there was an equivalent product but no luck. I'll try the Windsor and Newton inks soon but I'm not sure whether they'll be as wonderfully transparent as these old ones.

More dabbles -- just done

2009-10-17T21:49:00.000-07:00

Dabbling in the dark

2009-10-16T22:43:00.000-07:00

I've finally emerged, with the aid of crutches, from my bed of convalescence and managed to muck around with pen, inks, watercolour and brush for an hour or so. It was good fun and I'll continue to explore the possibilities. The idea is to be as spontaneous as possible, in the tradition of Japanese and Chinese ink and brush: load the brush with black ink and let the line lead you; then I added colour with an ancient set of watercolours I found in the garage and some equally ancient watercolour inks with beautiful luminosity, finished off with Rapidograph.

Pelagics

2009-10-14T15:35:00.000-07:00

Large schools of Pelagic fish (defined in Wikipedia as fish that "live in the water column of coastal, ocean and lake waters, but not on the bottom of the sea or the lake (and) contrasted with demersal fish, which do live on or near the bottom, and reef fish which are associated with coral reefs") are one of the great sights of scuba diving, especially when a large school is made up of large fish. My first sighting was the previously-mentioned barracuda battery in Thailand while I was still learning to dive. I saw even more barra batteries in the Similans, that fantastic dive location in the Andaman Sea off Thailand.
Funnily enough, one of the greatest pelagic displays I've ever seen was at Harbord in Sydney on my 114th dive. By sheer luck for our small Dive 2000 group a big school of yellowtail kingfish, each fish averaging about a metre in length, suddenly arrived and started terrorising a school of yellowtail scad. It was an amazing thing to see and we were right in the middle of this hunting frenzy. My inveterate buddy, Liz, managed to get the event on video (see D2K website).
Another great site for pelagics is Lady Elliott Island, where schools of giant trevally cruise around and there is a resident group of manta rays. I've seen schools of large kingfish and mulloway at Julian Rocks and Fish Rock but I'm yet to see a pelagic shark, unless Port Jackson sharks are counted as such. They spend most of their time in very deep water but we see them in winter when they come to the reefs around Sydney to breed. Another shark I've regularly seen in Sydney, specifically at Fairy Bower, are the juvenile dusky whalers, who hang around the seagrass beds in summer but eventually grow up and become pelagics in the open ocean. Most of the grey nurse sharks I've seen have been at Fish Rock (a place where you're guaranteed a GNS sighting) but, even though these babies are big, they're not pelagic like great whites and other dangerous sharks.
The Yongala wreck in northern Queensland is another pelagic wonderland. The wreck is effectively an isolated reef in the middle of a 'sandy desert', so pelagics regularly come in and pick off hapless members of the resident fish that have established a home on the remains of the steamer that sank in a cyclone almost a 100 years ago.

Tribute to Achoerodus viridis

2009-10-12T23:02:00.000-07:00

What's not to love about Achoerodus viridis? They're cuddly, friendly, inquisitive, smart and good-looking. We divers always call them blue gropers even though they're a type of wrasse from the family Labridae (sounds like labrador, which is appropriate).
Virtually every dive on the east coast of NSW will include a sighting of an eastern blue groper. They live as far north as Hervey Bay in Queensland and as far south as Wilson's Promontory in Victoria. I've yet to see a western blue groper (Achoerodus gouldii) which ranges from WA to Melbourne. Interestingly, the western variety can grow a fair bit bigger than the eastern: 1.6 m and 40 kg compared to 1.2 metres and 22 kg.
One diver buddy of mine has become wary of bluies after one apparently acted in an aggressive manner towards her on a dive. They can be a bit pushy sometimes, especially if you unsheathe your knife and they get overly excited at the notion that you might be about to prise an urchin off a rock to feed them, a practice frowned on by a lot of divers these days. It makes sense that if the gropers get used to being fed, they'll take it for granted and even get aggressive; I've seen similar behaviour with kangaroos (but not underwater, though I was once chased by a demented kangaroo into the sea; while I cowered in the water he stood at the water's edge and bellowed at me, looking very smug and alpha). I've heard that if gropers are fed too much by divers there may end up being more than one blue male in a small area, which can lead to all sorts of political turmoil and factionalism. A fascinating and frankly quite weird fact about these fish is that all gropers start out as female and the dominant one in an area turns male and blue. I'm not sure whether there are constant power struggles and battles going on as a new green upstart decides the time is right to turn blue and male and knock out the existing dominant male. Probably not a lot is known about the intricacies of blue groper behaviour (there's still a heck of a lot we don't know about fish behaviour overall) -- maybe I should undertake a study, with a hefty government grant!

Barracuda

2009-10-11T16:21:00.000-07:00

I learned to dive in Thailand in 2002 while staying at a place called Naithon, on the west coast of Phuket. My friend, Paul Lambert, persuaded me to sign up, along with him, for a diving course with Aqua Divers, a school run by Rainer Gottwald, a Slovenian-German, and Jens Hofacker, also German. The only non-German-speaking staff member, besides the Thai divemasters and boat boys, was Denis, a Francophone from Switzerland. It was handy that Denis didn't speak German because then the other guys had to speak English to communicate with him, as none of them spoke French. Of course, Paul and I, like most Aussies, are monolingual.
We ended up doing both the PADI and CMAS courses: the former at Aquadivers Naiyang, north of where we were staying and the site of Phuket's airport, and the latter at the Naithon branch. The Naiyang branch was destroyed in the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.
Just off the coast in this area there is a little island with a coral reef that provides some great dives. It was whilst diving there in April 2004 with DM Boris (another Frenchman, from Grenoble) that I had the marvelous experience of being followed by a school of barracuda.
I hadn't taken up underwater photography at that stage so I painted a barracuda instead.

Aquatic Adventures in Abeyance

2009-10-09T13:59:00.000-07:00

It's an unusually cold Spring day in Penrith as I sit and contemplate our small backyard: my contemplative view for a week already and for another few weeks to come, as I recover from having an arthritic hip replaced with a titanium version.
How much longer until I can get back underwater? This depends on my recovery, of course. The physiotherapist mentioned six months, which is longer than I'd hoped. My last dive was in late August and a six-month recuperation means I won't be sucking air from a reg until March 2010! I think six months could be the maximum but I'm definitely not going to push it and jeopardise my full recovery; besides, a dislocation at 30 metres underwater wouldn't be pleasant!
I'll try to maintain the blog, illustrated with aquatically-themed drawings and paintings, once I can sit comfortably in my little studio. A previously-painted fish adorns this post.

Harbord 22nd August 2009

2009-08-22T16:11:00.000-07:00

Dive No. 356.
10.39 am, 17 degrees, 60 mins, 12.2 max, 9.1 av
Nice relaxing dive at Harbord a good return to the underwater domain after a month off sick. DM DY led six of us via the pool entry and back again (we decided against the ocean entry once we got down to the entry point and saw that it was rougher than it looked from the carpark!). Weedy sea dragon was an unusual sighting, though Dave surmised that it was sick and “on the way out”; maybe it had drifted over from Shelly. Also saw a shovel-nosed ray, an octopus, PJ and cuttlefish plus the usual blue groper(s), drummers, morwongs, red rock cods, etc.

Shelley Beach 18th July 2009

2009-07-18T15:35:00.000-07:00

Dive No 355.
10.41 am, 17 degrees, 54 mins, 11.9 max, 7.6 av
Another great Shelly dive! Plenty of PJs, including one with an egg casing in its mouth, weedy sea dragon, giant cuttlefish and huge schools of drummer, yellowtail and mullet. DM Patrick and a large group of newbies.

Shelley Beach 4th July 2009

2009-07-03T23:46:00.000-07:00

Dive No. 354.
10.38 am, 17 degrees, 66 mins, 11 max, 7.3 av
An enjoyable dive with lots of giant cuttlefish, including a mating pair. Also two PJs, large school of silver drummer, large porcupine fish, schools of yellowtail, usual suspects blue wrasse, maori wrasse, crimson-banded wrasse, etc.

Shelley Beach 27th June 2009

2009-06-27T22:06:00.000-07:00

Dive No. 353
10.39 am, 17 degrees, 57 mins, 12.5 max, 7.6 av
Not a bad dive for Shelly. Large group DM’d by DY including me, Liz and Amanda Pol as a threesome. Giant cuttlefish, Port Jackson sharks back for the winter recess, numbray (which “attacked” Amanda, I thought it was trying to bite her, luckily she didn’t get zapped), blue gropers, plenty of different types of leatherjacket, large schools of silver drummer, yellowtail, pomfret and surgeonfish.

Shelley Beach/Fairy Bower 20th June 2009

2009-06-20T02:46:00.001-07:00

Dive No. 352.
10.26 am, 18 degrees, 60 mins, 7.6 max, 4.9 av
Wet in and out of the water! DM Dave and four others, including me; Dave was hoping to find some duskies and there was a swell coming from the north-east so we headed towards FB. No sharks but plenty of other fish like mullet, luderick, morwong, mados, yellowtail, rock cod, etc., plus a giant cuttlefish and octopus.

Bare Island West 6th June 2009

2009-06-05T22:58:00.000-07:00

Dive No. 351.
10.36 am, 19 degrees, 55 mins, 15.2 max, 9.5 av
Beautiful day and a pleasant dive with Liz, Amanda Pol and Peter as DM. Numb ray, octopus, weedy sea dragon, striped catfish ball, hawkfish, beardie.

Fairy Bower 16th May 2009

2009-05-16T00:17:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-09T23:37:00.001-07:00

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

2009-05-05T15:35:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-05T15:32:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-05T15:28:00.000-07:00

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.

Fish Rock 16th April 2009

2009-04-17T23:57:00.001-07:00

Dive No. 345.
(EAN33) 11.40 am, 24 degrees, 53 mins, 22.6 max, 14.6 av
Aquarium, then towards the shallow entrance of the cave until the powerful surge forced us all back to the aquarium again. Numerous morays, octopuses, clownfish and large red rock cod.

Fish’n’Chips Fish Rock 16th April 2009

2009-04-17T23:55:00.000-07:00

Dive No. 344.
(EAN31) 9.36 am, 24 degrees, 53 mins, 30.2 max, 18.3 av
DM Mike; first dive ever with nitrox (31%) made it to 30 metres but I was quite over-weighted due to forgetting that the nitrox tank was steel so had trouble equalising and had to work a bit too hard to support the unneeded weight (probably could have dropped 5 to 6 pounds) and consequently was slightly dehydrated at the end of the two dives. Big school of tarwhine or bream, huge schools of bullseyes amongst all the cruising GN sharks and sleeping wobbies and the two black cods again.

Fish Rock Cave 15th April 2009

2009-04-17T23:53:00.001-07:00

Dive No. 343.
11.44 am, 24 degrees, 48 mins, 22.9 max, 13.4 av
We entered the cave from the shallow end and descended head-first to the deep end. At the entrance was a medium-sized turtle being slightly buffeted by the strong surge and a large loggerhead was right inside the cave, chomping on the rocks. When we exited the deep end I looked up and counted 15 GN sharks directly overhead. School of yellowtailed kingfish and two large black cods.

Fish’n’Chips Fish Rock 15th April 2009

2009-04-17T23:51:00.000-07:00

Dive No. 342.
9.36 am, 24 degrees, 51 mins, 27.1 max, 17.1 av
DM Mike; Best day ever at Fish Rock: warm water, stupendous vis (20 metres+) and an amazing assortment of underwater life: blue devil fish, more GN sharks than you could poke a stick at, massive biomass of fish in the gutter with the GN sharks cruising up and down; yellowtailed kingfish, lionfish, loggerhead turtle, trumpetfish, clown anemone fish, morays.

Fish’n’Chips Fish Rock 14th April 2009

2009-04-17T23:49:00.000-07:00

Dive No. 341.
12.05 pm, 24 degrees, 34 mins, 26.2 max, 16.5 av
Aquarium and gutter - plenty of GN sharks, large wobbies, morays, lionfish and other creatures (large loggerhead named Josephine on the surface).

Fish Rock Cave 14th April 2009

2009-04-17T23:48:00.001-07:00

Dive No. 340.
9.51 am, 23 degrees, 52 mins, 22.9 max, 13.7 av
DM Murray; entered the cave from the deep entrance and visited the bubble cave. Vis wasn’t fantastic overall but still a good dive, though the dives on the following days were much more impressive (see log of those dives for all the underwater life). Mosaic moray, cleaner shrimps, little cuttlefish, kingies, etc.

Murrays Beach, Jervis Bay 22nd March 2009

2009-03-22T17:34:00.000-07:00

Dive No 339.
12.06 pm, 21 degrees, 52 mins, 5.5 max, 4 av
Play dive in shallow water with Keith (last of his dives before fatherhood); Port Jackson shark, two fiddler rays, moray eel, blue groper, various wrasse, bream, snapper, tarwhine, morwong, etc. Keith saw a turtle(!) but I missed out.

Kurnell 15th March 2009

2009-03-15T01:31:00.000-07:00

Dive No. 338.
10.20 am, 17 degrees, 45 mins, 12.5 max, 9.8 av
Club spud hunt, and for the first time I found one, as did my buddies Liz and Sharon G (I won a pair of fins). Great vis in the cold current; the sponge gardens at Kurnell are fantastic. Weedy sea dragon, two ghost pipefish, funny blue groper, large octopus.

Harbord 14th March 2009

2009-03-15T01:30:00.000-07:00

Dive No. 337.
11.12 am, 20 degrees, 51 mins, 11.5 max, 8.5 av
Typically surge-y dive at Harbord, the vis affected by the sand whipped up by the swell. Getting in and out was challenging too. Buddied with Liz and Kirsty. Moorish idols, different types of leatherjackets, octopus, schools of bream, pomfret and bullseyes.

Bare Island 7th March 2009

2009-03-06T23:57:00.000-08:00

Dive No. 336 10.40 am, 23 degrees, 57 mins, 13.2 max, 8.5 av
Terrible vis and a strong current but it was enjoyable to get back in the water after more than a month sans diving. Moray, friendly blue groper, numerous flatworms, schools of pomfret, yellowtail and bullseyes. Buddied with Julian and Anna.

Bare Island 31st January 2009

2009-01-30T20:31:00.000-08:00

Dive No. 335. 11.12 am, 17 degrees, 65 mins, 8.8 max, 5.2 av
Bad vis in the warmer water, good vis in the cold water! There was a strong thermocline coming from the northeast (the direction that we were heading towards), which improved the visibility but made the dive a little less enjoyable. Buddies Anna and Liz were getting very cold, Amanda Pol seemed okay and I was cold but somehow still enjoying myself. Not many fish or other largish creatures about but lovely sponge gardens and quite a few nudibranchs.

Camp Cove 17th January 2009

2009-01-16T19:57:00.000-08:00

Dive No. 334.
10.32 am, 21 degrees, 73 mins, 6.1 max, 4.3 av
Poor vis but water was warm so it was a relaxing dive except for numerous buddy-losing occurrences. Octopus, cuttlefish, squid, different types of leatherjacket, gropers, mados, morwongs, hulas, parmas, etc.

Shiprock 4th January 2009

2009-01-03T23:52:00.001-08:00

Dive No. 333.
2.20 pm, 21 degrees, 40 mins, 15.5 max, 11 av
Amazing site with hallucinogenic sponge growth on the wall; green moray, lots of different fish like yellowtail, stripeys, old wifes, a fish that resembled a moorish idol (probably yellowtail angelfish or truncate coralfish), leatherjackets, scorpion fish, etc.

Inscription Point, Kurnell 4th January 2009

2009-01-03T23:51:00.000-08:00

Dive No. 332
10.27 am, 20 degrees, 54 mins, 12.8 max, 10.1 av
Buddied with Liz and Amanda Pol; beautiful sponge gardens though not a great deal of fish life. Liz found a beautiful yellow seahorse; two weedy sea dragons, lots of nudis and other molluscs, leatherjackets, gropers, etc.

Shelly Beach 3rd January 2009

2009-01-03T23:50:00.000-08:00

Dive No. 331.
10.44 am, 21 degrees, 64 mins, 9.5 max, 4.6 av
The dive started badly with my camera housing flooding! Sharon G and I buddied up and went a fairly long way around the point where we found 2 weedy sea dragons amongst the kelp; also golden moray, wobbegong, crowds of young white-eared parmas, mados, etc.

Chowder Bay 29th December 2008

2008-12-29T00:56:00.000-08:00

Dive No. 330.
3.22 am, 21 degrees, 64 mins, 9.5 max, 4.6 av
Poor vis again, and low tide made things more difficult but there were some good things like mosaic leatherjacket, schools of drummer, blackfish, bream, etc.

Clifton Gardens 29th December 2008

2008-12-29T00:55:00.000-08:00

Dive No. 329.
12.03 am, 21 degrees, 90 mins, 10.7 max, 4 av
Seahorse, large leatherjackets, cuttlefish; the vis wasn’t too good but it was an enjoyable, relaxing and long dive.
PLUS -- it was Liz's 300th dive!

Bare Island 27th December 2008

2008-12-26T21:21:00.000-08:00

Dive No. 328.
10.42 am, 18 degrees, 72 mins, 15.5 max, 10.1 av
Liz, Julian and me; west side. Moray, nudis, schools of pomfret and yellowtails, blue groper, usual suspects.

Camp Cove 21st December 2008

2008-12-21T00:31:00.000-08:00

Dive No. 327.
10.50 am, 20 degrees, 72 mins, 5.8 max, 4.3 av
Very large club group so Liz and I took off by ourselves. We headed towards the heads first (east-north-east) where there were large groupings of rock cale and small cuttlefish (there were 8 cuttlefish in one group). Then we headed west and I eventually found the reef in the middle where we were accompanied by a scarred blue groper who appreciated me turning over a couple of rocks so he could get the brittlestars hiding underneath. As we headed back to the beach we searched, unsuccessfully, for seahorses amongst the kelp. We also saw a stingray, pufferfish, schools of drummer and luderick and a mosaic leatherjacket, which allowed me to get cheek-by-cheek with him.

Fairlight 14th December 2008

2008-12-14T00:36:00.000-08:00

Dive No 326.
11.37 am, 19 degrees, 76 mins, 10.4 max, 6.4 av
Liz, Amanda and me. Vis was milky and the water was cold below 5 metres. We headed east and explored the overhangs and canyons; morwongs, estuarine catfish, octopus, cuttlefish, old wifes, schools of yellowtail, surgeonfish (see image), drummer, bullseyes, pineapple fish and a seahare (see image).

Bare Island 6th December 2008

2008-12-05T23:45:00.000-08:00

Dive No. 325.
11.07 am, 18 degrees, 54 mins, 16.8 max, 10.4 av
Liz, Jeffrey, Caroline and me -- west entrance (“boat ramp”); standard BI dive though we stumbled upon a new reef that we haven’t been to before. Numb ray, scorpion fish, small squids, school of yellowtail, blue groper (very friendly).

Shelly Beach 8th November 2008

2008-11-07T23:50:00.000-08:00

Dive No. 324.
10.44 am, 20 degrees, 64 mins, 10.4 max, 7 av
Warm water and good vis; large group and Lily, Lily’s friend and I got separated from the group almost straight away - there were so many other divers in the water that we couldn’t work out who was who. I had issues with mask flooding which stressed me slightly and then got stressed again when, at the turn-around point, I surfaced to see exactly where we were and it seemed we were a long way offshore. Thinking about it later, I assume that at that stage of the dive, the shore line is actually farther away than you would assume when you're underwater. It was rough on the surface so I went back down after getting compass bearings and we headed back. The navigational error I made was to go a bit too much due north on the first leg, rather than veering towards north-east at that stage. Sightings: Numb ray, hundreds of young white-eared parmas (maybe young adults?), old wifes, cuttles, wobbies, a PJ, blue gropers and assorted wrasse.

Bare Island North East 18th October 2008

2008-10-19T23:03:00.000-07:00

Dive No. 323.
10.57 am, 17 degrees, 55 mins, 10.1 max, 6.4 av
Dive was marred by me losing my wide-angle lens at the entry point! Liz and I searched for quite a while but to no avail. Then we headed north, north-east to the beach. Lots of interesting overhangs and landscapes (this is where I saw a blue devil fish years ago) but not a great deal of fish. We did see a wobbegong, which Liz and I both agreed we didn’t think we’d ever seen at Bare before. Also saw red morwongs, old wifes, silver drummer, various wrasse and a cuttlefish.

Shelly Beach 11th October 2008

2008-10-10T23:47:00.000-07:00

Dive No. 322.
10.42 am, 17 degrees, 60 mins, 10.4 max, 7 av
DM JP, Liz, Patrick, Michael, Rostum, Julian and assorted others. Standard Shelly dive with reasonable vis. Saw two PJs, 3 wobbies, black-reef leatherjacket, cuttlefish and the usual morwongs, Sgt Bakers, wrasse, hulas, old wifes, etc. Some surfers said they’d seen a turtle at the point but we didn’t see it.

Balmoral Clean Up Day 21st September 2008

2008-09-21T20:15:00.002-07:00

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

2008-09-21T20:15:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-19T23:11:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-12T22:24:00.000-07:00

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.

Bare Island 30th August 2008

2008-08-30T15:50:00.001-07:00

Dive No. 317.
10.52 am, 15 degrees, 53 mins, 17.1 max, 11 av
DM Patrick, Liz, Carolyne, Julian and some other ring-ins.
My computer read 15 for the whole dive, which is the same reading as at Sth Maroubra a fortnight ago but it seemed much colder! I felt so cold that my feet and hands were numb at the end of the dive. The cold made it hard to enjoy the dive -- even with the procession of PJs (probably about 20 all together), often in pairs on the sponge gardens but also sheltering under ledges. Patrick took us to “The Wall” and was hoping to get us down to 20 metres but we headed back sooner than expected, probably owing to the inexperienced divers in the group. I was happy to finish though the water did feel slightly warmer in the more boring bits as we got closer to shore. There were at least two pairs of small cuttlefish, large schools of drummer and yellowtail, an octopus and the usual wrasse, hulas, goatfish and parmas.

Sth Maroubra 16th August 2008

2008-08-16T00:07:00.000-07:00

Dive NO. 316. 10.58 am, 15 degrees, 53 mins, 14.9 max, 10.4 av
DM Peter, Liz, Carolyn, a couple; 15 degrees and I hadn’t dived for over a month but it didn’t seem as cold as I thought it would. It is a long walk from the carpark to the entry, either via the beach or from the rocks. We entered via the rocks a fair way south (or south east, as Maroubra seems to face north-west!) though there was a problem because Carolyn ONLY remembered her weights just as we were about to get in the water! We ended up doing the dive without the official DM, as Peter stayed with Carolyn. Navigation was easy, west-south-west on the way down the coast. There are nice landscapes here, with overhangs, large rocks and “caves”. The variety of fish life is not wide, with the usual suspects: large schools of mados, pomfrets and yellowtail, three giant cuttlefish, one or two Port Jackson sharks and a huge school of striped catfish - such a large mass that I thought it was a big rock in the middle of the sand. We also saw what looked like a soft coral - quite a large structure, looking like a large cauliflower in shape and colour. Getting back to shore was a chore, I opted to go via the rocks, which was a bit awkward, especially with the tide so low and then my tank came loose.

Fairy Bower 12th July 2008

2008-07-12T00:40:00.000-07:00

Dive No. 315. 10.40 am, 18 degrees, 72 mins, 7 max, 4.9 av
DM Peter, Liz, Patrick, Rostrum, Michael and a few others; very good vis on the western side with schools of different fish, especially yellowtail but also silver drummer, mullet, blackfish and surgeonfish plus lots of hulas and Sgt Bakers, parmas, morwongs, kelpfish, etc. Two giant cuttlefish and two to three Port Jackson sharks. Relaxing dive and not too cold on a beautiful winter’s day.

Bass Point Coal Loader, Shellharbour 6th July 2008

2008-07-06T02:12:00.001-07:00

Dive No. 314. 2.50 pm, 17 degrees, 69 mins, 10.4 max, 6.1 av
Big improvement on the first dive with plenty of fish, mainly yellowtail with small kingfish darting through, lots of old wifes, mados, porcupine fish and quite a few giant cuttlefish perhaps mating or maybe males fighting.

Bushranger Bay, Shellharbour 6th July 2008

2008-07-06T02:07:00.000-07:00

Dive No. 313. 12.05 am, 17 degrees, 45 mins, 18.6 max, 11.9 av
DM Kevin Deacon, Keith, Lilly, Rostrum (buddy), Scott and Sharon plus a few others. Beautiful sheltered bay with rocky beach looked very tantalising but there was very little to see, either fish or other critters. Plenty of kelp and then some nice cliffs on the right side going out but very few fish: old wifes, red morwongs, hulas, etc.

Shelly Beach/Fairy Bower 5th July 2008

2008-07-06T02:06:00.001-07:00

Dive No. 312. 10.56 am, 18 degrees, 60 mins, 8.8 max, 4.9 av
DM Dave Young, Liz and me as buddies and various other new divers. We started at Shelly and headed west. Standard FB/Shelly dive - the highlight was a pair of Port Jackson sharks, maybe there was some courting going on; the others only saw one.

Bare Island 28th June 2008

2008-06-28T00:19:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-19T21:06:00.000-07:00

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.

Shark Point 24th May 2008

2008-05-25T18:43:00.000-07:00

Dive No. 309. 10.56 am, 19 degrees, 38 mins, 16.2 max, 10.1 avDM Patrick decided to try Shark Point after the prevailing westerlies of the week but when we arrived at Clovelly car park the incoming swell looked pretty formidable. Patrick, however, was still keen to give it a go, even though there were a couple of real beginners in the group, which comprised Liz, Keith, Amanda, Lilly, two pommie blokes, an Aussie woman and me. We entered in the pool and headed east and the incoming surge was incredible (Amanda felt scared and held Liz’s hand for the first 5 minutes or so). The water was lovely and warm and the vis was incredible, factors which made it much easier to cope with the challenging swell. The highlight fish-wise was a huge school of Old Wifes, probably more than a hundred. We also saw a beardie, schools of yellowtail, mados and hulas and plenty of morwongs. There was also a sighting of a giant cuttlefish and a PJ but I missed them. The trip back was the real adventure for the day: it was very difficult to swim against the surge which seemed to throw me back 10 metres for every metre I made forward! Finally I saw the welcome sight of the deep water and sand of Clovelly pool and headed down to the bottom and respite from the pounding surf. You can usually depend on Patrick to turn a Saturday shore dive into a major adventure!

Bare Island 17th May 2008

2008-05-18T16:15:00.000-07:00

Dive No. 308. 10.58 am, 18 degrees, 49 mins, 18.3 max, 11 av
We entered at the back of the island slightly to the east and headed west, exiting at the usual spot. It was quite easy getting about three quarters of the way around the island; I have circumnavigated it once with Patrick and that seemed like a bit of a slog so maybe the currents were more favorable this time. The water temperature was colder than expected and there wasn’t a lot of fish life about, especially large fish: we saw cuttlefish, WSD, yellowtail and pomfret schools, octopus. A highlight was a sighting of a horseshoe leatherjacket, a beautifully-coloured fish, almost like a tropical parrot fish or trigger fish. The vis was good, especially at the beginning when we were the only divers.

Sth Maroubra 3rd May 2008

2008-05-04T17:17:00.000-07:00

Dive 307. 10.47 am, 18 degrees, 57 mins, 14 max, 9.5 av
South westerly winds had been blowing over the last few days which made Sth Maroubra - a rarely-dived site - a goer. Dave Young was divemaster with a large group; I buddied with Liz, Julian and John. We entered via the rocks at the extreme southern end near the rifle range, the water was clear and there were plenty of fish about, mainly large schools of yellowtail and pomfret. Also a couple of weedy sea dragons, a cranky-looking giant cuttlefish and a wobbegong. Liz said thatDave caught sight of a blue devil fish but we didn’t see it. The current at the beach on exit was quite strong and it took me a while to get back in.

Fairy Bower 26th April 2008

2008-04-27T23:14:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-13T21:47:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-13T21:43:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-06T16:43:00.000-07:00

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.

Shelly Beach 22nd March 2008

2008-03-31T17:47:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-16T16:22:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-10T22:28:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-03T15:00:00.000-08:00

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!

Fairy Bower 23rd February 2008

2008-02-25T15:17:00.000-08:00

Dive No. 298. 10.39 am, 22 degrees, 67 mins, 8.5 max, 6.4 av
The tide was high, and the swell was too, with big seas coming from somewhere in the Coral Sea. Waves were reaching halfway up the metal stairs leading to the beach at Fairy Bower and the sea was almost level with the pool. We’d heard that the dusky whalers were back so Liz, Julian and I headed east towards the seagrass beds; I saw one almost straight away and excitedly made the shark sign once I was able to get Liz and Julian’s attention, but the shark quickly disappeared into the sandy vis. Liz and I had another brief sighting not long after. We scanned the seagrass beds carefully and then headed west. We saw a boarfish, schools of yellowtail, drummer, mullet, tarwhine plus some stingarees, a giant cuttlefish, at least four large flatheads and the usual blue gropers, crimson-banded wrasses maori wrasse, hulas, mados, morwongs, old wifes, etc. Julian ran out of air and exited without catching a glimpse of a dusky, a sight he still hasn’t had the pleasure of experiencing (he’s a shark-freak so was bitterly disappointed). Overall it was a nice dive in the warm water though the vis was compromised by the suspended sand caused by the rough seas from the east-north east storm cell (which had been flattened slightly by a gusty sou’wester that morning). I videoed lots of things but missed as great chance to capture a dusky darting past me because I was too preoccupied with getting Liz’s attention. Hopefully we’ll get a good show before summer ends!

Shelly Beach 16th February 2008

2008-02-17T14:29:00.000-08:00

Dive No. 297. 11.07 am, 22 degrees, 68 mins, 10.1 max, 6.7 av
Much better vis this week at the same site and a very relaxing dive in the clear, warm water. Liz and I saw a large black cod, there were at least two large wobbegongs, schools of yellowtail, pomfrets, surgeonfish, blackfish (especially in the shallow water at the top of the reef), rock cod, crested morwong, red morwongs, giant cuttlefish and one snapper.

Shelly Beach 9th February 2008

2008-02-10T14:04:00.000-08:00

Dive No. 296. 10.52 am, 22 degrees, 48 mins, 12.2 max, 8.8 av
Appalling vis mainly due to sand being churned up rather than dirty water. It was raining and surfable waves were breaking over the point. The only good things about the dive, except for the company of my fellow divers (who included DM Patrick), were the warm water and a very large school of medium-sized yellowtail. When we surfaced near the wall on the walkway between Shelly and FB it was raining very heavily and large waves were breaking against the wall and over the walkway. It was a long swim eastward back to Shelly Beach!

Fish Rock 3rd February 2008

2008-02-04T14:26:00.000-08:00

Dive No. 295. 12.16 am, 20 degrees, 46 mins, 23.2 max, 12.2 av
We entered the cave via the shallow, wide entrance, passing a bull ray along the way. There were wobbies everywhere, especially in the cave, including a huge, fat one right inside. The descent to the bottom of the chimney was fun, and the churn at the deep entrance/exit was quite strong. Then we headed up towards where we’d been in the later stages of the first dive and did our safety stop in the surge close to the rock. This was a good dive, despite the bad vis. There were also a lot less cold thermoclines on these two dives and often the water was lovely and warm and this time Liz and I stayed together.

Fish Rock 3rd February 2008

2008-02-04T14:24:00.000-08:00

Dive No. 294. 10.19 am, 21 degrees, 45 mins, 17.7 max, 12.2 av
After many delays (one of the boats broke down) and a very rough ride out, we had a nice and interesting dive along the southern face of the rock. We headed towards the aquarium and suddenly came across the other diveboat's divers -- there was a bit of confusion as the vis was still appalling and there were divers everywhere bumping into one another in the strong current. We were getting tossed around but there were grey nurse sharks everywhere, emerging suddenly out of the gloom and getting extremely close. I took my camera and shot only movies. Later in the dive I was most embarrassed to lose my buddy, Liz, without realising!

Fish Rock 2nd February 2008

2008-02-04T14:21:00.000-08:00

Dive No. 293. 11.01 am, 21 degrees, 36 mins, 23.8 max, 13.7 av
Much better dive this time, though the conditions weren’t much better. We headed east parallel to the rock and then down to the deep cave entrance. I could make out the shapes of fish in the gloom and then a big school of surgeonfish loomed up; big grey nurse sharks were suddenly everywhere and got very close in the low vis - we were almost bumping into each other! Their big, ominous shapes loomed up in the gloom and suddenly they’d be really close, one of the other divers accidentally whacked one with her fin. At the cave entrance there was incredible churn and the thick shoal of bullseyes swirled around as if being forced from the protection of the cave. The temperature, though the computer recorded it as 21 degrees, fluctuated wildly, as cold as 16 in some of the thermoclines. The churn and low vis made it all a bit hairy but quite exciting.

Fish Rock 2nd February 2008

2008-02-04T14:10:00.000-08:00

Dive No 292 9.27 am, 18 degrees, 14 mins, 18.3 max, 11 av
Bit of a disaster this one - very rough conditions and a strong current made it hard for me to get to the mooring line at the bow. Plus my mask was leaking and I quickly got out breath and had trouble getting it back. By the time I was OK everyone had well and truly gone. I got to the bottom but the vis was the worst I’ve ever experienced at Fish Rock, literally like swimming in dirt! It must have been half a metre vis at best. I didn’t trust my ability to leave the mooring line and have a look around and then get back to the boat by myself so I looked at a few passing fusiliers and an anemone just near the anchor and then ascended. No-one else was very impressed by the dive either, though they had a lot longer bottom time than I.

Bare Island Western Side 26th January 2008

2008-01-28T15:38:00.000-08:00

Dive No. 291. 10.59 am, 19 degrees, 66 mins, 15.5 max, 11 av
Relaxing dive with large D2K group, though we (Liz, Caroline and I) split off again. Not as much to see this time, partly because the vis was compromised by the large number of divers churning up the sand. Liz and I did a fish survey count for the first part of the dive. We saw a numbray which we naturally assumed was alive but found out he had actually ceased to exist when we passed him on the way back and he was upside down! I fed an urchin to a bluey, something I haven’t done for a year or so, but there are plenty of areas around the island devoid of seaweed so I assume they’re urchin barrens. It's interesting the way the blue gropers hang around waiting for such a treat and the way their concentration sharpens even more when you unsheathe your knife. There was nothing too much remarkable about this dive, although it was very enjoyable because it was so relaxed and we managed all the navigation and staying together with no problem. Caroline was excited about seeing a pygmy leatherjacket, they are relatively rare and cute but I’ve got some pix of them already.

Shelly Beach/Fairy Bower 19th January 2008

2008-01-20T13:34:00.000-08:00

Dive No. 290 10.38 am, 22 degrees, 73 mins, 7 max, 5.2 av
Another huge group at D2K, which was surprising as it had been raining heavily for days and the sea was still big after a southerly the previous Wednesday. JP was DM but a splinter group of Liz, Sharon G and Sharon S plus an American couple got in the water first and decided to head towards FB, partly because of the swell over the reef on the northern side of Shelly but mainly because Scott told us the dusky whalers were back at Fairy! We entered near the boat ramp and headed west, over the seagrass beds and exploring all the reefs and bommies on the way to Manly. Sadly no duskies today but the vis was surprisingly good, maybe more than 10 metres; we saw a boarfish, two giant cuttlefishes, a blind shark, an estuarine catfish, a rockcod, a lone stripey, schools of tarwhine, drummer, mado, bullseyes, yellowtail and another school-fish, maybe a type of drummer, almost circular with yellow fringes. There was also a couple of wobbegongs, one swimming briefly and plenty of small stingarees.

Bare Island South Western Side 12th January 2008

2008-01-13T14:09:00.000-08:00

Dive No. 289. 10.45 am, 17 degrees, 54 mins, 15.2 max, 8.8 av. A huge group at D2K needed two DMs: Dave and Leeza. Bare Island was packed to the rafters with divers (the gusty nor’easter must have made conditions at other favourite diving haunts, like Fairy Bower, too difficult). Liz, Sharon, Carolyn and I formed a group and set off, entering at the south-west entrance. The tide was high and the swell negligible which made the entrance easy. We descended over lush kelp beds to a beautiful expanse of sponge garden extending to the edge of visibility. The water temperature, 22 degrees on the surface, plunged to 17 (16 on Caroline's and Sharon’s computers) but the vis was fantastic, perhaps 15 metres. There wasn’t much fauna around all this lovely “flora” though we came across a large school of bullseyes accompanied by a school of small yellowtail (they don’t get very big here as it’s not a marine sanctuary like Fairy Bower). At 15 metres we hit the sandy bottom with a couple of weedy sea dragons patrolling and it seemed that the featureless sand was stretching into oblivion to the north and east, which made me slightly perplexed and doubting of my up-to-then impeccable navigational skills, because I assumed we'd hit the usual reef but coming from the other direction. I pointed us due east, figuring that we had to reach a reef or land at least that way and eventually we came across some bare and vertical rocks and some other divers. The water warmed up and the vis went down and I was still puzzled as to how we’d missed the usual reef we dive on the western side. My reckoning was that we would come across that reef if we headed north and north-east from our entry. As we neared shore, we practiced safety-sausage deployment for a while, often getting tangled up with the rope (we’ll have to keep trying to perfect our technique!).

Camp Cove 5th January 2008

2008-01-06T14:50:00.000-08:00

Dive No. 288 10.54 am, 21 degrees, 45 mins, 6.4 max, 4.3 av
Terrible conditions with lots of churn and all the churned sand and muck gave us a vis of about one metre. The only consolation was the warm water. We headed to the right at first but the reefs and bommies on that side were all woeful because of the almost complete lack of visibilty plus the relentless churn made it seem a bit dodgy. You were never sure that a rogue churn wouldn't slam you up against an unseen (though only half a metre away) rock wall. I took my buddy (a beginner, on his 5th dive) back south, parallel to the beach and onto the middle reef, which was no better than the other side so we headed for shore. Liz had buddied with Amanda and she didn’t have a good time, with bad memories of the day of infamy at Camp Cove a few years back. We did see some fish flying around in the swirling mass of water: mados, drummer, leatherjackets, red morwongs and a stingaree.

Gordons Bay 29th December 2007

2007-12-30T14:25:00.001-08:00

Dive No. 287 10.37 am, 19 degrees, 64 mins, 13.1 max, 8.2 av

Not much fauna at GB and the water was colder than I expected but it ended up being an okay dive. DM Greg led a large group of regulars and irregulars. I buddied with Liz and we saw a dwarf lionfish, various nudibranchs, one giant cuttlefish, one or two wirrahs, a couple of plump scorpionfish, two estuarine catfish and the usual blue gropers, other wrasse, hulas, morwongs, etc.

Clifton Gardens 23rd December 2007

2007-12-23T15:06:00.000-08:00

Dive No. 286 1.27 pm, 21 degrees, 53 mins, 8.8 max, 5.8 av
Liz and I were expecting a double boat dive today but the boat didn’t turn up to pick us up at Clifton Gardens so, after waiting for over 2 hours, we decided to go in for a dive anyway. Unfortunately, the tide was out a fair bit by then so buoyancy was a bit of an issue. There are many interesting critters under the jetties at Clifton and today we saw some huge pufferfish, a seahorse, a decorator crab, large mosaic, pygmy and fan-bellied leatherjackets, large red morwongs, schools of surgeon fish and tarwhine, silver drummer, mado, hula, etc. plus a lovely, tropical-coloured fish (above left) which I haven't fully identified (maybe a juvenile leatherjacket, but which genus?

Bare Island 22nd December 2007

2007-12-23T14:13:00.000-08:00

Dive No. 285. 10.45 am, 17 degrees, 57 mins, 14.9 max, 10.1 av
DM today was Dave Young; I buddied with Liz and Amanda and we ended up doing our own thing; there were a lot of beginners on the dive and it was good to get into areas where sand wasn’t stirred up to seriously compromise the visibility. On the surface, the water was 22 degrees, then 21, then 19 at around 4 metres deep and then we hit a thermocline where the temperature plummeted to a chilly 17 degrees! (And me sans hood!) There were jellyfish galore in the water and many of the divers expressed disgust at the feel of them sliding across their faces but it doesn’t worry me too much. There seemed to be a lot more jellyfish in the colder water. We came across some small cuttlefish and one giant one; two weedy sea dragons hunting together, a few nudibranchs, a large school of pomfreds and a largish school of drummer. Nice dive overall, despite jellyfish and cold water. We practiced safety-sausage deployment at the end.

Fairy Bower 15th December 2007

2007-12-16T15:21:00.000-08:00

Dive No. 284 11.16 am, 21 degrees, 72 mins, 8 max, 5.5 av
Rough conditions with a brisk north-easterly wind sending waves crashing against the wall at Fairy Bower. Entry was fun and exiting was even more fun. The sunny weather brought a large group with Peter as DM and once again a splinter group was formed, comprising Liz, Sharon, Chris and me. We headed west first, exploring all the nooks and crannies, there weren’t many large animals (a metre or more) around the joint but there seemed to be a surfeit of the really small fish, like mados - more than usual. I caught sight of a wobbie’s tail and there were some really large red morwongs hanging around and more leather jackets than usual (maybe the churn stirs up the food they like). We headed east and discovered a nice reef which must be due north of the beach, about 50 metres from shore. The best sight was a small school of rather large squid, which hung around (they usually scarper pretty quickly); maybe this lot had just laid some eggs. They have such intelligent eyes and they change colour slightly as they back away from you - nowhere near as dramatic as the colour changes of their cousins, the octopus and cuttlefish, but they have a lovely iridescent look to them. We headed back and I got separated from the others. There was a large school of good-sized mullet just near the exit. Getting out was fun, with waves crashing against the stone wall (apparently Liz had a hard time of it and sustained a few bruises).

Fairy Bower 8th December 2007

2007-12-09T16:43:00.000-08:00

Dive No. 283 10.53 am, 19 degrees, 72 mins, 7.2 max, 5.2 av
Liz, Sharon and I went off from the main group (led by JP) and were planning to go west when an exiting diver responded to Liz’s question about dusky whalers by saying that they’d seen “lots of big ones”. So we got all excited and headed east to the seagrass beds but, after much searching and me losing the others and finding them, after surfacing, about 100 metres away to the north, well on their way to China, we decided, after surfacing again about 50 metres from Shelly Beach and having a brief discussion, that the exiting diver must have meant wobbegongs instead of dusky whalers. We certainly saw plenty of the former, like last week I counted at least 8 of them, including a dead one on the western side, its carcass all grey and washed-out of the characteristic wobby pattern and, curiously, no scavengers tearing the ample flesh from its bones (Liz suggested we have a look in the same spot if we dive at Fairy next week to see if the carcass is still there and whether it’s been eaten very much by then). Apart from the wobbies we saw a couple of giant cuttlefish, nudibranchs (a whole conglomeration of white ones on a rock), blue, green and yellow gropers, yellowtail, mullet, estuarine catfish, tarwhine and morwongs -- and a champagne bottle (probably empty).

Shelly Beach 1st December 2007

2007-12-02T15:04:00.000-08:00

Dive No. 282. 10.53 am, 21 degrees, 68 mins, 12.8 max, 8.2 av
Liz, two newies, Patrick (DM) and I had a nice dive with good vis and warm-ish water. At least 8 wobbegongs, including one that scattered a large school of eastern pomfreds before resuming the customary wobbeging sleeping position on the rocks; scores of stingarees; three nudibranchs, one the standard black and white, the other two larger and more colourful; and 3 octopuses (Liz said two were staring a mating dance/ritual or whatever it is that octopi do when feeling amorous). We went to the kelp gardens but Patrick wasn’t able to find any weedy sea dragons (he usually does) and visited the motorbike on the way back.

Fairy Bower, 24th November 2007

2007-11-25T14:32:00.000-08:00

Dive No. 281. 10.55 am, 19 degrees, 64 mins, 7.6 max, 6.1 av
We (Liz, Caroline and Chris and I) headed east from the beach (submerged at high tide) to see if any dusky whaler sharks had started their Manly summer sojourn. We didn't see any of these sleek juveniles so we slowly meandered back towards the western side. I kept losing everyone else and, after surfacing a few times to look for the others, eventually crossed over to the western side by myself where I nearly tripped over a large, sleeping wobbegong. A dwarf lion-fish was the main attraction (I wonder if he was swept down from the tropics by some weird current) and there were plenty of drummer, blackfish, mullet, yellowtail, leatherjackets, morwongs, and assorted wrasse.