My May Dives
I managed to only get two days diving in May. Not very good as conditions for diving are great at this time of year. Water warm 20-21 degrees, seas flat and blue with lots of westerly. A dive on the Colours wall was superb with great viz and could see all the sea tulips sponges and the wall was covered in baby white crinoids (feather star I would think).
Also did Middle head, which I have meant to try for years. This site is very busy as it is in the path of yachts returning to Middle Harbour Yacht cub and they choose to ignore dive flags. The dive site is good; lot of fishes and sponges. Similar but better than South Head so keep it in mind for when conditions are a bit rough elsewhere e.g. southerly.
The last dive was around the base of the Signal station in 5-12 meters looking for evidence of the Dunbar and doing Harbour Keepers Fish Survey. No Dunbar bits were found but site had lots of fish but also lots of bare boulders and kelp. Not a great dive site but we did see a Banner fish and a Moorish idol..
Hopefully June will see more dives and divers.
Michael
Pam's Reef, Maroubra - Grey Nurse Sharks. Sunday 15th April 07
A full URG boat took off to see the Grey Nurse Sharks on a bright sunny Autumn's day. The Grey Nurse were home and plenty of them too, I counted 13 in one counting, including a few juveniles. Water temp was a perfect 21 degrees and the viz was good at about 15metres. Other sea creatures to be seen were; wrasse, weedy sea dragon, giant cuttlefish, groper, morwong, old wives, yellowtail, bulls eyes, sponges, sea stars, nudibranc...the usual Sydney dive conglomerate. It was such a nice spot that each of us decided to do our second dive there as well, but we headed shorewards after another wave hello to the sharks. It proved to be another pleasant dive, passing over boulders and along walls, surrounded by sea life similar to the first dive. A HUGE thanks to Greg Bax for convening, up at 5am and home at 5pm, an effort greatly appreciated by all on board. And thanks to Cuong for the oranges :-)
Denise
North Bondi – Ben Buckler Head
24 March, 2007
I had heard some reports about North Bondi being a great shore dive so decided that it was time for Wayne and myself to check it out. Neither of us had been here so it would be a site to add to the “New Sites for 2007” list. Meeting at 8am we were wondering what on earth we were doing here as there were no parking spots available. It didn’t take long though and we were both parked and kitting up. A quick brief from another diver who was about to jump in and we were ready to be impressed.
Due to the tide being low, our entry was from the exposed rock shelf next to the lone fisho. Wayne did a giant stride and informed me that it was shallow so I crouched down slide into the water protecting my baby, my camera. We descended into the blue water; it was as if we were in an aquarium, fish all around us. Heading south over the rocks it was beautiful. We finally came to the sandline and turned east and followed the rocks around. We came across a giant cuttlefish that was more than happy to play with Wayne. Wayne came out looking like a ninja in some of the photos. Then there was another giant cuttlefish, but he didn’t really want a bar of us hooligans. A minute later a school of kingfish buzzed by. I managed to get a few photos of them. I counted 33 kingies in the one photo. There were probably more as a one spot puller decided it wanted to get in the way of the perfect shot. Six spined and black reef leatherjackets were also in abundance. After turning around we came across a weedy seadragon. Not many nudibranchs for us today. I saw a couple splendid chromodoris and a couple black margined glossodoris. Lots of comb wrasse, more male blue gropers than I have seen for a while, an eastern wirrah, a very large fiddler ray in the kelp, a wobby in a nook formed in the boulders, one spot pullers, old wifes and rock cale. Loads to see, never a dull moment.
Our planned exit was at the boat ramp west of the car park. Our actual exit was at the boat ramp west of the car park. A paced walk back up the steps and we were back at the cars. We didn’t see the cathedral but that just leaves something else for us to look for next time we are here, probably winter when hopefully the parking will be more favourable. This was indeed a great dive, 72 minutes, 19m and between 15 to 20m viz.
Jonathan
The Wreck of the Centurion – 24 March, 2007
On the 24th of March 2007 7 lucky URG divers visited the wreck of the Centurion.
There is lots of interesting information available to the public on www.maritime.heritage.nsw.gov.au . The below statement come from that site.
"The Centurion forms one of the most interesting shipwreck dives in Sydney Harbour. The vessel, owned by George Thompson was departing Sydney under tow for Honolulu when it got into difficulties at the Heads. Another steamer was moored in the channel, and in the attempt to pass around it, Centurion bumped against the rocks at The Old Mans Hat on North Head. Recovering from the shore, Centurion drifted back into the harbour and sank in 18 meters of water. Today the remains include a substantial portion of the hull (buried), deck frames, sections of the masts, anchor chain and other fastenings. The Centurion was built as a magnificent timber clipper ship, later transformed to a barque rig, square-rigged on two masts. With a length of 63 meters and tonnage of 1004 tons gross, the vessel had been built in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1869 for the Aberdeen White Star Line. Centurion was built in the famous Aberdeen shipyard of Walter Hood & Sons, that also built the Fame, Queen of Nations and Walter Hood, all wrecked in NSW. Towards the end of its life, the passenger and cargo carrier served as a collier. "
Well there is still a fair bit of coal laying around the low lying wreck and Janet counted numerous fishes for Harbour Keepers. The water was warm 21 degrees and the day was hot and sunny. A lovely morning to be out with friends on Sydney Harbour and learning about our past.
Michael
SCAN Weekend – 10-11 March, 2007
The SCAN weekend was a great success. Four brilliant dives, great visibility, an assortment of life and a weekend of camping to make for a very cheap weekend. Our plan for doing a drift dive was canned when we noted that there was not much of a difference in height between the low and high tides. We didn't particularly want to get stranded at the mouth of the marina. So, we changed to the macro dive site of The Pipeline for the first dive on Saturday morning.
It was no problem to swim against the tide to have a bit of a wonder over the cauliflower sponges and see what was out and about. Cuttlefish, nudibranchs galore, tiger pipehorses, pygmy leatherjackets. Second dive for the day was up at Fly Point. More nudibranchs, blotched hawkfish (I'm seeing lots of these nowadays), green morays and plenty of other life and loads of sponges and corals. Even managed to get a photo of a cowry (thought it was a nudibranch until it came time to identify it). It was a shame that I jumped in the water with only 150 bar as we had to call the dive after 79 minutes but there was still so much to see, life to photograph and the current wasn't roaring by.
Sunday morning was back to the pipeline for another macro dive. Second dive was up at Halifax Park. Another brilliant dive with loads of life. One absolutely massive silver drummer that must have been on steroids, saw tooth eel, a very nice posing Eastern blue devilfish, Maori cod, nudibranchs, green morays. Absolutely fantastic weekend, and all only 2 hours away from home!
Did we have a problem with all the divers in the water? What divers? Only us at The Pipeline on both days. We could probably have done without one other group at Fly Point who kicked up the bottom just as I was about to shoot a few frames of a nudibranch. Sunday, I don't think we came across anyone else really. Can't wait to get back up there for another weekend. Will probably try and get back up there just after the Outlaws go back to Canada to recuperate. And the fish and chips were yummy.
Jonathan
Clean Up Australia Day - 4 March, 2007
Michael Abbott
Sunday March 4 was Clean up Australia day so I registered URG on the Cleanup web site to do Manly Cove between the pool and the Aquarium wharf. We had also scheduled a Harbour Keepers fish survey and Colin rang up and wanted to revisit the first site in the Harbour where we had confirmed the presence of the algae Caulerpa Taxifolia. This was going to be a busy day with 9 divers involved from boat and shore.
The boat was well loaded with everyone’s gear and lunchboxes as well as rubbish bags and gloves etc but the Harbour was flat and the water blue and warm. We placed 2 dive flags and anchored boat in the middle of the cleanup area. Divers were dispatched in different directions to collect rubbish.
Manly Cove faces south so there was plenty of rubbish blown into the shallows to be collected. We managed to fill around 12 bags with drink bottles, plastic cutlery, plastic bags, fishing gear, coffee cup lids, and a chair. A local dive shop was also on the beach doing training dives so Mark talked with them about Clean up and they said that anybody who didn’t bring back some rubbish would fail their course. Good to see so many divers keen to help the environment as there was plenty of plastic to be collected. The good news this year was less bait bags and a lot of fish around the net and Aquarium wharf pillions. As any fisherman worth his salt will tell you fish like structures. It is important to look into bottles etc before removing, as they often become homes for marine creatures.
Janet did two harbour keepers counts of 30 minutes each and we recorded our first happy moment (a member of the rabbit fish family). We also found occys, cuttlefish, pipefish and sea horses and unfortunately many small patches of Caulerpa Taxifolia, which were not present in past surveys/cleanups.
Our final task for the day we dropped a shot line and dispatched Colin and Cameron to check the spread of the first patch of Caulerpa Taxifolia discovered on our EnviroFund Biodiversity Survey of North Harbour Marine Reserve. The good news is that it has not taken over and although it is spreading it seems to remain in small clumps rather than the feared vast invasive fields. We should check the other sites and do a follow up on our report.
Thanks to those mentioned and Judy, Robert, Christine, and Jonathan for helping out on the day.
Cannae Point – 25 February, 2007
Michael Abbott
Well I have said it before, “What a difference a day makes”. I went out with Greg to check out his new convener skills on Saturday 24/2 when we planed to Long Reef and dived in 15 M viz with shoals of fish reminiscent of a David Attenborough documentary. So I backed up on Sunday 25/2/07 for my turn at convening.
Well the nice sunny day with NE wind had turned into a blustery southerly with rain showers. I had wanted to try a drift dive across Middle Head the next time I encountered these conditions but every boat on the harbour was there. So we went around Cannae Point and hid against the rocks off the Quarantine station wharf.
The dive was quite good with warm 22 degree water and all divers spent over an hour under so either it was good or it was better that the cloud and wind on top. We did a Harbour Keepers survey for National Parks Association and saw a large angel shark.
The sail boats were fun to watch in the big wind with lots of drama, capsizes and sails luffing out of control. After the regular coffee, bickies and snakes Judy piloted us back superbly dodging sailboats and ferries from every direction. A spectacular day to be on or under Sydney Harbour.
Long Reef – Saturday 24th February, 2007
Denise Lawler
Mother nature smiled upon us with blue skies and warm weather as we headed up to Long Reef in the URG boat. I liked the civilised 9.30am start, however no parking spots left in the carpark meant a walk up and down the hill, I need the exercise so no big deal. Anchored right above the Cathedral dive spot, Greg, Nick and I rolled in for the first dive. Long Reef is known for it’s abundant sea life, and that day was no different. We saw large schools of Ladder-Finned Pomfrets, Common Bullseye and Yellowtail. There were also: One Spot Chromis, Longfin Bannerfish, Groper, Southern Fusilers, Eastern Hulafish, Stripey, Old Wives, Red Morwong, Wrasse, half a dozen large Three-Barred Porcupinefish, sea stars, hand sponges, and a fish I’ve never spotted before….disc shaped, 20cm, black with dark blue spots evenly all over, any suggestions? It saw me and darted off so quickly I couldn’t catch any other features. Back up on deck and Janet and Michael jumped in for an equally glorious dive, however they were able to find the Cathedral, unlike the first dopey three. Feeling a tad ‘off’ on deck I made a deal with myself not to deco hanging off the anchor line in a swell ever again! After an hour surface time, and with detailed instructions on where the Cathedral was (ie. 3 metres from the anchor DOH!), Greg, Nick and I went in for a 2nd round. Ohhhhh so that’s what those big rocks were. After a play through the swim throughs, we enticed a Giant Cuttlefish out from his ledge. A slight wave of the fingers and out he came, two tentacles erect, he quickly eyed the three of us and chose Nick as his threat, or treat? Backing away (we prefer our masks and regs where they are thanks), he persisted in the chase for Nick. Nick not really familiar with the Giant Cuttlefish, at first thought it was amusing but then realised a wiser choice of wetsuit that day would have been his brown one. Me with a fear of mask flooding, trying to control laughter was tough. Greg decided to clear off, just thankful he wasn’t the ‘chosen one’. After a few long minutes and 8 metres on, Nick’s foe had fulfilled his duties and in full speed, reversed off. A relaxing and very amusing 2nd dive ended with us back on deck, imagining Nick, wrapped in the arms of the Giant Cuttlefish in his garden under the sea. Home at 4pm, what a beaut Saturday that was.
ps. thanks to new convenor Greg (trained expertly by Janet and Michael)
Bare Island - 17 and 18 February, 2007
What a fantastic weekend we have just had. Blue skies, flat seas and good company. Saturday saw me take Christine down to Bare Island to show her what Wayne and I were discovering about Bare Island and had us drawn to it on a nearly weekly basis. The three of us entered the water with a giant stride on the eastern side of the island. On the surface the water was a nice temperature, but it didn't take long before we hit a thermocline at 8m and the mercury dropped down to 16°C. But we had good visibility and could see for miles (ok a little exaggeration there). We didn't disappoint Christine. Clear blue water with plenty of life. Weedy seadragons were there in force, several nudibranchs including a new one for my website (pretty sure that I have correctly identified it as a Serpent Pteraeolidia) and a very friendly giant cuttlefish that was quite happy to pose for the camera. He took exception to a blue groper coming in to steal the limelight and showed his displeasure. This didn't seem to phase the big fella with him following us for about 15 minutes. This gave me some great opportunities to shoot him for the website too. After 98 minutes it was time to call it quits. Standing in knee deep water we were able to step out from the water onto the mainland and begin reminiscing the underwater wonderland that we had just left.
With the great dive we had on Saturday, it was a quick ring around to everyone that had expressed interest in the Shiprock dive to let them know that it was being reconvened to Bare Island. Our band of merry divers jumped in bright and early off the southeast corner of the island. We were in for a great treat. Heading due south we encountered our friendly giant cuttlefish from Saturday. Again, he was happy to hover and have his photo taken until his nemesis, the blue groper, came on in to steal the limelight away from him again. We didn't hang around here terribly long as we had a dive to complete and we had only just begun our adventure. More weedy seadragons, another nudibranch to add to my website (this time a Conspicuous polycera), and a big surprise was a clown toby. A school of tarwhines were going absolutely stir crazy. The cause was soon evident with a school of huge (and I do mean huge) kingfish swooping down on them. After 86 minutes it was time to end this dive. With viz up to 15m and generally at least 10m, it was a new look to Bare Island for us.
Jonathan
The Colours Reef - 4 February, 2007
Michael Abbott
We had a great dive site today. We anchored the URG boat and fluked the spot dropping the anchor in the small pothole with the old anchor just east of the wall. Janet, Cuong and I swam down the line through the green murk into clear blue water and turned south along the main rock wall. This wall drops vertical from 21 to 26 meters for a distance of around 40 meters. There were lots of common nudibranchs colourful sponges and gorgonians on the rock wall. Janet found a Magnificent Miamira which is listed as rare but I also saw one last week at Dee Why so they may be seasonal on deep reefs. Looking up through the 19 degree blue water with 15 meter viz we saw huge schools of sweep and one spot chromis moving across the site like wilder beast on the plains of Africa. Also saw all the usual wrasse and gropers with a school of 30 Black reef leather jackets grazing the deep reef area.
Back to our anchor to see a big school of pike and some were lucky to catch a glimpse of a kingfish. The Colours really is a great dive site. It is a little deep but only a short run from the heads and easy to find. There is a lot of the Colours reef as it stretches for 2-3 kilometers. It would be worth exploring some more of this area.
The Gap - 3 February, 2007
Dave Neal
Saturday the 3rd of February 2007 was a great morning for a dive. Blue skies greeted Denise, Greg, Nick and Dave as they ventured out from Tunks Park for a dive at the Gap. After a short cruise to the dive spot, it was drop anchor and get ready to dive. Whilst conditions on the top were a little sloppy the Gap provided reasonable vis (about 10 meters) and no surge on the bottom.
Greg and Nick were the first to get their feet wet and reported a nice relaxing dive with juvenile king fish swimming about and a range of other friendly critters. Denise and Dave jumped in once Greg and Nick returned and ventured down to the sand line at 22 meters. With water temp about 17 to 18 degrees it wasn't too cold and there was a bit to see including, juvenile king fish, 2 weedy sea-dragons, a big male grouper, not to mention a decent sized ball of schooling catfish! (unusual for this time of year??).
As they say, it was great to be at sea with the URG!
January Diving in Botany Bay – Wayne Basford
January has seen myself and Jonathan becoming fixated with diving Botany Bay, in particular Bare Island, with a brief interlude at Kurnell. This has involved 9 dives and a cummulative dive time of over 10 hours. Species seen include:
- Angel sharks
- Crested Horn sharks
- Spotted wobbegong sharks
- Red indianfish
- Weedy sea dragons
- Big bellied sea horses
- Eastern blue devil fish
- Pygmy pipehorse
- Bull ray
- Octopus
- Squid
- Giant cuttlefish
The only downside of this diving has to be the current cold weather, with most dives being 14 degrees, with the computer reading as low as 11.2 degrees! Whatever happened to global warming?
A brief description of some of the more memorable dives and species seen are as follows.
Bare Island Far West
5/7/14 Jan 2007
With Jonathan’s 2007 aim being to see a Red indianfish and McFadyen’s site claiming the western side of Bare Island was the place to see them, 2007 started with three long exploration dives of the western side of Bare Island. (Total dive time 247 minutes so far! longest dive 91 minutes). All dives have started from the “boat ramp” west of the bridge on Bare island and then have followed the wall west, then over sand heading south / west / south west. Viz has been poor and to be honest I am still unclear as to the exact geography of the site, but basically the western side is the cave and the area is largely a collection of low lying rocks / rock out crops with some brilliant sponges and some very interesting wild life. The area abounds with weedy sea dragons including juveniles. A red indianfish was finally found on the second dive. I was surprised at how large the fish was (hard to believe you cannot spot a fish over 6 inches long) and that its shape perfectly mimicked a leaf of kelp swaying in the surge. A surprising find was an angel shark lying on the sand. Certainly this area is one of the best dive sites in Sydney, though best appreciated if you swim well past the areas frequented by the hordes of dive schools and requires pretty good air consumption.
Bare Island South Side
Sat 20/ 1/2007
Mill pond seas allowed entry from the far south eastern tip of Bare Island, allowing a giant stride off a rock platform into 5m of water, we then headed south across kelp and then eventually rock, sinking to 17 –19m. There was an incoming tide allowing us to drift past the sponge gardens as we were pushed westwards. Early into the dive we came across a red indianfish, sitting on a narrow rock ledge. We gradually multi levelled coming close to the main southern wall of the island. Careful examination of the wall rewarded us with a blue devil fish hiding in a long crevice and a beautiful yellow big bellied sea horse sitting amongst yellow sponges. We continued to multi level turning the northwesterly corner at 10m, exiting at the “boat ramp” on the westerly side of the bridge. Surprisingly we did not see any seas dragons.
Bare Island Eastern side
Sat 20/1/2007
Again millpond seas allowed easy access from the northeast corner of Bare Island, with a giant stride into approx 5m of water and a easterly swim until the drop off to the sand at 10 m was reached. The dive was done at high tide, water was blue and visibility about 10m, highlights were loads of weedy sea dragons on the sand line and a pygmy pipehorse on the rock ledge just to the north of the cave, very small, brown in colour same colour as the algae it was clinging to (and that was growing on it!). Worrying thing to note that there are caulerpa taxifolia beds starting to grow in the sand just off the rocks.
Kurnell The Steps to the Monument Drift
Sun 21 /1/ 2007
For those who have not done it, the steps to the monument is a nice easy drift dive, only to be attempted on an incoming tide and calm seas. Park just off the road about 150m passed the discovery centre car par, and walk down the steps and step in off the rocks, swim out, find the wall and gently drift into Botany Bay keeping the wall to your left, the sand line is mainly 11-12m. Viz on entry was good and the perfect place to see weedy sea dragons, and some superb sponge gardens. After about 50 minutes the viz deteriorated indicating we were well inside the Bay. The wall close to the monument beach was a great spot for giant cuttlefish and green morays. Exit was by the monument beach (a much pleasanter exit than the exposed rocks east of the beach).
Kurnell The Monument
Sun 21 /1/ 2007
Diving with Michael right on high tide, we entered about 100 m east of the monument, heading south, a large spotted wobby was found in a 5 m rock gully and plenty of weedies on the sand line at 12m. We headed west, swimming against the now outgoing tide. Surprisingly we encountered three large octopus crawling/ swimming freely other interesting spots included giant cuttlefish, a dwarf lion fish squid and a few numb rays. The monument exit is found by following the wall / sand line west until the wall runs out, the heading south over kelp and weed. It was at this point in the dive with viz down to about 2 m, while focusing on my compass Michael kindly prevented me from swimming into an enormous bull ray!!
Narooma - 18-19 November, 2006
What a fantastic weekend we just had. Eight URGites made the journey down to Narooma for a weekend of fun. We were treated to spectacular weather, flat seas and a whole heap of seals. On our journey out on Saturday our trip was interrupted by a couple of whales and their calves deciding that they wanted to swim straight in front us. Before arriving at Montague Island we could smell the seals; thank goodness they don't smell underwater. In the water the seals were moving along at full speed, demonstrating agility that I could only dream of. Over the two days and four dives I managed to shoot over 300 photos. So what did we see? Whales, seals, a turtle, rays, dolphins, fish, a couple PJ's and fellow divers. I had a great time and thanks to everyone who joined me.
Jonathan
Magic Point - 11 Novmber, 2006
The forecast was for northwesterly winds early so a trip to Magic Point was arranged. With 6 onboard we left Kyeemagh at 8am. It was still a bumpy ride with the swell still up. Arriving at Magic Point we split the group in 2. First group of Christine, Greg and myself headed towards shore in search of the wall to follow around to the cave. Found it and then quickly found the cave. We had four grey nurses coming in and out of the cave. We were also joined by a pair of clown toby’s. We were unable to find the anchor on our return so launched my SMB from 20m. Upon getting back onboard we were informed that we were right on course to hit it. Better to be safe and launch than swim around at 20m and not be sure of where you are.
The second group saw a bit more as they did more swimming around. Michael, Janet and Bill got to witness a pair of bull rays getting a little hot together.
Great day out. Thanks to Michael for organising.
Jonathan
Harbour Keepers Dive - Cannae Ponit - 4 November, 2006
It was a miserable day but we still braved the elements to count fish for the Harbour Keepers program. We attempted to anchor at Red Indian fish off North Head but were getting buffeted by the swell too much. It was decided to go around the corner and anchor in the protected area behind Cannae Point. This was a much nicer plan and we were joined here by Robin and Jane and their merry band of URG divers on their boat. Viz wasn’t great but it was definitely nicer underwater than on top. We completed two Harbour Keeper fish counts on the day, and any day where you get to go diving is a great day.
Jonathan
Fiji - 11-18 October, 2006 – Michael Abbott
We tried Fiji again to attend Christine and Jonathan's wedding on Mana Island. Had a bad experience in 2006 on the Coral coast so it was nice to have fun and put Fiji back on the list of places worth visiting. Mana is a big resort entertainment on the plane and there were lots of kids. We did an overnighter in what’s now known as a flash island on the less rainy north side off Nadi. We flew Virgin, which was very good, but you pay for all food, drink and packers, the Nomad Sky lodge Resort which was ok and undergoing some renovations. This was necessary, as we wanted to be on the early ferry transfer to Mana. Lucky we took the Dramomine as the ferry ride was very rough with 30-knot winds and waves crashing over the front windscreen. After this day the weather was perfect.
Mana was very nice; palm trees, two beaches, two pools, and lots of food and drinks. The Wedding was beautiful, on Sunset beach with Fijian singers and warriors. All up there were 19 in our wedding group and we all got along and had a wonderful time. We had 1 buck and doe night and at least 4 wedding reception dinners. There were lots of activities on the island with theme dinners, bingo, arts and crafts, cocktail hours and shows etc. While I am not normally a fan of these resort activities those that attended seemed impressed and the guys in kids club reportedly had a great time.
All up we had 6 active divers including the bride and groom and 1 land locked diver who elected to stay out of the water. The dive operator Aquatrek looked after us superbly. They carry tanks and gear, give information on dive sites, do all the boat handling, put away and store your gear and sing you songs and play the guitar at every opportunity. Diving was very good with lots of small tropical fish in 27 degree blue water. On one dive I counted 11 species of butterfly fish ( I only knew 9), 3 species of anemone fish (skunk, 3 bar and tomato), lots of Moorish idols, flute mouths, scissor tail fusiliers and banner fish. Big fish were very rare apart from the odd shark and Spanish mackerel at the "Supermarket" dive site made famous by Api the shark feeder who lived here until passing away recently.
Other sites worth doing were the Plantation Pinnacle, which was very much like and just as good as Pixie or Steves Bommie which are world renown sites in FNQ. I saw my first long nosed hawk fish on Plantation pinnacle and took photos of this small elusive shy fish which lives in gorgonian like tree corals We also did a place called Wilk’s passage which had heaps of fish and large brain corals with garden eels on the sand. Fiji is famous for soft corals and these delicate colorful corals were everywhere. A site known as Sherwood Forest had equal to the most and biggest Gorgonians fan corals I have ever seen, with the yellow variety particularly beautiful..
Other fish on list included, saddled and spotted tobys, coral trout, blue trevally, solder fish, sergeant majors, sailfin tang, parrot fish, cod, 2 spot snapper, 5 lined perch, puffers, bi-colour, emperor and blue cheek angels, golden damsels, Fiji rabbit fish, Fiji blenny, red throat wrasse, unicorn fish, southern fusilier, titan trigger fish, to name some I knew.
Fiji dive rules are restrictive with all dives being guided and bottom times usually limited to 45 minutes and 50 bar with strict limitations on depth. I guess I am too spoilt being accustomed to diving with known buddies and staying down as long as we want.
We tended to get up early have a big banquet breakie, dive twice in the morning, have a light or no lunch, wonder around, sea kayak or try sailing broken catamarans until showers prior to happy hour and out to dinner with the crew. All up a great holiday.
Dives Report Sunday 17 Sept 2006 - Wayne Basford
The Gap 9 am boat
Water 18-19 degrees , viz about 15 – 20 m water blue and so many fish to see, unlikely to get better conditions in Sydney. Life on the rocks was teaming; one spot chromis everywhere, sea dragons, including a couple of pregnant males on the sand line made this a spectacular dive.
Camp Cove North Wall Clean up dive
Water 18-19 degrees, viz about 3-5m, water green (very green), an amazing contrast to the condition just outside of the harbour, the water was green, and turbulent with thermoclines. At points quite eerie, going through green “fog” to edge through the swims throughs .
But despite the unusual green conditions, saw plenty including stingarees, cuttlefish, pygmy leatherjackets , loads of rock cale, Maori wrasse and a seahorse (picture in the photo gallery).
South Head - Boat Dive
After a very pleasant lunch (sitting on the URG boat in Watson's Bay eating fish and chips) decided to try and find some nicer (less green) conditions, went round to South Head, just inside the harbour jumped into 5m of water... and was surrounded by green!!, headed north and was rewarded with blue water and great viz. Swam along a boulder line edging down to 16m, PJs on the sand, comb wrasse and mado everywhere. On the way back found Janet and Mark examining a small wreck in about 7 m of water, with a nice green moray hiding in the wreckage.
Where have the duskies gone? Fairy Bower - Saturday 16 Sept 2006 - Wayne Basford
Having seen dusky whalers right up to three weeks ago, two extensive dives off Fairy Bower on Saturday saw possibly one fleeting sight of a small shark, as the temperature is actually warmer than it was a few weeks ago it would appear surprising that the sharks have migrated. Will be interesting to see if there are any sightings in the next few months.
With the water at 18 degrees and viz about 8-10 m the lack of the duskies was made up for with: about 10 PJs in rocks west of the beach, a pregnant male seadragon in 6m, again west of the beach, a long snoated boar fish , a newly born (hatched) PJ about six inches long.
For those not familiar with the site a swim across the sea grass east of the beach is usually very rewarding with leather jackets, silver trevally, snapper etc.
Shelly Beach - 16 September
Simple dive plan to avoid the crowds from the dive schools, find the motor bike then head west / northwest, gradually getting down to about 10-11 m , dive was rewarded with a couple of wobbies, large eastern boxfish and a very nice pygmy pipefish.
Variety is the spice of life - Wayne Basford - 3 September, 2006
Sundays double dive saw two very contrasting dives, one The Coolooli 45m , 12 minutes bottom, strong current an hours trip in bouncy seas, the other Old Man's Hat just inside north head 12m, 53 minutes bottom time in beautifully calm conditions... which was the better dive.
Sunday saw an early start with the URG tech crew setting off to Long Reef, for a warm up dive as part of the plan to dive the Birchgrove Park. An interesting collection of twin sets, ponies and large tanks were loaded onto the boat, most of which did not fit into the tank racks. Certainly the nature of the equipment, its configuration, and the number of regs and hoses, would have a number of the tech divers in town wincing!
We eventually settled on diving on the Coolooli. A) because it is the perfect deep warm up (being 37-39 at the top of the wreck ) and B) we could not find the Dee Why! A perfect anchor drop saw us securely fasten to the wreck. Down we went in a raging current. For those who have not dived the Coolooli I would strongly recommend it as an easy way to experience the wrecks at Long Reek. It is a very substantial piece of metal, with plenty of life, and can be nicely dived without having to go below 40m. Conditions on the wreck were calm, viz about 10 m with a clown toby, black leatherjackets, sergeant bakers, only draw back after 12 minutes its time to return back up the line.
Old Mans Hat, saw no waves, blue seas, and a nice easy drop down to 11-12m. loads of life, Port Jacksons, one spot chromis, sweep, giant cuttle fish, green Morays nudibranchs which ever way you turn. I watched a PJ swim right between Janet and Wayne Hack as they were facing away from each other, both looking at priced nudibranch about 1 cm, on the boat both had only seen one stationary PJ ... while in reality there were at least 4 swimming around!
Both great dives.. hard to justify which was best... Am I mad to enjoy a 12 minute dive? Am I boring to enjoy another dive inside the harbour?
The Colours - Janet Abbott - 2 September, 2006
Tunks boat parking full by 8.25am, sunny, warm, predicted top of 26C.
Water so flat and blue I drove all the way to the Colours.
With six on the boat, Laura's first URG dive, and her first in Sydney water. anchored right on the top of the wall we swam along it heading north. Water was 18C warm, visibility 15-20m but with bits of weed that Michael calls 'green snot algae' (not a term I would use). Abundant marine life (no Clown Toby), but 5 or 6 Wobbegongs, 3 or 4 were snuggling under a rock ledge and hard to count. One was 2m, very impressive. Lots of Silver Trevally, and lots of nudibranchs, all the common Sydney ones. The wall was particularly pretty as the sun was shinning and making the sponges, gorgonians and ascidians show off their colours.
We stayed in the water for 51 minutes and enjoyed every one of them.
Freshwater Beach – 19 August, 2006
A sort of new dive site for us today. With the seas being relatively calm and already done a double dive at Shelly, Christine and I decided to hit Freshwater Beach for an afternoon dive. Parked the car in the carpark above the pool and went down the seemingly endless steps to the pool. Entered the water next to the water pump for the pool in a natural slot that is slightly protected from the sea. Swam out pf the sanctuary and dropped to the boulders beneath in about 5m of water. Headed east following the sandline. An eagle ray emerged out of the sand and flew away. Nice sight. Continued along a bit further and we had some weedy seadragons amongst the kelp. A large PJ amongst the rocks and sand. Turned around to head back to the pool. Plenty of large boulders and nooks and crannies to go exploring in the future. Lovely dive. 57 minutes, 19°C water and about 10m viz.
Jonathan
Shelly Beach BBQ Day - Sunday 30 July, 2006 - Jonathan
What a great day. Blue sky, sharks, great viz, sharks, food, sharks and great company. Did I mention the sharks? As planned we arrived bright eyed and bushy tailed around 8:30am to gear up. A special thanks goes to my little buddy, Christine, who stood by the barbecue stirring the pumpkin soup so that I could get my gills wet. Wayne B lead the first group of divers out in search of the duskies. From what I heard they had a great dive with one of the duskies swimming between the group. About twenty later myself, Robin Appleby and new member Andrew Farmer headed in the same direction. We saw duskies, cuttlefish, nudibranchs, a few fish (must do more work on the fish ID's) and more duskies. The sharks are getting braver each time I dive down at Shelly and they seem to be growing in numbers as well as size. Machael and Janet headed out in their own group a little later after we jumped in.
The surface interval was spent sipping on pumpkin soup, talking about the duskies, photos people had taken and a general chit chat and get to know the newcomers.
Back in the water for high tide saw Wayne take his group out again, this time in search of the motorbike. Christine led out the second group this time, using her exceptional navigational skills, guided us up the right hand side of the bay, edging into the centre and finding some reefs, across the sand and back into shore on the southern side. Plenty to see in all of this. Duskies, a blindshark (I got a positive ID from the Australian Museum website), port jacksons, wobbegongs, cuttlefish and fish. Wayne found the motorbike for his group and took a few photos there.
Lunch was an abundance of food. Thanks to Jane Graham for securing a barbecue for us and Wayne for his exceptional sausage and burger cooking skills. I don't think anyone was left hungry. We ended the day around 4:30pm after plenty of socialising and having fun.
Thanks to everyone that came and made the day a success.
Shelly Beach / Fairy Bower / Somewhere North of Shelly - Sunday, June 11, 2006
What a great way to celebrate your 32nd birthday. It was meant to be a double dive in my drysuit off the URG boat with the grey nurse sharks and then at the Botany Bay container wall, but the seas and winds weren't working with me so a change of plan was in order... I still wanted to have a birthday dive. New plan... a single, long shore dive in a wetsuit with my big tank. Location.... Manly.
Arriving at Manly at 10am I expected to have trouble getting a free parking spot and was resigned to the fact that I would either have to pay for parking or walk a mile. To my surprise/worry I had the prime free parking spot and there was plenty of room in front of me for my buddy for the dive, Wayne.
The Plan... enter the water at the boat ramp. Head up the left hand side of the bay towards Fairy Bower. See the dusky whalers. Cut across the sand to the other side of the bay and then follow the wall back to Shelly. Nice slow dive.
The Reality... entered the water at the boat ramp. Headed up the left hand side of the bay towards Fairy Bower. Once we arrived at the seagrass, as if on cue, the dusky whalers came into view, albeit at a distance. But they were sharks. Real sharks. The first part of the dive plan was fulfilled. We kept on swimming up the bay for a little while longer seeing cuttlefish, luderick, mado, stripey's and the ever present blue gropers. Heading north across the sand there was a plentiful supply of stingarees. After finning for what seemed half an hour (it probably was) we came across a reef with weedy seadragons. As I took aim with my camera to get a photo of Wayne swimming along with one of the weedy's I was startled by a giant cuttlefish. Wayne made a quick measurement - about 2 foot. Thinking (wrongly) that this was the normal reef that I would find weedy's on, I signalled for us to continue at a 100 deg bearing (the reciprocal of 280). It didn't dawn on me that we should have hit the wall after about 10-15m so we kept on going... pretty much east. Came across another reef with weedy's. How good was this? However, we did come to the point where the air was getting to be in short supply and we were slowly getting deeper. At 14m we ascended. Yep, a little off course. Probably about 150m offshore with a bearing of due south bringing us inline with the point where the surfers were having a feast of the conditions. Back down to the bottom for the gentle swim south. No good finning flat out, we'd run out of air. Made it back to Shelly Beach with air still in our tanks.
So there we had it. Plan the dive. Dive the plan. A single, long shore dive to see sharks, sand and end back at Shelly. 101 minutes, dusky whaler sharks, weedy seadragons, giant cuttlefish, 8-10 metre viz, 19C water and a new dive site to explore next week. Much more than what we planned. What more could you ask for on your birthday?
Colours Reef, 10 June, 2006 - Michael Abbott After a week of rain and on a cloudy cold morning the green/brown water in Middle Harbour did not abode well. But we had a great dive site today. We anchored the URG boat lined up with radar antennae of signal station just to the North of the edge of Radio operators tower. This put us on the rocky reef 30 M south of the main wall. We swam down the line into purple blue water and turned north along reef edge towards the main rock wall. This wall drops vertical from 21 to 26 meters for a distance of around 40 meters. There were lots of common nudibranchs and tiny white feather stars to add extra colour to the sponges and gorgonians on the rock wall. Looking up through the 18 degree blue water with 20 meter viz we saw huge schools of sweep and one spot chromis with blue and yellow southern fusiliers mixed through out. Also saw all the usual wrasse but the gropers were bigger than usual and there were schools of grazing comb wrasse.
Past the wall we stopped and were entertained by a very curious long snouted boarfish. An unusual back and white fish sometimes described as an old wife on steroids. This one was turning, posing and displaying fins. No camera of course. Back along top of wall we looked out into fields of Pyuru spinifera also known as Purple Sea Tulips. This ascidean looks like a miniature ancient fighting mace and is usually in a bunch of stalked animals. It is one of the most common species on deeper NSW reefs and is covered in a pink or yellow encrusting sponge known as Halisarca australiensis. Also it is common to have another species of sponge encrusted ascidean (Cnemidoarpa pedata) at its base. Information from Aust. Marine Life by G J Edgar.
Past our anchor to the southern potholes filled with bulls-eyes and pike. Alas to avoid deco requirements by now most computers where advising to start ascent. Interestingly on comparing the time remaining on 4 separate computers it ranged from 1 to 7 minutes. Be aware not all computers say the same thing.
An easy floating ascent took us past the anchor line to the deco-line located at the back of the boat. I spent 46 minutes under the water and another couple trying to clean off the sandpaper like minute barnacle growth which after 1 month on a mooring has built up on the boat hull.
Thanks to Janet, Bill, Jonathan, Wayne B, Robin and Jane for joining me in the coffee, soup, chips, biscuits, and of course snakes that seem to be regularly creeping into our post dive celebrations.
Foggy Cave and Skillion Cave - Terrigal, 6 May, 2006 - Jonathan Regan
What a beautiful autumn morning, blue sky and flat seas. We had booked on to Terrigal Dive Centre's boat to visit Foggy Cave since we had heard that the grey nurses were back in residence. This was going to be our deepest dive to date, and probably one of the shortest due to the no deco limits that we were going to observe.
Into the deep blue we jumped and descended down the mooring line. At 30 metres we came to the top of the cave. There she was. One very large female. A quick swim around the top of cave and we descended the rest of the ocean floor at 38 metres. Four more grey nurses and it was about time to start our ascent. Nice, big giant Australian cuttlefish was hanging around on the bottom too. Viz was spectacular at around 20 metres. Eight minute safety stop at 5 metres and then back on board for the what turned out to be a long trip back to The Haven. Engine problems again... twice in 3 weekends.
With the seas being calm we attempted to dive Skillion Cave again. Les had shown us the entry/exit point and given a site description from the boat earlier. Kitted up, rock hopped to the entry and away we went. Quickly found the cave. Plenty of fish life and an abundance of sponges. Clear water with about 18 metre viz. Water temperature wasn't bad at all at around 22 degrees.
Great morning of diving. Thanks to Christine and Wayne for keeping a watchful eye over us.
South West Rocks – 22-24 April, 2006 – Jonathan Regan
The weekend started early, leaving work at 1pm on Friday, for a quick getaway (which didn’t eventuate) for the long drive north up to South West Rocks. Finally leaving home at 2:30pm, the traffic wasn’t too bad and with one petrol stop in Kempsey, we made it to the house we were going to call home for the next 4 days in about 5.5 hours.
8:00am saw us arrive at Fish Rock Dive Centre, introduce ourselves and start loading the boat for the start of our adventures.... destination Fish Rock!! Our dive boat, New World II, was very distinct with its one outboard motor and bright yellow paint job. Thirty-five minutes after leaving the terra firma we arrived at our final destination.... Fish Rock.
Our first dive was at Colorado Pass, a 29m, 50 minute dive with 20 metre viz and grey nurse sharks circling in the gutters. An absolutely fantastic dive. Dive two for the day was Fish Rock Cave. Conditions weren’t permitting the boat to move into a more favourable location for the shallow entry so we had the long swim from our mooring at Colorado to the shallow entrance. The dive plan was to enter the cave at the shallow entrance, exit at the deep entrance then re-enter the cave and do it all again in reverse. On the swim across we had grey nurses cruising past us, a turtle gliding along with us and a lionfish displaying itself were among the many delights of the swim. The cave entrance was blocked by bullseyes. I’d never seen so many fish blocking my path. I actually found myself head butting them as I made my way into the cave. Looking down, there were several wobbegongs sleeping, ensuring that you maintain good buoyancy. As the light diminished, so did the number of bullseyes and made way to the crayfish that littered the walls. Your path illuminated only by your torch and those in front and behind you was an eerie feeling. One second you could see the lights in front of you, the next they were gone. Gone down the chimney to the deep entrance... guarded by a huge black bull ray and a 3m wobby. Daylight. Daylight and a giant of a black cod were the next things to be seen. With a shortage of air curtailing the exploring at the deep entrance, it was back into the cave to do it all again. 3m wobby. Black bull ray. Up the chimney. Darkness. Crayfish. Then something that nothing could have prepared me for. I’ve seen the sight previously in photos but this definitely had the wow factor that the photos can’t capture. The cave openning and thousands of fish silhouetted in the blue light. Wow!!! What a fantastic day of diving.
Sunday brought another fine day. The plan today was to dive around the southern end of The Rock. Dive 1 was at the Fish Bommies. A 52 minute dive with a maximum depth of 32m, attempting to stay relatively shallow so as to maximise no deco time for the next dive. The aptly named Fish Bommies was a sight to behold. So many fish. So many wobbegongs... sleeping, swimming and plain old getting in the way. Domino damsels playing in their anemone. Eels swimming around looking for their hole. Another brilliant dive. Keeping our mooring, dive 2 was Fish Rock Cave again. This time deep to shallow and then into the aquarium. The 3m wobby was still protecting the entrance as was the bull ray. Up the chimney watching for crays, you could see where the bubble cave was meant to be. It was where the surge was very evident. Through the darkness and there it was again. The sight of thousands of fish being silhouetted by the blue light, framed by the cave openning. On exiting, it was out of the cave, turn left and over the wall into the aquarium. Wow. Green, white eye and mosaic eels. Clown fish. Lion fish. Domino damsels. Bat fish.
The trip back to shore was eventful too. No whales or dolphins to escort us but rather the Trial Bay Coastal Patrol earning their keep and rescuing us after our one and only outboard motor decided to pack it in... at least we got our days diving in. We all have our priorities.
Our final day of diving called for us to change dive operator. The gear box on New World II couldn’t be fixed overnight so it was up to South West Rocks Dive Centre to complete our adventure. Dive 1 was again Fish Rock Cave from the deep entrance and into the aquarium. This time the deep entrance was being protected by a couple of cruising grey nurses, one of which was sporting an unattractive fashion accessory of a tracer from its mouth. Piercings on sharks just don’t look good. Into the cave. No wobby or bull ray this time. Up the chimney. Still plenty of crays lining the walls. And there it was again, in all its glory, thousands of fish silhouetted in the blue light and framed by the cave. The sight still hadn’t lost its wow factor. The aquarium was again tantilising. The final dive for the trip was back at Colorado