Underwater Research Group of New South Wales
Presidents Slate
Hi all, the bulletin is back and in true fashion late, despite Michael's best attempts at reminding me multiple times.
Bunnings: firstly, big thanks to the volunteers that helped us at earlier in the month. We took in around $1650 profit for the club.
Sea slugs: Reminder the sea slug census is in Sydney from 9-17 Nov. So far there have been 152 species of sea slug recorded in Sydney. Can you find a new species? Please submit your images via this link on iNaturalist.
Some fishy facts about slugs: This month at our general social meeting Pete Barfod gave a great talk to educate us and make us fall in love with sea slugs. We learned that there are 2 main types, the Dorids and Eeolids. The way to tell them apart is that Dorids have rhinophores, gills and mantle. Whereas Eeolids have cerata (frilly bits on its back) and moustache like oral tentacles. All have eyes, although they can only detect the difference between light and dark (they can't see how beautiful they are!). They live between a few weeks and a year - which makes them great species to help us understand how well they adapt (or not) to climate change.
Despite being favourites amongst some photographers (not me), they also play an essential role in maintaining the health of their habitats. They consume organisms such as sponges and algae, and preventing their overgrowth. Their presence indicates a healthy and diverse ecosystem. Diverse chemical compounds found in nudibranchs are being investigated for use in pharmaceuticals for novel treatments and cures for diseases, including cancer. They are carnivores. Sea spiders are one of their greatest predators. Out of 100,000 eggs, only about 100 will settle on a good habitat and only 10 will survive and find food. So now that we got you interested, please join us for the sea slug census! All you need to do is go diving anywhere from Port Hacking and Pittwater, between 9-17 November, take photos of sea slugs, and upload them to iNaturalist.
See if you can beat Charlie, Seb and Karolyn in taking as many photos, of as many different species, and try and beat them for the best photo of the year.
Sharks: Exciting news this month as Spot a Shark received an updated A.I. algorithm (MiewID) to help in shark identification. Working with the University of Queensland the team are trying to gather information that will support extending protection zones for the species at key breeding locations. A great find this month with Bobbie the shark, photographed in Montague Island by Matt Tworkowski in 2017 and then again by Dr Simon Pierce in Wolf Rock in 2024. This is a huge distance of more than 1500km in a single direction.
Recently, Vishal, Dave and Sarah of the URG team went for a dive at Bushrangers Bay and captured footage of the grey nurse sharks. Unsurprisingly most of the sharks were juvenile and the team enjoyed seeing Larissa the shark, who doesn't appear afraid of divers and so will come in close for photo opportunities. Bushrangers Bay is a fabulous easy shore dive and if members want to join Sarah on dives there please let us know and I am sure it can be arranged!
And Kathy, Dariusz and Sarah also went diving at Broughton Island to survey the grey nurse sharks. It was one of the best dives at the site that the team has done - there were fish, fish and more fish everywhere. The visibility was not perfect, but was pretty good and there were about 10 sharks at North Rock and another 5 sharks at the Looking Glass. It was wonderful seeing the sharks move through walls of fish as if they were drawing a curtain. The saddest site was seeing how many were hooked. One had a huge fishing line coming out of its mouth that had started to gather up kelp. No surprise as when the team arrived by boat to the island we saw a fisher boat trawling nets - sadly legal at this supposed marine park that is protected in name only. The team are still reviewing images, but have so far identified familiar sharks such as Holly (GNS-1107) who has been seen at Bushrangers Bay, Long Reef, Magic Point and Broughton Island over the past few years.
Boat dives: With the boat being back in the water more dates are becoming available to go diving so please do join on.
Weedy sea dragons: We are still keen to learn where the weedy sea dragons used to be and where they might be now, to help us work out where to take the boat. Please don't forget to complete the survey if you haven't already which is on our website: https://www.urgdiveclub.org.au/dragons-of-sydney
Logo: Do you think its time to refresh our logo? Do you have any skills and want to submit ideas to us? We are keen to hear from you on this.
Boat engine: Through a stroke of luck the committee have bought a second back up engine which we will use use to replace the starboard motor at some point, we are just servicing this and will replace when there is a good moment. This came with a decrepit southern star SR565 boat and a great Dunbieur trailer which we will look to clean up and sell, hopefully neutralising the cost of the motor.
Next general meeting - on Tuesday 10th Dec, similar to last year we're planning an end of year club dinner and drinks at a restaurant somewhere in North Sydney. Keep an eye on your email for details and venue. Please RSVP using this form: https://forms.gle/EhweCK9JqhP57KaZ8
Cheers,
Duncan Heuer
Dive Reports
Reef Life Survey to Jervis Bay, Sept 2024
by Eve Claydon
Ten eager scuba divers gathered on the shores of Jervis Bay, ready for four days of adventure. Armed with various thickness wetsuits, drysuits, dive slates, cameras, torches, and a sense of excitement, they were there to learn how to conduct Reef Life Surveys. The weather forecast had predicted massive swells, but to their relief, the sea was surprisingly cooperative. The water, however, was a brisk 16 degrees—cold enough to make their teeth chatter but nothing a good sense of humor, some hot beverages and a few layers of neoprene couldn't fix.
As they descended into the cool, clear water for their first dive, the group was immediately greeted by an unexpected guest—a grumpy-looking goblin fish. With its long, strange nose and a scowl that seemed to say, “What are you looking at?” it was the perfect mascot for their chilly expedition. Despite the fish’s less-than-welcoming expression, the divers were fascinated, noting every detail for their survey as they hovered in the water, trying to avoid giggling through their regulators.
On two separate dives, Tom & Claudia independently stumbled upon a brand-new species of kelp nudibranch. Its green, wavy body swayed on the kelp frond like some sort of underwater ribbon dancer. The divers couldn’t believe their luck—who knew they'd discover a new species while battling numb fingers and toes? They made sure to document it with extra care, secretly hoping the nudi would be named after them.
In the evenings, after thawing out from the chilly dives, the group would huddle together, poring over the fish photos they had captured on their underwater cameras. Laptops open, they compared the images to the species profiles in the Reef Life Survey portal, debating whether that oddly shaped fish was a leatherjacket or just a particularly sassy blenny. Their fearless leaders were always close by, offering constructive feedback. “Nice try,” one would say with a grin, “but that shark is definitely not two meters long!” Most of the group needed to recalibrate their estimations, both in terms of fish lengths and how many they had counted—turns out, estimating underwater wasn’t as easy as it looked! But with each session, their skills sharpened, and the banter grew even livelier.
Despite the wild weather that rolled in and prevented them from conducting the final dive of the trip, the group wasn’t discouraged. They had already braved cold waters, long dives, and countless fish length misjudgments, but most importantly, they had learned the ropes. With beaming smiles and a sense of pride, they finished the trip as newly minted Reef Life Surveyors. There was no denying they had earned it—through every chilly dive and discovery of a giant hairy triton, they had become part of a growing community committed to protecting (and counting) the ocean’s treasures, one survey at a time.
Huge thanks to John, Tess & Claudia for your leadership, patience and guidance.... and thanks to Hattie, Ann, Doug, Tom, Julie, Nigel & Troy for the good humour, good food and comradery.
Cheers,
Eve
Lady Elliot Island, September 2024
by Hatty Conwell
On a whim, a friend and I decided to try our luck to get to Lady Elliot. It has always been booked out months in advance but late July the bookings came through and in September we headed to the island for 4 nights. We flew via Harvey Bay and all went to plan.
Arriving on the Island we were met by the Dive team who run all activities on the island. The choices are multiple from snorkelling tours, bird watching, lagoon tours, behind the scenes, night time information sessions and of course diving. I only made it to the diving and information sessions (as there was no night diving due to insufficient numbers, but that only leaves more for next time.
After a quick tour of the facilities, we were shown to our garden cabin. The rooms are comfortable and have an ensuite however there are plenty of price ranged accommodation available. As little time is spent in the room anything is good. I was impressed with the earplugs at the bedside and needed them every night as the birds are noisy, all night.
Lady Elliot is today a beautiful bird and marine sanctuary 45 nautical miles north-east of Bundaburg. The eco resort is well run and provides good food, accommodation and activities, its greatest resources are its beauty and position and its staff, who are knowledgeable, friendly and happy. However, it has not always been so pristine and the island tour provides a great tale of destruction and re-vegetation to the glorious island it is today. If you plan your trip at the right time, you can see turtles hatching or laying. But we settled for whales breaching and swimming close to shore and manta rays. A walk around the island only takes 40 minutes and longer if you stop to swim, snorkel and admire the beauty all around.
The dive team offer two dives a day and a night dive if numbers of guests and staff allow. In September, the water was cooler than I was expecting but the vis was good on average 15- 20 m. The dives were all drift dives and the currents at times pretty strong.
The island lists 19 dive sites however we only dived Coral Gardens, Light House Bommie and Severence Wreck. The whale song throughout the dives gave hope to see one but alas only sighted on the surface. All the same the marine life and corals didn’t disappoint with Manta rays, Spotted Eagle Rays and Ornamental Ray. Triggerfish, lion fish, butterfly fish, groupers of all sizes and types, hawkfish, surgeonfish and turtles abounding…you get the picture. The highlight for me was the seeing Manta rays mating, a spectacular sight with six males circling a female, the dive team told me this is rarely seen so felted totally spoilt! Oh and the Melanistic Manta was a first for me as was, the Ornamental Ray.
Diving with one of our old members, Pete Thompson was a good. It pays to have an unusual name and wearing one of my classic URG T shirts!!
We flew back to Hervey Bay and spent the afternoon whale watching. A good sign of a trip is when you know you would repeat it and I will be going back to Lady Elliot.
Sorido Bay Resort /Papua Diving Raja Ampat, Indonesia, April 2024
by Julie Zieschang
Raja Ampat had been a destination high on our diving bucket list for quite some time. In April, I was celebrating a milestone birthday following a very busy and stressful 12 months and a holiday was just what we needed. The requirements were warm water, great diving, good food and a beautiful environment for relaxation if we needed some downtime.
Around the time we were considering our options, I read a review of Sorido Bay Resort by Don Silcock (indopacificimages). He wrote that it was his 12th trip to Raja Ampat, all previous ones on a liveaboard as he was convinced that was the best way to experience the biodiversity of the Dampier Strait, however he went on to say, “I was wrong as land based from a resort is a great option. The point though is which resort as not all are created equal and Sorido Bay is really exceptional. Small, but big enough, excellent rooms, great food, very well run and simply incredible diving.”
Decision made! We were going to Sorido Bay Resort.
Sorido Bay Resort is located on Kri Island in the Dampier Strait. This area is known for its nutrient rich currents. In 2012, Dr Gerry Allen identified 374 different species in one single dive at Cape Kri which not surprisingly is considered to be one of the best house reefs in the world.
Sorido Bay Resort is a Padi 5 star resort. The dive operation is extremely well organised and there is the option to partake in 3 guided boat dives per day (2 dives in the morning, 1 in the afternoon) plus an optional night/dusk dive. I should note that snorkellers didn’t miss out and they also had access to 3 guided boat trips and the optional night/dusk snorkel. There are no boat dives during the day on Saturdays, but guests are free to dive from the house jetty.
Nitrox is free of charge for certified divers and the diver to guide ratio is 3 to 1. Given the currents are notoriously strong, we felt very confident diving with the local guides who knew the area extremely well, understood the currents and were always striving to provide the best possible dive experience.
So, was the diving as good as expected? Yes! The water was a warm 29oC to 30oC, the reefs are healthy and abundant with thriving colourful soft and hard corals. The only surprise was that the visibility was not as good as we had expected (ranging from 5.0m to 20.0m), but this really should not have been a surprise as the reason the diving is so good is because of the nutrient rich water. Whilst we didn’t count 374 different species in the one dive (my fish ID skills are terrible), we did encounter enormous bumphead parrotfish, large schools of barracuda and Spanish mackerel, cod, turtles, lobsters, giant trevally, napoleon wrasse, mantis shrimps, pygmy seahorses, giant clams, garden eels, a black ribbon eel, eagle rays, a banded sea snake, a large school of sleeping batfish, grey nurse and black tip sharks, octopi with their assorted treasures, several different species of anemone fish and all the other usual tropical reef inhabitants. We did have a funny moment when our guide excitedly pointed out a wobbegong, we thanked him and moved on. He was clearly perplexed by our lack of enthusiasm. Whist not so exciting for us, one of our dive buddies said she almost shed a tear as this was a bucket list item for her and apparently most of the other guests (mainly from the US and Europe) felt the same. Consequently, after that we made sure that every time we saw a wobbegong we excitedly alerted our dive buddies.
Optional night dives are also available, but a minimum number of divers are required. We were fortunate to be able to do our first Blackwater drift dive which felt like we were floating with a variety of glowing critters in outer space. We also did a magical fluorescence dive with healthy corals and fish fluorescing green, orange, red and blue.
The highlights of our 10 night trip were
diving at Manta Sandy and spending an hour watching 2 black mantas and an oceanic manta swooping over the cleaning station,
a sunset dive searching and finding the elusive mandarin fish (just off the resort jetty).
The Fam Islands day trip was fabulous and a definite must do. Located 1.5 hours away by boat the first stop is a dive/snorkel at Melissa’s garden, a delicious picnic lunch, hike to the famous Pianemo Geosite (the Raja Ampat postcard view below) and a second dive at Melissa’s Garden before returning to the resort.
A stay in Sorido Bay Resort would not be complete if you didn’t visit the zebra (or as we know them, leopard) shark hatchery. In collaboration with the Georgia aquarium, aquarium-bred egg cases are flown to the hatchery and local staff have been trained to support the hatching, rearing and tagging for release of the zebra sharks in a bid to increase the numbers in the area following their decimation due to shark finning. They have a program where you can donate and name a newly hatched zebra shark. We thought this was a brilliant idea and thought we would name a newly hatched shark after each of our grandchildren, right up until we realised that the donation was US$10,000.00 per shark!
The resort is lovely. It’s small (approx. 20 guests when we were there) the comfortable bungalows are beautiful and all beachfront, the staff are warm and welcoming. The food was buffet style, fresh and plentiful. The local cuscus (Australasian possum) visited on most evenings as he was spoilt by guests feeding him bananas. We were often entertained by the talented staff with impromptu singalongs. We had a relaxing massage at the Healing Hut located on the water’s edge.
Getting to Sorido Bay Resort is not easy but this is what makes it so special. I think all up we travelled for about 24 hours, and this did not include a hotel stopover. We flew from Sydney to Jakarta arriving at 7.00pm, at 12.10am we flew from Jakarta to Sorong arriving at 6.15am. We were collected by a Sorido Bay Resort representative, driven to the Marina where we had a light breakfast before catching a public ferry at 9.00am to Waisai (a 2 hour trip). At Waisai we were collected by the resort speed boat for another 30 minute ride. For reasons I can’t remember we were unable to travel on the days that the resort included transfers from the marina in Sarong to the resort using their private boat. Unless you really like the authentic local experience, my advice would be to travel on the days when the resort boat transfers from Sarong are included to avoid catching the public ferry. I spent the entire 2 hours of the ferry trip trying to determine how I would get off the boat in an emergency and I didn’t come up with a solution.
In summary, we had a fabulous holiday that ticked all of the boxes. We completed 21 dives and there was plenty of time for rest and relaxation. Snorkellers and divers were catered for equally well. We definitely understand why Papua Diving Resorts was recently named one of the best overall dive resorts in the world in the 2025 Scuba Diving Readers’ Choice Awards.
Member Offer
Toasty Life
by Charlie Elliott
Now that boat diving is back on you may be thinking about how to stay warm between dives - I certainly have been!
I finally clicked 'buy' on a layer I have been eyeing up for some time - a Toasty changing robe. These are waterproof, fleece lined jackets which are ideal for throwing on over your swimmers or wetsuit post swim or dive.
They are a small, female owned, Aussie company and all the materials used are recycled. I've been testing it out after swims, surfs and dives, and even on the occasional dawn walk and it's the warmest I've been!
They have kindly offered URG a discount so if you are keen to copy my style please use URGNSW at check out for $30 off. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
History Articles
Back when the Underwater Research Group ran dive schools ( before dive shops). This one at Clovelly.
February 2002 Slate
by Erik Shloegl
The water's warm, the diving good - that just about sums things up for this summer month, and probably I could end this slate right here. But wait, there are of course a few things above and beyond recreational diving going on in the club - as always.
The first 2002 run of our biodiversity survey in the waters surrounding Royal National Park went quite well, all things considered. We had a bit of trouble with our boat engine and there was a strong wind warning current on the day, so we decided to do the sites inside Port Hacking first. With the help of Ryde Underwater Club, who've been supporting us with their boat and several divers ever since we started these surveys, we got the job done. Now we're committed to doing the sites on the ocean side of Royal National Park in the second summer run on 16 February, so we're hoping for flat seas and sunny weather.
In another matter, it appears that NSW Fisheries have woken up to the problem that Wobbegong numbers are in decline. In the last couple of years many in the URG have commented that we're seeing a lot less Wobbegongs than we used to, and this seems to be reflected in the catch statistics of commercial fishermen as well. It is this catch data that appears to have motivated NSW Fisheries to initiate the development of a management plan for Wobbegong sharks. A discussion paper has been drafted and posted on the Fisheries website, www.fisheries.nsw.gov.au and comments from the public are invited until the end of February. The URG will be putting in a submission as a club, but individual members should also consider sending in their own submissions as well. The more
people speak out for protecting Wobbegongs, the more likely it is that something will be done.
So, I'll finish the slate here, rather than go through all the events we've got planned for the next couple of months. It's all there in the dive schedule at the back of this bulletin, so come out and enjoy the summer diving!
Best wishes, Erik
El Presidente
North Head Little Waterfall 2007
by Michael Abbott
What a difference a week makes. We took the URG boat to Little Waterfall at North head on 7/1/0 as seas where to rough for Dee Why Wide. The water on top was a dark green and 1 meter Viz at 18 degrees C. this seemed cold on the descent but was like bath water compared to the bottom. At 5 meters the viz opened out to 7-10 meters but the mercury dropped to indicate 15 degrees.
We saw lots of beautiful sponges and nudibranchs including a magnificent chromodoris that we had not seen before and Judy found a yellow one we cannot yet identify. The highlight of the dive was a painted anglerfish. Very pretty and yes both cameras where at home. It was good day out on the Harbour with good company and all ran smoothly, with the shorter bottom times we were back at the ramp by lunchtime.
Michael
DIVE LOGS from Biodiversity course with Mike Scotland 2013
Dive No. URG Marine Biology course 1
Date/ Time 25 April 2013
Dive Location Inscription Point, Kurnell
Depth 12.8 m Bottom Time 58 min
Boat Shore Visibility 10m on top, 4 m below
Weather sunny Sea conditions mid tide, slight swell
Dive Highlights: Buddy check, Fin pivoting, deep relaxation breathing to start the dive.
Dive plan was to identify marine plants, sponges, corals, Jellies and Tunicates.
We observed several types of Brown Algae including Ecklonia kelp with its toothy fronds, spiky fronds and short holdfasts with Feathery Hydroids. There were bushes of Sargassum with tiny floats.
Mike made us bite on coralline red algae, Amphiroa to feel the cement inside. The red encrusting algae, Lithothamnion, was covering all of the rocks. Often there were nodules of living cement called sea rocks. We found a lot of filamentous red algae plants.
We saw slimy lemon sponge , Honeycomb sponge, encrusting sponges and the tiny finger like calcium sponge, Sycon.
Lots of Grey Capnella soft coral. White soft coral, Telesto.
There were orange Compound Ascideans called Polycitor as well as blue Solitary Flask Ascideans, Clavelina.
A colony of clumped tooth coral, Balanophyllia bairdae was covering part of a rock.
Other things we saw were: Blue lined Octopus, Golden Dorid,
Buddys Denise, Michael, Janet, Liza, Kris and Kim
Dive No. 2 Date/ Time Saturday 27 April 2013
Dive Location Oak Park
Depth 9.9 m Bottom Time 82 mins 36 sec
Boat shore dive Visibility 8m
Weather fine Sea conditions East light to moderate swell,
Dive Highlights:
Zostera Eel grass at entry
Phyllospora buble kelp
Ecklonia kelp as well
Sargassum bushes with tiny floats.
Sea Rocks and Red Cement algae
Zooanthis robusta colony
Huge leathery worm colony on sand
Sea Tulips, Colonial Ascideans, (Polycitor)
Aphelodoris chocolate sea slugs
Soft coral
Corallina cement algae
Vermillion Biscuit sea star feels cement on your teeth
Observed stone filter on Mosaic Sea Star and tube feet
Shrimp on Roger’s Black Sea Urchin, Centrostephanus rogersii
Identified Zooanthids covering a Wall of China sponge.
We found a Stegopontoimine shrimp inside the spines of a Black Sea Urchin.
Schools of Pomfret, friendly Blue Groper
Culicia coral, Worm Shells
Editors Note. Mike still runs these courses. Highly recommended.
Upcoming Events
Next general meeting - on Tuesday 10th Dec, similar to last year we're planning an end of year club dinner and drinks at a restaurant somewhere in North Sydney. Keep an eye on your email for details and venue. Please RSVP using this form: https://forms.gle/EhweCK9JqhP57KaZ8
The Dragons of Sydney Program
The Dragons of Sydney Program is led by our URG Sea Dragon Champion. It is a collaboration between scientists from UTS, volunteer divers from URG NSW and supporting organisations including SeaDragonSearch.
Sea Dragons are beautiful, unique fish living exclusively along the southern coast of Australia. They are the koala of the ocean!
During the storms of 2021 and 2022 a large number of weedy sea dragons washed up dead on the shores of NSW. Our club is supporting vital research to understand if the populations are recovering from this event to help inform conservation efforts.
Being involved in this program is easy. You can dive with us and participate in surveys, you can share photos about your encounters of Weedy Sea Dragons with us, and you can share historical or current information about where you have sighted sea dragons. This will help you contribute to tracking these unique animals and supporting efforts to conserve them.
Despite being such amazing fish, very little data exists about where their habitats are (and have been) across NSW, and whether their populations are increasing or decreasing.
In collaboration with scientists at UTS, the club is gathering information on both current and historical data about where weedy sea dragons are (or have been) found in NSW, and whether the number of dragons sighted has reduced since the storms of 2021 and 2022.
Do you have dive logs or a good recollection of how many sea dragons you have seen at various dive sites in NSW?
Regardless of whether you still dive, we would love you to participate in our survey (use the button below):
Janet Abbott doing weedy surveys 2015
Dive Log and Oz Diver
Boat Dives
Boat dives are organised most weekends from the St George Motor Boat Club Marina in San Souci. Check https://www.urgdiveclub.org.au/dive-calendar and Facebook for dates and conveners to book onto dives.
Boat handling lessons.
Get in touch if interested
Editors Note
Published Items. The opinions expressed in the “URG Bulletin” are not necessarily those held by members, or the committee of the URG Dive Club. All material published in the URG Bulletin will remain the property of the original author or artist. Please give acknowledgement when citing articles.
Please check with the author informing them of your intention to republish their material, prior to publishing your article.
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