Aussie Diving, Nov 1st to Nov 6th

[almitywife]

hi guys.... well last night i heard the words "dived out" from Saspotato so where are our pics

twlight/night dive with Sas and her buddy Paul at Shelley Beach yesterday... and Shelley gave us a really nice dive. before we descended Sas said she wanted to see a Wobbegong and we get to the sand and there one is just waiting for her, a sign of things to come becuase it seems shes a Wobbe magnet!

dive critter count for the night was lots of wobbes, squid and cuttlefish, lotsof fish, a nice nudi and a very curious port jackson so i think Sydney did welll for our visiting mexican friends

 

[Aardvark]

Sounds like a good evening. I really should get down south of the Hawkesbury for some diving at some point...

Looked a bit messy for a boat dive yesterday morning so the club dive was cancelled. I was offered a scooter for a dip in Terrigal Haven so I had my first scooter dive as a very lazy 45 mins cruise out along the reef wall, until it flattened out and vis and surge turned nasty - kind of a clue that we were no longer actually in the Haven. The usual suspects (lots of rays, blue groper, seargent bakers, young cuttlefish) plus a pair of old wifes, one spot pullers, white ears and a school of pomfred.

Later in the morning it had calmed somewhat so went out on the boat with Terrigal Dive to Forresters Reef. A school of something I didn't recognise (about bream size, but slimmer, with a spot like a John Dory ) more groper, a few leatherjackets, another pair of old wifes and a single PJ but lots of different sponges, broyozoans, tunicates, etc over the rocks with a fair bit of smaller life amongst them.

Scooter with camera didn't seem smart and new buddies on the boat so no photos this week.

 

[Sas]

Haha yea after three dives and seeing so many things I was dived out! That does not happen very often But yea me and Paul had three *awesome* dives so thanks heaps to bowlofpetunias, thanksforallthefish, almitywife, almity1 and neets for showing us around and for lunch and a bbq dinner also I got to try out some new gear too and I learned I don't like split fins or aluminium tanks but I have found the camera I am going to get after trying out bowlofpetunias's and I loved diving with a BP/W! Anyway, I saw so many cool things, my favourite were the upside down pipefish, the blue groupers that followed me everywhere, the wobbegongs and the PJ shark Oh and Jellybean rock!

I am in an internet cafe waiting for my friend now so no time to upload pics, will do that when I am in Melbourne, we took heaps In the afternoon I am off to the zoo with Paul and his wife so that should be fun!

Aardvark, what did you think of scootering? Looks like fun from the youtube videos I have seen!

 

[almitywife]

well why didnt ya mention you wanna try scootering too.... you'll have to come back to sydney for another dive weekend if you want to take our our putt-putt machine. personally i think its more fun if both buddies have one so i rarely use mine but often lend it out.

gotta apologize, didnt think until half way thru the dive that we didnt even tell you the dive plan!!! thats why i snuck under you to have a look at your computer. we're not use to diving with other people so will be better buddies next time

glad you liked the bpw, i forget how much i like it until i have to dive in a different bc and then it reminds me how nice it is

looking forward to pics.... wonder where Shelia and Greg are this morning as she took pics of your Bare Island dives also

and remember, split fins are the devils work

 

[Sas]

well why didnt ya mention you wanna try scootering too.... you'll have to come back to sydney for another dive weekend if you want to take our our putt-putt machine. personally i think its more fun if both buddies have one so i rarely use mine but often lend it out.

:shocked2: You have a scooter?? Cool! I wish I had known you lend it out before yesterday But anyway, yes I will be back up in Sydney, depending on when my sister gets off her ship

gotta apologize, didnt think until half way thru the dive that we didnt even tell you the dive plan!!! thats why i snuck under you to have a look at your computer. we're not use to diving with other people so will be better buddies next time

Haha that is ok. Almity1 told us when we were checking out the site about were we'd be going and stuff. Generally on shore dives to that depth, me and Paul don't really make a plan another than we'll turn back when we get to XX pressure

glad you liked the bpw, i forget how much i like it until i have to dive in a different bc and then it reminds me how nice it is

Yes I am a fan of those now. Though I should have put less weight on though! Was a bit overweighted, or maybe a lot actually

looking forward to pics.... wonder where Shelia and Greg are this morning as she took pics of your Bare Island dives also

and remember, split fins are the devils work

Well they were not as bad as I had been lead to believe But still I don't think they suit me, glad I got to try them out though to make up my own mind! I must have been using them wrongly though perhaps as I got cramps in my legs..

 

[bowlofpetunias]

:shocked2idn't expect to see anything from Sas here til later.... OMG she is a SB addict as well as a dive addict!:shocked2:

It was great to dive with Sas and buddy. :depressed:It wasn't great to start coming down with a bug two days before this greatly anticipated event! I hated only squeezing in the one dive. I had a bit of trouble with my ear so only took 5 pics. I'm glad I got to "play" a little ..... next time... My ears are fine today but I have a feeling diving will be out for a week or so till the bug runs it's course now

It was great meeting and socializing with everyone. Nice to see Fish do 2 dives and the barby was wonderful.. thanks Almity!

Bare Island wasn't at it's best with pretty poor viz and some decent sets of waves but the critters were friendly as usual. I was glad the upside down pipefish wasn't too shy to put in an appearance!

We have to do this again when Sas doesn't bring that nasty Melbourne weather with her!

 

[almitywife]

to our Hitchhiker fans for braving Bare Island yesterday... twice! the almitees def got the better conditions yesterday arvo at Shelley but you guys had the friendly blue gropers

it was great you guys came out yesterday for the bbq..... a nice way to end the evening and i know Neets enjoyed meeting everyone

see you Friday night at Froggies LEI slide night! btw, i forgot to give you a copy of the ScubaTunes CDs so remind me friday!!!

heheeh - yeah, lets blame the melbournites for the bad weather!

 

[alcina]

Wow, sounds like an awesome get-together and some fabulous diving!! Jealous

We got out for one this afternoon at a favourite, never-fail site. My dive bud tried out her new dry suit and rocked it from the start, so grabbed her camera and started shooting.
Olympus 720UW

Have to say that seeing her in her new suit has made me think I'll move the acquisition up the "want to buy" list...happily, summer is coming so I have a few more months to really decide (and save up!) The clincher was the wind after the dive We made quite a trio...I was in only my sharkskin polartecs, Gudge was in his polartec and a 3mm and Mary was rugged up in her polartec under the dry suit. Temperature was around 23Cish ... I wasn't cold, but I could have been warmer. Still did 75 minutes comfortably.

This site is in the Gulf and is subject to tides. We got in and the viz was actually decent and we didn't get a strong current until near the end of the dive. The animals were very cool, as always, and there were lots of nudibranchs around...Mary found four (three different species) on a little serving platter size patch of reef. Awesome.

Here's a smiley rabbitfish...more will be in their own thread eventually LOL

Canon 40D, Canon 100mm macro, Subal housing & port, Inon strobes

 

[Aardvark]

Scootering was great fun, my only complaint was a sore jaw as my reg hose was flapping about a bit and I had to use some pressure to keep my reg in place.

Flying inverted under schools of fish is cool

I usually bimble about pretty slowly, so it was very different. Great tool if you're exploring or need to traverse a boring area to get to where you want to dive.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

A few SB people here