First dive at Shelly Beach, Sydney!

Well me and fellow buddy Alaponuko did our first independent dive yesterday at Shelly Beach. It was amazing! We've snorkeled there about a dozen times or so, but even a short distance out of snorkel-comfortable areas and we found a massive jump in the variety of sea life.

It was incredible! Highlight was seeing our first sharks- a couple of Port Jackson's.

One question though, we rented our gear from a near-ish dive shop and the first stage for both of us was leaking a little bit even when we cleared the O ring and tightened it up. Is this normal sometimes? It didn't seem to affect the amount of air much...

Congratulations! That sort of first dive is PERFECT!

A little leakage from the yoke o-ring is not desirable but it happens. It's a lot easier to maintain against when owning your own. If you rent eyeball the ring, if looks less than perfect ask for a fresh one. It costs the shop about 2 cents.

BTW, if the regulators were Sherwood a fizzy stream of bubbles from a spot on the 1st stage body is normal and required.

pete

Congrats on your first independent dive!

I absolutely love Shelly and also did my first dives there back in 2005. I will never forget my first independent dive there, turtles, sharks and grouper... It kind of made expectations for all future dives pretty high!

What is the water temp like at the moment?

It is amazing the amount of life that can be found! Keep an eye out for the Bronze Whalers! Anyways, keep up the diving and ENJOY!

congrats! enjoy the new world

vickobcn:

Congrats on your first independent dive!

I absolutely love Shelly and also did my first dives there back in 2005. I will never forget my first independent dive there, turtles, sharks and grouper... It kind of made expectations for all future dives pretty high!

What is the water temp like at the moment?

It is amazing the amount of life that can be found! Keep an eye out for the Bronze Whalers! Anyways, keep up the diving and ENJOY!

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The air temp was around 20 C, and surface water temp was around 16 or 17 C. Even with a rented 5 mil wetsuit that didn't fit properly (little pockets of water sloshing around my back) there was no problem with the cold after a minute or two in the water.

We've seen the groupers there while snorkeling before, and the Port Jacksons were an awesome surprise. What time of year are the turtles around?

spectrum:

BTW, if the regulators were Sherwood a fizzy stream of bubbles from a spot on the 1st stage body is normal and required.

pete

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They were Aqualung regs (couldn't say what model), which, despite the tiny leak, breathed fine (better than the oceanic ones I had during OW). That being said, they were a pretty battle scarred, and I'd like to get my own gear when I can. The LDS we rented from seemed quite biased towards Scuapro and Aqualung, and really turned up her nose at Sherwood, Aeris and Oceanic. I'm still trying to get my head around all the different factors for the initial purchases - there is a lot to consider.

You're talking about a leak from the yoke where it presses aginst the tank valve right? In that case, if the leak is farily small, I wouldn't worry about it. 90% of rental yoke tanks leak due to crappy old o-rings. If you want to, buy a bag of o-rings and a brass o-ring pick and change it before the dive. I've had tanks where i've had to use a knife to clean out the o-ring it was that old and deteriorated. I'e found most LDS's only change tank o-rings when they start to fail, so if you say something, they will change it for you, but don't tend to do it pro-actively.

OzGriffo:

You're talking about a leak from the yoke where it presses aginst the tank valve right? In that case, if the leak is farily small, I wouldn't worry about it. 90% of rental yoke tanks leak due to crappy old o-rings. If you want to, buy a bag of o-rings and a brass o-ring pick and change it before the dive. I've had tanks where i've had to use a knife to clean out the o-ring it was that old and deteriorated. I'e found most LDS's only change tank o-rings when they start to fail, so if you say something, they will change it for you, but don't tend to do it pro-actively.

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Yeah that was exactly it for both of us. It didn't really hinder the dive and they were both small leaks, but we were a bit concerned. Otherwise the equipment was pretty decent, I think I prefer the belt-type weight system as opposed to them being in the BCD.

I had a leaky o-ring on my last rental too (in Grand Cayman). I noticed it hissing when I pressurized the regulator. The dive shop employee made a face when I asked him to change it, and he said it wouldn't affect my dive, but he did it anyway, and tested it with soapy water. I wasn't going to put up with a leak just because he didn't want to change out the o-ring for me!

alaponuko:

The air temp was around 20 C, and surface water temp was around 16 or 17 C. Even with a rented 5 mil wetsuit that didn't fit properly (little pockets of water sloshing around my back) there was no problem with the cold after a minute or two in the water.

We've seen the groupers there while snorkeling before, and the Port Jacksons were an awesome surprise. What time of year are the turtles around?

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Hey Alaponuko,

Love the Port Jacksons and the Bronze Whalers. The date I've got marked in my log for the turtle was 08/04/2005 but to be honest that is the only turtle I've seen while diving off of Shelly. That water and air temp sounds pretty good for this time of year. I've been reading on the surf reports (living vicariously through them to be more honest) that the EAC has some nice warm eddies off the Sydney coast right now which is great for higher than average water temps.

They were Aqualung regs (couldn't say what model), which, despite the tiny leak, breathed fine (better than the oceanic ones I had during OW). That being said, they were a pretty battle scarred, and I'd like to get my own gear when I can. The LDS we rented from seemed quite biased towards Scuapro and Aqualung, and really turned up her nose at Sherwood, Aeris and Oceanic. I'm still trying to get my head around all the different factors for the initial purchases - there is a lot to consider.

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There does seem to be a lot more LDSs in Sydney with Aqualung and Scubapro and the prices can sometimes be astronomical. I've dived over the years, starting with Aqualung, and trying Sherwood, Scubapro and Mares but finally settled on Apeks, based on many factors, but a big one for me was that here in Spain the price was actually cheaper than the other brands. Make sure you try out a lot gear before that final purchase. I'm still diving with the BCD that I bought after my OW and it has held up well over the past 7 years with fairly regular use.

Have you got your next dive planned yet?

vickobcn:

Have you got your next dive planned yet?

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Sort of. Need to get a job first. I reckon its back to Shelly to find that bike.