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Diving

Dives

I've had 170 4-star dives so far:

Dive number	Date	Site	Location	Area	Country	Wreck	Freshwater	Depth (m)	Bottom time (min)	Total time (min)	Divers	Quality	Summary	Equipment
4	30 Mar 1980	Gitana	Loch Rannoch	Scottish Highlands	Scotland			10	20	20	Iain Hosking, Malcolm Gauld		Shore dive, with Malcolm Gauld. Water fairly cold (2-3°C). Very dark, but vis with torch OK, about 3m. Circumnavigated the ship, and took a look inside. No life: too acidic. P.S. Also took soundings from wreck to the shore, from small inflatable.	Steel 60, own dv, ABLJ 6
5	20 Apr 1980	Gitana	Loch Rannoch	Scottish Highlands	Scotland			10	25	25	Iain Hosking, Mike Malone		Warmer this time. Visibility very good; saw far more of the deck, entered midships hatch and looked at Captain's Cabin & 'Ladies Only'. Dived with Mike Malone.	Al 56, own dv, ABLJ 6
9	27 Apr 1980	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			12	20	20	Iain Hosking, Mike Malone		A very interesting dive, with Mike Malone. Snorkelled out to Cathedral Rock, examined anemones, starfish & found a (small) lobster. Played football & swam through the arches. Vis good, about 15 feet. Weather bright and sunny and hot. Did some snorkelling afterwards.	Own dv, ABLJ 6
10	25 May 1980	Seacliffs	North Berwick	Forth	Scotland			9	37	37	Iain Hosking, Lorna Miller, Robin Gray		Looking for lobsters. Found several large ones but couldn't get them out because horizontal crevices went back too far. Visibility fantastic - 30 feet or more. Light sand on bottom made it brighter. Used 90 ats.	Steel 60, own dv, ABLJ 6 (somewhat buoyant - try another 2lbs weight)
16	27 Jul 1980	Argyll	Bell Rock	Scottish East Coast	Scotland			11	20	20	Iain Hosking, Colwyn Jones		Spent Saturday night on the 'Hamnavoe' and dived the 'Argyll' on the Sunday. Very strong current, good vis. Masses of steel plate; recognised mast & spotting top with guns. Surface visibility very poor, say half a mile, and fairly high sea, calming down as the day progressed.	Steel 60, ABLJ 6, own dv
19	6 Aug 1980	Mull of Oa		Islay	Scotland			6	10	10	Iain Hosking, Dougie McEwan, Lizzie Daw, Malcolm Gauld, Robert Sproul-Cran		Photographic sortie. Visibility excellent (50 feet+). White sand, lots of fish. Robert took group photograph.	ABLJ 5, steel 69, own dv, 22lbs weight.
21	7 Aug 1980	Agate	Kilchiaran Bay	Islay	Scotland			12	35	35	Iain Hosking, Derek Borthwick		Photographic sortie with Derek Borthwick. Steep-sided gullies with masses of scoof - propeller shaft, prop, boilers etc. Purple kelp. Strong current, but vis good. An exciting dive.	ABLJ 5, steel 60, own dv, 26lbs weight.
22	7 Aug 1980	Floristan	Kilchiaran Bay	Islay	Scotland			10	25	25	Iain Hosking, Dougie McEwan		Night dive with Dougie. Torch failed but his was bright enough for two. Spectacular wreck with locomotives, flatcars, trucks, boilers, bricks (Thistle Co.) and lots of pipes etc. Water clear, and not cold.	ABLJ 5, steel 60, own dv, 26lbs weight
27	25 Oct 1980	Priest Island	Summer Isles	North-west Scotland	Scotland			20	20	20	Iain Hosking, Eric Franz		2nd dive of the day, again off the 'Vimiera'. Snorkelled to shore, descended and followed the 20m contour. Huge shoal of pollack, dogfish (quite large) and lots of other fish not yet identified. Also plenty of crabs, but no pretty squidgy things.	Steel 60, ABLJ 1, own dv
29	16 Nov 1980	Catalina	Great Cumbrae	Clyde	Scotland			26	25	25	Iain Hosking, Rosanne Padua		Shore dive. Snorkelled out with Rosanne and went down buoy rope to the plane. Dive interrupted when I found I had no weight belt. Catalina is lying parallel to the shore, starboard wing in the sand, port wing pointing towards the surface. No cockpit, engines, tailplane, rudder etc, but recognisable as a Catalina. Covered in plumose anemones. Visibility 6-10ft. Wind force 2.	ABLJ 1, steel 69.
36	12 Apr 1981	Thesis	Sound of Mull	Mull	Scotland			30	20	20	Iain Hosking, Eric Franz		First attempt aborted due to current. Second attempt during slack (almost). Wreck is perpendicular to shore, bows up, buoyed. Beautiful tube worms (small heads). Vis 6m, not cold.	Steel 69, ABLJ 2
37	13 Apr 1981	Hispania	Sound of Mull	Mull	Scotland			25	20	20	Iain Hosking, Eric Franz, Malcolm Gauld		Dived with Malcolm & Eric in 2nd wave. Strong current, ~1 knot. Toured hold on two levels, then proceeded to bridge. Saw mast & derricks. Ran low on air so came up. Very pretty anemones, many of which we accidentally squashed.	Steel 69, ABLJ 2
39	15 Apr 1981	Rondo	Eileanan Glasa, Sound of Mull	Mull	Scotland			17	20	20	Iain Hosking, Eric Franz, Geoff Hide		Against all the odds, we were up at 6am for this one, and in the water about 9. No current, vis 7m. Saw superstructure, and details of hull. Very pretty sea-life.	Steel 60, ABLJ 2
41	16 Apr 1981	Hispania	Sound of Mull	Mull	Scotland			18	20	20	Iain Hosking, Geoff Hide, Murray Grant		Started dive with Eric but he couldn't clear his ears so joined Geoff and Murray. Strong current on line as we inadvertently dived at full flood. Wreck sheltered owing to tilt. Swam through holds, bridge (and rooms behind) and stern. Too windy for bows. Great fun.	Steel 69, ABLJ 2
42	16 Apr 1981	Rondo	Eileanan Glasa, Sound of Mull	Mull	Scotland			22	25	25	Iain Hosking, Geoff Hide		Evening dive so water quite cold. Swam through prop shaft housing and between keel and rock. Looked for nudibranchs but found only their eggs. Amazing local slack - lasted 2 hours!	Steel 60, ABLJ 2
43	17 Apr 1981	Thesis	Sound of Mull	Mull	Scotland			28	15	15	Iain Hosking, Eric Franz		No current this time - down buoy line onto bow section, down starboard side to stern at 28m, back up port side, seeing boiler, engine room, holds and up into bows. Vis 5m. Very pretty fan-worms in companionway.	Steel 69, ABLJ 2
49	16 May 1981	Port Napier	Kyle of Lochalsh	Skye	Scotland			20	30	30	Iain Hosking, Mike Malone		Down to bows and along whole length of ship. Into tunnel below bridge and lower mine tube at rear. Looked at mast, holds and sea life (enormous plumose anemones, fanworms, fish). Vis 10-15m. This wreck is vast!	Steel 69, ABLJ 2
52	18 May 1981	Port Napier	Kyle of Lochalsh	Skye	Scotland			20	20	20	Iain Hosking, Niall Lindsay		Down at bows and straight inside. Along between two decks and out by bridge. On to stern, where there are four mine tubes, and swam up one of them for quite a way, then out through a small side opening and back down inside. Vis varied - 7m at best.	Steel 60, ABLJ 2
53	19 May 1981	Balmeanach Bay	The Braes	Skye	Scotland			3	25	25	Iain Hosking, Doc Mitchell, Eric Franz, Geoff Hide		Night dive to see phosphorescence. We did. It's like bright sparks whenever you make any sudden movement, and is due to plankton and jellyfish.	Al 56, ABLJ 2
54	19 May 1981	Port Napier	Kyle of Lochalsh	Skye	Scotland			15	30	30	Iain Hosking, Eric Franz		Dived with Eric and went round much the same area as with Niall the previous day, but in more detail eg gun mounting, mines in tubes. Vis a bit cruddy.	Steel 69, ABLJ 2
55	14 Jun 1981	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			13	25	25	Iain Hosking, Malcolm Gauld		Took dry suit for its first outing, inaugurating a new period of comfort and warmth. Swam around Cathedral and studied squidgy things.	Dry suit, twin Draegers, SLJ, extra 8lbs weight.
56	21 Jun 1981	Anlaby	May Island	Forth	Scotland			12	25	25	Iain Hosking, Ross Butler		Excellent conditions. Jumped from side of 'Hamnavoe' and rearranged anchor, then joined Ross for dive. Up and down keel mainly. Saw seal, following us around. Also a variety of fish. Wreck is very broken up, but the outline is visible, and anchors, winches, prop, brass valves, bits of boiler etc.	Steel 69, SLJ 2, extra 8lbs standardised for dry bag.
60	2 Aug 1981	Fidra	North Berwick	Forth	Scotland			13	35	35	Iain Hosking, Rosanne Padua		Lobster-hunting expedition - very successful. Rosanne and I caught two lobsters and seven crabs. Also saw a small octopus and some very pretty plumose anemones. Water warm. Vis 4-5m.	Al 56
61	9 Aug 1981	Glanmire	St Abbs Head	Forth	Scotland			31	15	15	Iain Hosking, Eric Franz		Dived just after slack, so some current. Down grapple line onto wreck, up port side to bows, down starboard side to stern, which is more intact. Boilers stand out well. Then back up to undo grapple. Life - outstanding feature was a huge, pale conger with an evil expression on its face, under a steel plate. Also pollack. Water warm. Vis 7m at least. [The 'conger' was actually a wolf fish - Ed]	Steel 60
64	13 Sep 1981	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			13	40	40	Iain Hosking, Eric Franz		Had difficulty finding Cathedral at first but found it at the second attempt. Far more fish than before - two wrasse (very curious), shoal of pollack or saithe + one larger one. Many smaller fish. Also large lobster sharing crevice with squat lobster and crab. Breathed from air bubble in arch using snorkel. Vis 8m. Very warm (new woolly bear).	Own tank: 82 cu ft. 150 ats used.
70	24 Sep 1981	Otranto	Kilchiaran Bay	Islay	Scotland			15	30	30	Iain Hosking, Niall Lindsay		Wind only Force 4 so we thought we'd give it a go. Dived after a rough trip out. Main feature is the 8 boilers, but also brass portholes and bits & bobs. Kelp throughout. Wrasses and giant pollack. Very strong wave action - bit tricky trying to avoid being cut to shreds. Vis 6m.	own
74	19 Mar 1982	Golden Gift	Oban Bay	Oban	Scotland			15	25	25	Iain Hosking		Jane had trouble with her ears so I carried on by myself. Night dive. Wreck very pretty, covered in sea-squirts with spider crabs, squat lobsters and giant sunstars. Fantastic dive - very relaxed (unexpectedly). Some phosphorescence too.	own
75	20 Mar 1982	Breda	Benderloch	Oban	Scotland			18	25	25	Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair		First dive with Susan. Through holds, bridge etc. Sandals, cans, tyres, truck etc. Much silliness - somersaults, new underwater signals etc. Very relaxed dive - due to not having any gauges etc.	own
76	20 Mar 1982	Breda	Benderloch	Oban	Scotland			14	15	15	Iain Hosking, Eric Franz, Susan Playfair		Now low tide. Dived with Eric and Susan (Susan had the torch - we were invisible). Getting a little dark, but good fun. Dive-bombed Doc and Rob.	own
77	21 Mar 1982	Creran Bridge		Oban	Scotland			5	25	25	Iain Hosking, Eric Franz		Drift dive (3 shorter dives actually). Mussels in abundance, very pretty bit with beadlet and plumose anemones, crabs, squat lobsters etc. Fair current, especially on second run. Vis 15ft.	own
80	27 Mar 1982	Golden Gift	Oban Bay	Oban	Scotland			14	20	20	Iain Hosking, Ceri Reid		Excellent night dive - wreck, crustaceans, fish, phosphorescence, the lot. What more could one ask for? (A - an Ocean Pro)	own
82	4 Apr 1982	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			14	20	20	Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair		Excellent dive - good u/w communication.	own
86	11 Apr 1982	Rondo	Eileanan Glasa, Sound of Mull	Mull	Scotland			30	20	20	Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair		Early morning dive. Through prop tube and between hull and rock. Very pretty. Torch flooded again (and jammed shut). Snorkelled to lighthouse and watched swans nesting.	own
87	11 Apr 1982	Thesis	Sound of Mull	Mull	Scotland			30	20	20	Iain Hosking, Eric Franz		Caught slack by sheer coincidence. Straight down to stern, and back up through holds and engine room. Latter very spectacular with missing hull plates forming a gallery, and boilers, wheels etc. Dive-bombed Geoff, Sue & Doc, and lost Eric. Torch had a burial at sea. Vis between 0 and 4m.	own
88	12 Apr 1982	Hispania	Sound of Mull	Mull	Scotland			25	25	25	Iain Hosking, Ross Butler		Caught slack by good planning. Right round wreck - down buoy line to starboard side, in through holds to bows, back up port side, up and down mast, in through bridge, then engine room and aft cabin (where I lost Eric's torch). No gloves, but not too cold. Vis poor.	own
90	13 Apr 1982	Rondo	Eileanan Glasa, Sound of Mull	Mull	Scotland			30	20	20	Iain Hosking, Ross Butler		Up at 6am - in water at quarter to eight. Under wreck, through usual tubes, nooks and crannies. Strong current at start. Life - sea-scorpions. usual crustaceans and squidgy things. Vis improving. Dead calm.	own
93	14 Apr 1982	Rondo	Eileanan Glasa, Sound of Mull	Mull	Scotland			40	15	25	Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair		Deepest yet. Straight down to 40m. Black as pitch (no torches). Up to 30m where we were surrounded by a shoal of hundreds of fish. Usual acrobatics - passed Geoff and Mike, then on up to do planned 5 minute stops at 10m & 5m. Calm morning, water and air warm. Great start to the day (it pissed down afterwards).	own, except for Eric's Ulyxes death gauge
94	14 Apr 1982	Meldon	Loch Buie	Mull	Scotland			14	47	47	Iain Hosking, Geoff Hide, Susan Playfair		Threesome with Geoff and Susan. Down at rudder and along starboard side (huge props). Got separated immediately and swam round independently. Swam down prop shaft housing, inside stern and around boilers. Found Susan wrestling with a crab and looked for Geoff, who had surfaced by this time. Leak in groin of dry suit (ugh!).	own
95	15 Apr 1982	Rondo	Eileanan Glasa, Sound of Mull	Mull	Scotland			26	20	20	Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair		Bottom time restricted because of later dive on Hispania. Essentially a 26m plowter - through tubes downwards, usual somersaults etc. Really enjoyable dive. Separated temporarily. Dry suit dry again.	own
108	18 Jul 1982	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			15	60	60	Iain Hosking, Dougie McEwan, Mike Malone		Ace dive, with Dougie and Mike. Visibility exceptional - 60 feet at least, and bright sunlight. Long, leisurely dive. Saw conger in crevice - bluish-grey, and 5 or 6 feet long, judging from the size of its head. Hundreds of saithe, several wrasse (one of which Mike hand-fed) and a butterfish - not brown but pink, same colour as seaweed. Sinuses OK at last!	own
110	31 Jul 1982	Karlsruhe	Scapa Flow	Orkney	Scotland			25	28	30	Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair		Good first dive of the trip, after a worrying couple of minutes when we found the buoy line had dragged off the wreck. The ship is lying at a steep angle on her port side. We covered about half of her, from engine room aft. Large gun on stern. Fish life prolific. Vis 10-11m. Problems - Susan's tank harness, fin strap, my new cuff and sinuses on way up. Stung by a jellyfish on the mouth.	own, except Snipe's 87 cu ft tank.
111	1 Aug 1982	Köln	Scapa Flow	Orkney	Scotland			32	18	20	Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair		Down buoy line to port side behind bridge. Quick look inside then swam to stern via two gun turrets. Stern almost pointed. Back to buoy line where we hung around for a while to check buoyancy for stops. Vis not so good - lots of plankton. 60s very comfy, sinuses cleared, no heater in cuff [eh?] - ace dive.	own, except twin 60s.
112	1 Aug 1982	Brummer	Scapa Flow	Orkney	Scotland			34	16	27	Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair		Planned 30 mins at 30m + stops at 10 & 5. Changed our minds when we went down to 27 at 32 + stops. In the event we went to 34m so Susan had us surface, somewhat dissatisfied, at 16 mins. Subtly narked, I swam to the stern instead of the bows, but we saw various gun turrets and dipped inside a couple of times. Good dive. We'll be back.	own, twin 60s.
117	4 Aug 1982	Kronprinz Wilhelm	Scapa Flow	Orkney	Scotland			36	14	17	Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair		Vis poorer - 6m. Down buoy line to hull, where we shifted the shot and cut it free from the wreck. Up hull side of wreck towards bows - in and out of holes in the hull plates. Over hull to deck. Found two guns and a doorway in. Susan found a divers belt and gloves (standard divers dress type). No stop dive.	own, twin 60s
118	4 Aug 1982	Köln	Scapa Flow	Orkney	Scotland			23	32	47	Iain Hosking, Susan Playfair		Swam forward this time to see the other two-thirds of the wreck. Spent some time examining AA gun (and attendant fish) and then the bridge, under decks etc. On to bows - bow turrets missing. High speed fin back to line, past waist turret.	own, twin 60s, +12lbs
119	5 Aug 1982	UB116	Scapa Flow	Orkney	Scotland			30	20	20	Iain Hosking, Geoff Hide		Perfect conditions - like 'Ludlow' without kelp. Wreck very blasted. Found periscope, compressed air cylinders, left boot and assorted brass and copper pipes and fittings. Fish life prolific. Light and airy. Vis 12-15m.	own, twin 60s, +12lbs
120	5 Aug 1982	F2 & barge	Scapa Flow	Orkney	Scotland			16	51	52	Iain Hosking, Geoff Hide		Destroyer lies on port side, bridge & bows intact. Six inch gun in bow turret, AA gun below bridge. Barge is on an even keel nearby. Misty evening dive but good vis: 10-12m. Explored destroyer, followed line to barge, picking up some scallops on the way, swam around inside the barge and then returned to the destroyer. Long, leisurely dive. No stops.	own, twin 60s, +12lbs
121	6 Aug 1982	Brummer	Scapa Flow	Orkney	Scotland			36	21	36	Iain Hosking, Eric Franz		Circumnavigated the wreck. To stern first (though I thought it was the bows again...) and then past stern turrets, funnels, midships six inch turret, bridge, bow turret. It's possible to get into the wreck.	own, twin 60s, +12lbs
136	4 Jul 1983	Kronprinz Wilhelm	Scapa Flow	Orkney	Scotland			34	20	30	Iain Hosking, Robin Gray		Had a day off for sinuses to recover, and modified Draeger valve with a bit of rubber, so everything now OK. Down shot line to hull side, quick look around engine room area, but no brass telegraphs so over to deck side and saw 6 inch guns and other bits. Good blast back to Stromness in new boat. Sea rough.	twin 60s, extra 4lbs weight
137	4 Jul 1983	Karlsruhe	Scapa Flow	Orkney	Scotland			26	30	40	Iain Hosking, Grace Franz		Swam as far as bridge and looked inside battle bridge. Didn't see the telegraph. Saw both bow turrets - one has fallen onto the other.	Twin 60s, + 6lbs weight
139	5 Jul 1983	Brummer	Scapa Flow	Orkney	Scotland			34	21	32	Iain Hosking, Rosanne Padua		Saw and recognised bows at last! Wreck on starboard side. Swam aft through bridge latticework and midships gun to stern superstructure and back.	Twin 60s, + 6lbs
144	8 Jul 1983	Brummer	Scapa Flow	Orkney	Scotland			34	25	40	Iain Hosking, Geoff Hide		Dedicated but unsuccessful search for the lamp room, Geoff and I were in every hole possible, and deep inside the ship we found a coil of rope. Stern more broken up than last year - one turret covered by a piece of plating.	Twin 60s, +6lbs (ie about 34lbs)
145	8 Jul 1983	König	Scapa Flow	Orkney	Scotland			38	17	30	Iain Hosking, Geoff Hide		Chief impression still of immense size. Line went down to bilge keel forward of stern on starboard side. We swam forwards in and out of the hull. Nothing recognisable except a lifting bag floating above a steel shackle. No difficulty finding the line.	Twin 60s, +6lbs
148	6 Aug 1983	Breda	Benderloch	Oban	Scotland			25	35	40	Iain Hosking, Eric Franz		Early start - in water at 11am. [eh?] Flat calm and sunny. Vis undisturbed by other divers: 25-30 feet. Down buoy line to bows and swam aft through the holds to the stern. Found boxes of rivets, tin cans, tyres, the truck, solidified sacks of cement and a pile of gas masks. Stern framework beautiful with dead men's fingers and anemones. 25m at rudder. No prop. Very quick blast back to the bows since low on air.	own
153	28 Aug 1983	Wallachia	The Gantocks	Clyde	Scotland			18	30	32	Iain Hosking, Geoff Hide, Jenny Clough		Dived with Jenny and Geoff. Found wreck from transits in 'Scottish Diver' and echosounder. 35m to bottom at HW - 30m to deck. Round bows first, then aft past bridge (with wheel) to stern (also with wheel) via hold full of carboys containing stannous acid (a tin solution). Very dark and murky. No current.	own
154	6 Sep 1983	Furnace	Loch Fyne	Kintyre	Scotland			20	25	25	Iain Hosking, Alasdair Hosking		Dived same place as last time, down cliff face to 20m and then south. Vis good - 30ft at least. Squat lobsters, crabs, sunstars, sea squirts, scallops, wrasse, blennies and a huge shoal of small fish. Feather duster worms all retracted (lack of current). Bright and sunny. Good site.	own
166	1 Apr 1984	Kintyre	Wemyss Bay	Clyde	Scotland			40	11	15	Iain Hosking, Mike Weitzner		Far better as a boat dive! Warm, calm and sunny. Found by echosounding and grappling. Down line to bridge at 38m. Swam round bridge and forward hold, found lead pipe, brass pipe and various valves and stuff (left in situ). Bows at 30m, plates missing and covered with plumose anemones. Beautiful! A lovely day.	own, except Rollo's twin 55s and 4lbs less weight.
167	7 Apr 1984	Rondo	Eileanan Glasa, Sound of Mull	Mull	Scotland			30	20	23	Iain Hosking, Mike Weitzner		Excellent dive - made up for disasters during the day. Swam straight down inside hull to archway section which we examined closely. Through tunnel; examined feather duster worms and plumose anemones. Strong current, good vis, about 30 feet.	own
169	8 Apr 1984	Hispania	Sound of Mull	Mull	Scotland			25	23	25	Iain Hosking, Pete Wilson		An excellent dive. Round entire wreck apart from extreme stern. Into engine room, bridge, holds and up to bows. Very light and good vis. Quite strong current.	own
171	13 Apr 1984	Calve Island Cliffs	NE corner of Calve Island	Mull	Scotland			38	12	15	Iain Hosking, Crawford Foster		Cliff dive. Cliffs go down vertically to 50m but we stopped to be able to dive later. Cliffs covered in sea squirts and cup coral, with occasional plumose anemones and starfish.	own
173	14 Apr 1984	Rondo	Eileanan Glasa, Sound of Mull	Mull	Scotland			48	12	23	Iain Hosking, Mike Weitzner		'Bows of the Rondo'. Weather conditions marginal (force 6 + drizzle) but Pete's plan worked smoothly. Straight down to bows with no trouble, stayed for a while, swam back up slowly.	own
183	19 May 1984	Port Napier	Kyle of Lochalsh	Skye	Scotland			20	25	35	Iain Hosking, Doc Mitchell		Second dive of the day. Snorkelled from bow to stern and swam through lower starboard mine tube past dozens of bogies and several green spaces right up to the bows. Inside the bows and up to portholes. Forced to surface and down to finish air on the guns.	own
192	7 Jul 1984	Helena Faulbaums	Belnahua	Oban	Scotland			53	15	35	Iain Hosking, John Llambias		Dived with John at 3pm, over 1 hour after end of slack (HW neaps). Current on the way down. Shot line was on starboard side behind bridge, by anchor, lifting bag etc abandoned by last group the previous weekend. Disentangled it, cut excess rope, inflated lifting bag and tied it off to shot. Didn't see much of the wreck. Vis 20-30ft.	own, except Rollo's twin 55s. 4lbs less weight (24lbs)
196	22 Jul 1984	Belnahua Quarry	Belnahua	Oban	Scotland			9	25	25	Iain Hosking		2nd Class Roped Diver. Dougie tendered [he's a professional after all]. Water fresh, vis OK - 15 feet, bright. Saw cage for lowering quarryworkers, pipes for pumping water out (brass bends), miscellaneous wooden structures. Depth apparently 300 feet. Learnt how to give and receive satisfactory BSAC rope signals.	own, Geoff's tank, -4lbs.
211	10 Mar 1985	St Abbs	South side of the Firth of Forth	Forth	Scotland			15	22	22	Iain Hosking, Derek Borthwick		Second dive of the day, with Derek Borthwick behind rock at opposite side of channel. Better vis and very nice underwater scenery - cliffs and dead men's fingers. Quite unexpected at St Abbs. Worth a return visit.	own
216	24 Mar 1985	Loch Duich	Ratagan and Inverinate	Scottish West Coast	Scotland			32	14	14	Iain Hosking, Iain Ogilvy		Underwater sledge dive, with Iain Ogilvy from Inverness BSAC. Brilliant. Good vis. exhilarating stuff. Fun and games clearing flooded mask.	own
217	4 May 1985	Hispania	Sound of Mull	Mull	Scotland			23	25	30	Iain Hosking, Sarah McCracken		First dive with Sarah. Hauled our way down to the bows in the teeth of a gale, recovered our breath and headed aft. Good plowter around holds, bridge, stern section. Visibility good, conditions perfect - ace dive.	own + EUSAC Scubapro Mk II
218	4 May 1985	Calve Island Cliffs	NE corner of Calve Island	Mull	Scotland			30	20	20	Iain Hosking, Sarah McCracken		Almost a night dive. Incredible variety of life - starfish, sun stars, feather duster worms, sea squirts, dahlia anemones, Devonshire cup coral, sleeping wrasse, things with pincers etc. Phosphorescence too. Another good dive.	Own +Scubapro Mk II
219	5 May 1985	Thesis	Sound of Mull	Mull	Scotland			30	20	20	Iain Hosking, Grace Franz		Absolute flat calm and no current. Down buoy line to bows and down deck to stern to look at the rudder. Then inside to swim the length of the ship, past the flywheel and up into the bows. Down to engine room again, where we saw a conger. Adrian dived without a weight belt.	Own +Scubapro Mk II
223	14 May 1985	Sub-Sea Services	George St, Aberdeen	Scottish East Coast	Scotland			50	10	20	Iain Hosking, R Thomson		The first dive to be written up on a decompression stop. Quite cold now, but warm on the way down. Squeaky voice [from pressure alone - we weren't using heliox] and pen suffered decompression sickness.	Ordinary clothes.
226	3 Jul 1985	Nordhuk		Skye	Scotland			28	23	23	Iain Hosking, Crawford Foster		Slack at 4pm so we filled in the time exploring caves and snorkelling around seals. Grappled it in 30s. Fantastic vis meant we could see the whole wreck lying there smashed up. Good close quarters rake around. Found portholes (ferrous), pressure vessel, cogs, winches etc. Lots of fish life.	own
227	4 Jul 1985	Doris		Skye	Scotland			28	23	25	Iain Hosking, Carole Mullen		One of the best dives ever for marine life. Ballan wrasse, pollack, dogfish, cup coral (fluorescent green or red centres), anemones (similar to cup coral and dahlia), huge purple and red sunstars, sponges 1 foot high. Very unusual nudibranch: 1.5 inches long, white/transparent - gills with white blobs on end. Even saw some of the wreck. Vis excellent. Sandy bottom with dead men's fingers growing out of it.	own
228	4 Jul 1985	Chadwick	West coast of Skye	Skye	Scotland			24	23	25	Iain Hosking, Sarah McCracken		Jammy dive. Grappling the wreck was a total disaster. At the second attempt we copped out and drifted along the bottom upside-down. At the end of a brief gossip we looked up and there was the wreck! We couldn't believe our eyes. Had a quick gnash down to the prop and then up to the bows via the boilers. Back down to the boilers again when we met Adrian and Carole. Good fish life, especially the cuckoo wrasse which were fluorescent electric blue. Good vis, fair current (slack was 2 hours later than we calculated).	own
229	5 Jul 1985	Eilean Grianal	2 miles north-west of Dunvegan	Skye	Scotland			30	20	22	Iain Hosking, Graham Russell		Flat calm and pissing rain. Bombed straight down onto Sarah and Carole (saw them from more than 10m above them). Swam north from the island over a series of terraces. Saw a really bright cuckoo wrasse - yellow and blue; also squat lobsters, cushion stars, blennies, sea squirts, cup corals. Swam through a shoal of about 1000 jellyfish on the way up [and saw rain on the surface of the water].	own
242	3 Aug 1985	Loch Long		Clyde	Scotland			31	18	22	Iain Hosking, Carole Mullen, Graham Russell, Sarah McCracken		Forecast SW 5 so called off the 'Kintyre' and dived at the usual spot in Loch Long. Straight down to 30m in very clear water, torch beams lighting first on a washing machine, then on huge boulders covered with anemones and feather duster worms. At 18 minutes ascended to 5m and spent another half hour among plumose anemones, wrasse, codling, blennies, crabs and clabby-doos. Good dive.	own
250	12 Sep 1985	Beagle	North of Great Cumbrae	Clyde	Scotland			34	16	20	Iain Hosking, John Llambias		250th dive! Memorable because of weird weather conditions which made good at last. Grappled wreck on first pass. Second pair down - covered the whole length of the wreck including the prop. Very dark, pretty murky, covered in line and nets. Saw phosphorescence. No significant current. Good fun.	own + Fenzy X3
262	13 Oct 1985	Hispania	Sound of Mull	Mull	Scotland			24	32	35	Iain Hosking, Sarah McCracken		Down the line to the bows, back to bridge via holds, into engine room, through an area with valves and pipes. Comprehensive tour of engine room and then into the aft holds. Over stern to prop shaft (and missing hull plate). Forward along starboard side to Captain's bath. Climbed mast, into chain locker and up. I think we saw about everything.	own
264	20 Oct 1985	Helena Faulbaums	Belnahua	Oban	Scotland			54	15	35	Iain Hosking, Sarah McCracken		On site well before slack. Dropped shot immediately forward of the bridge despite barely-visible transits. We were the second pair down. Spent a couple of minutes at the shot, then crossed over to the starboard side, back over the bridge (now collapsed) and aft along the port side to the engine room. Noted portholes, binnacle and pedestal. Vis OK, less narked than yesterday. On stops checked suit for leaks: none.	own, twin 55s
265	9 Nov 1985	Kintyre	Wemyss Bay	Clyde	Scotland			40	11	13	Iain Hosking, Adrian Roddam		Spent ages looking for the 'Wallachia' but the echosounder died and the transits weren't good enough to grapple successfully, so we went for plan B. While looking for the 'Kintyre' we were hit by a snow squall. All worth it, though, because Adrian and I actually found the wreck. We saw a lot of it - bogs, bows, winches, boiler, engine and resident conger, or ling. Very dark, but a good dive.	own
268	2 Jan 1986	Calve Island Cliffs	NE corner of Calve Island	Mull	Scotland			36	14	16	Iain Hosking, Crawford Foster		First dive of '86. A beautiful day - clear and cold with wind force 3. Water quite clear but not gin clear. Down to 34m in free-fall mode and spent the time drifting along in the current, upside down half the time. Pretty cup coral, like sweets. Afterwards we had man overboard drill, a prat about and a bit of target practice.	own
269	15 Feb 1986	Falls of Lora	Loch Etive	Oban	Scotland			15	6	6	Iain Hosking, Mark Inall		Prelude to next, amazing dive. Extremely fast. What do you do when bearing down on a cliff at 9 knots in a cloud of bubbles? Came up after getting into a backwater.	own, except aluminium 72 and a made-up weight belt.
271	16 Feb 1986	Falls of Lora	Loch Etive	Oban	Scotland			22	10	10	Iain Hosking, Crawford Foster		Sunnier and winder day (easterly 3). Full of anticipation after Mark surfaced to report he'd been in a Kenwood mixer. Very fast at the start, then slower through gullies. Reached pebble slope at south edge where a very insistent upwelling dumped us on the surface.	own (as 269), 29lbs.
276	29 Mar 1986	Chadwick	West coast of Skye	Skye	Scotland			21	33	33	Iain Hosking, Geoff Hide, Sarah McCracken		Amazingly brilliant weather. Woke to blazing sunshine, and the Cuillins across the water. Out to the Chadwick in slightly rough conditions (sea state 5). Geoff joins the ranks of the Master Grapplers by casually dropping the grapple straight into the wreck after lining up a couple of boulders on the shore. No messing. We dived second (feeling queasy) and hit the bottom in tremendous visibility (especially when the sun came out!). Twice around the wreck, through the arched bit twice, down to the prop, round the boilers. Saw several attractive brass valves, bits of copper pipe, lumps of coal, millions of cup coral, scores of tiny nudibranchs (purple with white spots), red sunstars, crabs (one with an outrageous coat). Ace dive! Slack 11.30 GMT (12.30 EST), ebb tide.	own, + Ewan's twin 40s.
277	30 Mar 1986	Port Napier	Kyle of Lochalsh	Skye	Scotland			18	25	25	Iain Hosking, Andy Hopkins		Very leisurely start: in water about 2pm. Swam in through 'T' shaped doorway and through two decks to reach the starboard upper mine tube. Swam the whole length of the mine tube in very good vis, then round stern and back through the starboard lower mine tube, which took us into a dead end. Surfaced to blazing sunshine!	own Ewan's twin 40s.
280	20 Apr 1986	Easdale Quarry	Easdale, Seil Island	Oban	Scotland			55	10	20	Iain Hosking, Mark Inall		The legendary Easdale Quarry at last. Truly lifeless, with massive slabs of rock going down past 55m. Water clear until the silt is disturbed. Not as narcotic as yesterday, but a somewhat more satisfying dive. [4 stars for being memorable]	own
282	2 Jul 1986	Kronprinz Wilhelm	Scapa Flow	Orkney	Scotland			36	23	40	Iain Hosking, Kenny Jack		Very satisfying first dive of the trip since we immediately hit the aft 12 inch gun turrets. Also saw two of the 6 inch guns and worked our way into the hull. Weather - somewhat chilly and foggy. Vis - good with bits in it. Not much sea life but some phosphorescence.	own, twin 55s, -4lbs, ie 24lbs total.
283	2 Jul 1986	Brummer	Scapa Flow	Orkney	Scotland			34	25	40	Iain Hosking, Kenny Jack		Tour around the aluminium-framed bridge, then aft to the engine room, aft mast and superstructure. Forward again to bridge, and on to the bows. Saw most of the wreck, I think. Good dive but foggy and cold.	own, twin 55s, 24lbs
293	11 Jul 1986	Helena Faulbaums	Belnahua	Oban	Scotland			58	15	55	Iain Hosking, Mark Inall		Fantastic weather - mirror-calm and sunny. Slick operation to raise the pedestal followed by a trip to the stern. Bottom at 58m. Prop blades sheared off. Good vis.	Twin 55s, 28lbs
294	12 Jul 1986	Helena Faulbaums	Belnahua	Oban	Scotland			51	15	45	Iain Hosking, Ian Kyle		Trip to the bows. Visibility extremely good - could easily see the front of the bridge from the 'greenhouse'. Swam forward over the holds to bows - hung off bows looking back at the ship. Saw Geoff's lamp. Looked inside lamp room. Leisurely swim back to the line. Camped on Belnahua afterwards	Twin 55s, 28lbs
298	1 Sep 1986	Kintyre	Wemyss Bay	Clyde	Scotland			38	11	13	Iain Hosking, Ross Butler		Found wreck on second pass with grapple despite u/s echosounder. Surface layer very murky so pitch black at depth. Saw winch in front of aft hold, superstructure, boiler, bows, anchor. Ace dive. Rough.
301	18 Sep 1986	Wallachia	The Gantocks	Clyde	Scotland			33	8	10	Iain Hosking, Crawford Foster		Conditions even better. Wreck was buoyed so we were able to update our transits. 2 hour surface interval so we had a time penalty, but an excellent dive. Saw the bridge, wheel, engine room 'greenhouse', spare wheel, jars and beer bottles. Down over stern to see prop and rudder. Tried 91-year old beer. Horrible.	Kevin's Rowi suit, 20lbs lead, club 78.
302	19 Sep 1986	Wallachia	The Gantocks	Clyde	Scotland			34	16	19	Iain Hosking, Geoff Hide		Very good dive, with minimal current and good visibility. Saw from funnel forward to bows. Bows are very tall and imposing, and draped in nets. Forward hold contains beer bottles and tins. 20 minutes from Largs.	Rowi suit, 20lbs, club 78
303	19 Sep 1986	Beagle	North of Great Cumbrae	Clyde	Scotland			32	13	15	Iain Hosking, Geoff Hide		Practice for First Class. Grappling for the wreck made very tricky by the presence of two other buoys, both tied onto the wreck. Swam right round the wreck - saw anchor, emergency steering gear and conger. Masses of monofilament.	Rowi suit, 20lbs, club 78
311	11 Oct 1986	Rondo	Eileanan Glasa, Sound of Mull	Mull	Scotland			40	11	13	Iain Hosking, Kenny Jack		Another fantastic dive. Slow descent to rudder then a more rapid drop down to 40m. Very good vis. Back up at 32m we dropped down to the port side and found a very narrow gap under the wreck at 36m. Met a male cuckoo wrasse on the way out. Back through the larger gap, and up through the tube. Saw another cuckoo wrasse.
313	14 Dec 1986	Falls of Lora	Loch Etive	Oban	Scotland			25	15	30	Iain Hosking, Mark Inall		Hell of a long gap since the last dive. Weather ideal - calm, sunny, clear. Mark and I had three attempts - on the first two we were spat out very quickly. On the third we went through the gully system just as fast as we could cope with. Hit a slack patch, then found the current again and hit the cliff! Suddenly everything went dark - I was pummelled from all sides and felt a strong pressure on my ears as I was dragged down. With one hand on my suit inflator and the other on my mask I eventually hit the surface. Mindblowing. A seriously difficult dive. (Times: a: 5 mins, b: 3 mins, c: 7 mins). Tide: near neaps, incoming tide.	Club 78
317	17 Jan 1987	Paddy Hinkley's Quarry		Forth	Scotland			8	10	10	Iain Hosking, Malcolm Gauld		Another long-awaited dive, this time under ice. 15 divers, 3 hours. The ice was very thick (thick enough to jump up and down on). Dived singly, roped. Very muddy, but weird to see the ice overhead and the silvery air bubbles. Not at all cold. [Malcolm held the other end of the rope.]
320	14 Mar 1987	Wallachia	The Gantocks	Clyde	Scotland			30	20	22	Iain Hosking, Pete Wilkinson		Finally hit the water at ten past six after a comedy of errors. Very good dive despite dark, cold, flooding torches etc. Lots of 'mice' (nudibranchs) under the stern. Found 100 year old whisky and groups of tin crystals.	Malcolm's Diamond suit (left own in lockup!) and DV.
331	11 Apr 1987	Hispania	Sound of Mull	Mull	Scotland			24	27	30	Iain Hosking, Phil Gibbs		Down line to stern and forward to the passageway on the second level of the hold. Swam along this for a while, but very murky so turned round and came back. Into engine room, forward to bridge, then out and swam along beside the rail to the bows. The anchor chain lies out along the seabed. Back to the stern - saw rudder (no prop). Seabed falls away on this side. Outboard engine knackered on the way back [due to motorcycle 2-stroke oil] so our boat was towed. Mark and I got bored and jumped off, swam to Calve Island, waded to the mainland and walked back, swimming a lake on the way.
333	12 Apr 1987	Rondo	Eileanan Glasa, Sound of Mull	Mull	Scotland			35	14	18	Iain Hosking, Simon Kirk		Took Captain for a complete tour of the wreck down to the tunnel under the hull at 35m (LW), Through prop shaft tunnel, somersaults off the 'superstructure' and backwards and forwards under the ship (lots of feather duster worms). Visibility spectacularly good, and weather perfect. Hell of a good dive.
349	17 May 1987	Doris		Skye	Scotland			24	30	30	Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries		This was a brilliant dive. Weather came good at last, and we dropped into a steep-sided gully with dead men's fingers, anemones, cup coral and nudibranchs. Headed down over kelp to the main body of the wreck which lies in beautiful shell sand. Cathy spotted several nudibranchs - other sea life included sea pens, tubeworms, a shrimp and a wrasse. After the dive - The Nightmare continues... The old boat exploded.
353	22 May 1987	Loch Long		Clyde	Scotland			25	25	25	Iain Hosking, Crawford Foster, Sarah McCracken		Night dive - surfaced at exactly midnight. A brilliant dive, literally, with incredible phosphorescence. Sarah led. Plenty of life - colours showed up well in the torch beams - several sorts of sea anemone (big plumose ones at the end), masses of peacock worms, all out and arranged very tastefully about the rocks, with sea squirts in among them (transparent and pink varieties). Fish - pollack and small cod-like things - three dorsal fins and barbels (pout? dab? poor cod?). Also tiny purple sea urchins, east coast type squat lobsters and a starfish looking like a wedding cake - pink knobs on white. We turned our torches off and played at Disneyland for a while. Crawford and Sarah were easily visible by columns of bubbles and sparks. Oh, and a whole shoal of jellyfish. Good dive.
355	13 Jun 1987	Hispania	Sound of Mull	Mull	Scotland			25	27	29	Iain Hosking, Sarah McCracken		A fine day - new boat and engine so planed out to the wreck in double-quick time. Dived second, in quite a current. Vis was very good, and lots of fish - big ballan wrasse, smaller corkwing wrasse (very pretty), blennies and pollack. Swam through the tunnel and had a good rake around the engine room. Left a buoy on the wreck to return later.
357	27 Jun 1987	Loch Ailort		North-west Scotland	Scotland			28	20	22	Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries		Trip organised by Glasgow University Sub-Aqua Club (Phil Gibbs is a member of both clubs). Dived on a stepped cliff with good overhangs. Lots of life - sea squirts, feather duster worms, nudibranchs and fish (blennies, mainly). Thousands of feather stars feeding by making a tripod of three legs and waving the others over their heads.
358	28 Jun 1987	Priest Rock	Sound of Arisaig	North-west Scotland	Scotland			20	46	46	Iain Hosking, Douglas Smith		A long, leisurely scenic dive. One of these sites where the seabed appears bare at first. Saw about 6 varieties of starfish, and then noted a sea cucumber. Soon realised there were dozens. Several nudibranchs including some quite large ones, and lots of jellyfish. Saw corkwing wrasse and pollack. Beautiful day - calm and warm. Drove to Mallaig afterwards.
360	2 Aug 1987	Fidra	North Berwick	Forth	Scotland			10	40	40	Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries		EUSAC beach barbecue at Yellowcraigs. Saw puffins on the way out. Dived on a flat, rocky bottom with boulders and crevices containing lobsters, squat lobsters and shrimps. Highlight of the dive was an octopus parked in a hollow with his legs arranged decoratively around his head. He changed colour as we watched, then jetted off at speed, trailing his legs behind him. Beautiful sunset, good barbecue.
366	19 Sep 1988	Julian Rocks		Byron Bay	Australia			20	30	32	Iain Hosking, Ashley Dunne, Cathy Humphries		Dived Hughie's Trench. Boat dive from Byron Bay Dive Centre - good value (threw in the DV hire for nothing). Smooth operation - one-man launch of a large, heavy and powerful dive boat, and a total time of around 1.5 hours for 7 divers in the water. Weather fantastic, and water fairly clear, though not spectacular. Saw a large loggerhead turtle, a small moray eel (which Cathy fed) and a couple of wobbegong sharks, plus numerous smaller, colourful fish. One of them bit me, the bastard. Dolphins on the way back. Brilliant.	Wetsuit, hired BCD and DV (mine was in a bad way)
367	20 Sep 1988	Julian Rocks		Byron Bay	Australia			20	30	30	Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries		Calmer weather than yesterday. Dived Cod Hole - a tunnel with a particularly high concentration of fish - bullseyes, jewfish, moray, wrasse, scalyfin (a damselfish), wobbegongs and others too numerous (or unknown) to mention.	Wetsuit, new Mirage ADV, 24lbs, hired DV.
369	4 Nov 1988	Spot A	Latitude Rock, Cape Hawke	Forster	Australia			18	36	38	Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries, Sarah McCracken		Boat dive organised through Forster Dive Centre. Beautiful day, sea quite lumpy. Visibility good on the surface, poor to terrible on the bottom. Spot A is where all the fish hang out. Those I recognised included bullseyes, scorpionfish, huge groper, lionfish (butterfly cod), wobbegong shark (which swam out from under Cathy's feet), moray eels. The groper were a new sight for us (although I've seen so many photographs they seem like old friends) - very impressive, one a lovely powdery blue. Excellent dive. Afterwards - collected oysters and ate lots. Thai meal at night.	Wetsuit, ADV, 24lbs, own DV, own tank (just tested)
371	6 Nov 1988	Cape Hawke (north side)		Forster	Australia			8	35	35	Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries		Planned dive with sharks to the north bombed out due to rough seas, so we headed for the sheltered side of Cape Hawke. Initial impression was of sand, weed and debris washing backwards and forwards, but all around were shoals of mado and yellowtail, and looking closer we found a whole host of fish including very colourful wrasse, blennies, a banded parma, two tiny orange fish with electric blue markings and a black spot on the tail which turned out to be the young of the banded parma, some tiny black and white fish, a round puffer or box fish with brown blotches on the back, and a large ray, about four feet across, which effortlessly and elegantly flapped away out of our range. Other life included the same very colourful nudibranch I saw at Cronulla, a translucent snail, sea tulips, seasquirts and many sponges. Still cold, but a lovely relaxed dive. (See drawings in white logbook no 8, page 81.)
376	3 Dec 1988	Satara	Seal Rocks	Forster	Australia			43	15	33	Iain Hosking, Sarah McCracken		The wreck is fairly intact, and dotted with Devonshire cup coral. The phosphor-bronze prop is particularly attractive. Visibility was good, and the fish life prolific. Very relaxed and enjoyable dive (helped by taking a seasickness tablet beforehand). The stops appear to be Rory's special stops - certainly not the ones from the US Navy tables.	own tank, filled to 230 bar.
378	10 Dec 1988	Undola	off Royal National Park	Sydney	Australia			45	16	28	Iain Hosking, Martin Zolfel		This is a lovely little wreck, best thing I've seen around Sydney. Very dodgy dive, though. Calculated I had enough air for 15 minutes at 43m, plus stops, but that didn't take account of a respectable current. Visibility was good - there was still lots of brass to see on the wreck (valves and things), plus kitchen tiles from Aberfoyle Quarry and a 'Shanks Barrhead' loo [Barrhead is where they make Irn Bru.] Very colourful fish, including baby scalyfin and a sizeable six-spined leatherjacket (with a black and yellow spot on the side). Towards the end of the dive the fun started, as Mark called us down to look at the prop, then I noticed I had about 30 bar left. When the anchor was lifted (using a lifting bag!) the 6m bar was lifted to 2m, and Sarah's borrowed Brain was flashing 'Dec 6' at me. Plus I now had zero air. After what seemed an age the bar dropped back to 6m, whereupon the Brain said we could now go to 3m. I grabbed the spare air, only to find it didn't work, and I had to borrow air from another diver with a twinset. Eventually surfaced after 28 minutes. Never again will I do that depth for that time with that tank.	own tank (200 bar)
379	18 Dec 1988	Barron's Hut	off Port Hacking	Sydney	Australia			25	27	30	Iain Hosking, Martin Zolfel		Out on Max's boat again, with Martin, Sarah and Alex (from EUSAC). Good wall dive, with lots of sheltered ledges, nooks and crannies for the wildlife, a cave running back into a chimney, and huge boulders it was possible to swim under. Lots of sponges, scalyfin (saw one chase off another), wrasse, a couple of groper, some worried sea urchins, nudibranchs and some beautiful branching soft coral - red with white coral polyps. Lots of Devonshire cup coral too. Very colourful - good dive, good food, good company.
381	2 Jan 1989	Shiprock	Port Hacking	Sydney	Australia			12	50	50	Iain Hosking, Mark Inall		Rough weather, so plans for an inflatable boat trip scaled down to another Shiprock dive. A larger group than usual - Sarah, Mark, Andy Holroyd and Jackie as shore cover, along with John Ward, Andrea and Derek from Richmond RAAF BSAC. It was Mark's first dive in Australia and, like me, he was amazed at the quantity, variety and colours of the fish. We trogged slowly along, peering into crevices, seeing what we could see. What we saw was a moray eel, several catfish (or rock ling), scorpionfish, a big shoal of old wives (which have poisonous dorsal spines), leatherjackets, rock code, yellowtail, and on the crustacean front, hermit crabs and some really delicate little shrimps. The highlight was an octopus, which retreated over the rocks in an incredibly fluid motion. The poor thing was desperate to get away, but it wasn't until Sarah tried to grab it that it jetted off into the murk leaving two spots of ink behind it. Two cuttlefish finished things off nicely. Good curry afterwards.
382	14 Jan 1989	Tuggerah	Royal National Park	Sydney	Australia			46	14	25	Iain Hosking, Mark Inall, Sarah McCracken		Took Mark and Sarah out for a real Sydney wreck (birthday present for Mark). Met Peter (the Swede) and Jeff, who dived with me on the 'Undola' last month, and Richard. Sea horrible - divers all chunderous - but worth it. Visibility on the surface was brilliant - clear blue water - well over 100 foot vis. Not so good on the bottom, though - about 40 foot. Thousands of fish forming not so much a veil around the wreck as a wall. Headed to the bows first, where Sarah met a numbfish, and was totally shocked by the experience. They're very lazy, and I was lucky not to be fried while digging it up. Anyway - back to the boiler (with resident small moray) and the stern, with yellowtail, old wives and toadfish. Back to the line inside planned time despite being temporarily lost in fish. Deco stops and anti-chunder stops.	(wet sleeve)
384	14 Feb 1989	Muir Rock	Bicheno	Tasmania	Australia			15	35	35	Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries		First dive as a married couple. Arrived in Devonport 8.30 and drove over to Bicheno. In the water at 3.30pm after a very smooth boat launch and a short trip out. Visibility - probably unprecedented. Strong wave action - swell pushed us through swim-throughs between huge boulders. Heaps of fish - leatherjackets, porcupinefish (globe fish), yellowtail, trevally, wrasse, morwong, bullseyes and a ray (banded stingaree). Appetites definitely whetted, despite bad weather.
387	16 Feb 1989	The Castle	Bicheno	Tasmania	Australia			27	29	32	Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries		The Castle is one of the more spectacular Bicheno dive sites - a wide tunnel, 70 feet long, lined with crayfish, dozens on one ledge alone. We emerged onto a shelf of rock, sloping up on our left, with a wall on our right. Numerous morwong, bullseyes and one or two globe fish. Returned along a winding gully above the tunnel. Maybe the strangest thing of all was the sound of the rock moving in the surge - quite spooky as Cathy and I were last and had to wait quite a while in the tunnel entrance listening to the grating of thousands of tons of rock over our heads.
390	17 Feb 1989	Alligator Rock	Bicheno	Tasmania	Australia			22	30	35	Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries		Site comprises boulders and a vertical wall going down to around 26-28m (estimated). Good weather at last - sun shining down through the kelp above, and lighting up the cliff face. Water was incredibly clear, and Cathy enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere - she came face to face with a boarfish, and found a pretty nudibranch - 3 inches long, bluish-mauve with reddish-purple spots. Heaps of sponges, and sea-whips with coats of pink anemones. Took a close look at black sea-urchins and found they are actually deep red. Small shrimps find refuge in behind the spines, which are moved towards an intruder. New fish - Tasmanian trumpeter, or 'stripey', and some kind of carp, greyish with white markings on its side resembling calcified worm casts. After the dive Cathy went snorkelling with Andrew Kennedy, and was quizzed by a policeman about catching fish.
392	18 Feb 1989	Muir Rock	Bicheno	Tasmania	Australia			20	33	35	Iain Hosking, Mark Inall		Heavy swell meant that the tunnels and swimthroughs were exhilarating, to say the least. Mark and I dived into every crevice we could find, including some dead ends, where it was necessary to brace your hands against the sides of a tunnel to avoid being plugged into the end like a cork into a bottle. First highlight was a banded stingaree, sandy-coloured, buried with only his tail and eye showing. Played with it for a while before turning our attention to a globe fish which was persuaded by Mark to inflate itself with water. I just about collapsed laughing when this spiny ball was batted towards me. In this condition it has little attitude control and it could only just move forwards. Once left in peace it deflated itself in about 10 seconds. Other life - morwongs, bastard trumpeter, white sea-urchins, Devonshire cup coral, a shoal of yellowtail, sea carp and the usual bullseyes and leatherjackets.
395	27 Aug 1989	Cape Solander	Round from Inscription Point, Kurnell	Sydney	Australia			12	50	50	Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries		Oh dear, a five-month lay-off - a new record. This dive was Cathy's idea, and an excellent reintroduction for her after a six-month layoff. We had perfect weather - a few puffy cumulus in an otherwise clear sky, and calm water inshore with white horses beyond. The entry is off flat rocks, and then it's onto bare boulders at 5m, and sponge-covered rocks at 10m. We saw a huge cuttlefish almost immediately - Cathy spotted him in the open. Then it was over the boulders, among mado and little yellow and black blennies. In among the sponges were numerous assorted nudibranchs, and the fish included a blue groper, wrasse, leatherjacket, goatfish and scalyfin. I think it was mating season for scalyfin - one was chasing the other round and round. But the highlight was a weedy sea dragon. This improbable fish floated motionless inches from our noses. Amazing. A return visit is indicated. (LW slack at 11.00am)
397	9 Sep 1989	Tuggerah	Royal National Park	Sydney	Australia			45	16	32	Iain Hosking, Martin Zolfel		Cockup with tank fill and neck rings meant that Max was swearing at me on the way out, but that apart it was a good dive. Max hooked the welding rod grapple into a 1 inch hole in the wreck and pulled the line in taut so that it was a short swim to the wreck. Clouds of nannegai as usual and half a dozen wobbegong. One was 7 foot long and looked pregnant, while another, 6 foot long, was tangled in a net at the prop. In Martin's words I scored 150 brownie points in the wobbegong world by setting it free, an interesting task involving twisting the net tightly around its head so it couldn't bite me while I cut the net open further down. Stopped at Frog Dive in Merrylands to buy twin bands ($55). Heaps of air next dive...	Cathy's 88
403	3 Jan 1990	Spot A	Latitude Rock, Cape Hawke	Forster	Australia			18	38	38	Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries		Back to Forster again, for the first time in over a year. Rory has now sold the Forster Dive Centre to Aari Braak, who owns the Tikki Boatshed and Marina, but he still works there, as well as doing commercial work locally and in the Philippines. Today was a scorcher - localised sunburn despite all precautions. Much better than last time (4/11/88) and same fish - groper (which didn't get a feed out of us), morays, a lionfish (hiding in a crevice), scalyfin, mado, stripey, bullseyes and sea carp. The Thai restaurant has now closed (pity) so we laid on a seafood barbecue for Lianne and Scott (plus Mitchell and Tracy) at Tuncurry. Good day. (No significant current even though 2 hours after slack, but strong wave action.)	BC valve stuck open again, letting all the air escape - a very unpleasant situation. Bought silicone spray in an attempt to cure the problem.
412	14 Jul 1990	Auliston Point	Loch Sunart	Scottish West Coast	Scotland			33	22	22	Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries		First dive of the EUSAC 1990 St Kilda Trip. Very unusual conditions - absolutely flat calm, hazy and warm. The site is very like Calve Island cliffs - a rocky slope, followed by a vertical drop-off to 36m. Plenty of Devonshire cup coral, tubeworms, dead men's fingers and seasquirts. 'Jean de la Lune' (skippered by John Muir) is very comfortable and civilised.	Rollo's twinset (twin 55s) plus 20lbs lead. Weights rearranged so none are in the small of the back. Too light.
415	17 Jul 1990	Am Plastair	Soay	St Kilda	Scotland			42	18	18	Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries		Monday was spent sailing from Canna to St Kilda, arriving at sunset. This was our first dive on St Kilda. Dived on the Soay side of the stack. Dropped into the water under brooding cliffs with clouds swirling around their tops, and descended to the bottom at 40m Vis not too good, and water very green, but underwater life very pretty, with some anemones I hadn't seen before, with green centres and red tips to the tentacles. After dive - breakfast, a walk round the village, lunch and a climb to the south peak of Hirta, overlooking Dún. [4 stars for the setting and atmosphere, rather than the dive]
416	17 Jul 1990	Mina Stac	NE of Hirta	St Kilda	Scotland			23	32	32	Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries		Another atmospheric stack below dramatic cliffs. Good views of Boreray. Dropped down the cliff to a large archway with a rock in the middle. Good vis, compared to this morning. Continued drifting down-current over boulders covered with anemones. Found a whopper of a crab - left it in peace. Came upon Malc and Mary - gosh, our torches are bright these days. Surfaced to some boat-handling games. Plenty of puffins and fulmars.
418	18 Jul 1990	Seal Cave, Rubha Ghill Caves	E end of Hirta	St Kilda	Scotland			30	30	30	Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries		Sea now rougher so chose this site hopefully in the lee of the island. Dropped off near the cave and dived into it - it's the size of a large church. The floor was round boulders decreasing in size from 3 foot diameter at the entrance to football size further in. We swam some way in before turning round and following the cliff round to the south. Walls of jewel anemones, cup coral, crabs, pollack and a seal, which observed us from a distance. Found four crabs pulling an octopus apart.
425	22 Jul 1990	Oigh Sgeir Light	West of Rhum	Outer Hebrides	Scotland			25	45	45	Iain Hosking, Graham Russell		Oigh Sgeir is a flattish lump of basalt west of Rhum. Conditions absolutely perfect - the sea glassy calm, the sky blue with unlimited surface vis. We saw a panorama of the entire Outer Hebrides, from the Butt of Lewis to Barra Head. After some bowsprit-jumping Graham and I descended down a cliff of basalt pillars with an overhang at the top. A short meeting of the EUSAC headstanders was followed by a plowter along the boulder slope looking at sea cucumbers. Came upon Andy and Iain Fairbrother, then Adrian who was menaced by a crab claw on the end of a stick. Jewel anemones, nudibranchs, fish. Spent a long time watching fish feed off a sea urchin. Hilarious dive.
434	17 Nov 1990	Coolooli	Long Reef	Sydney	Australia			49	20	46	Iain Hosking, Graham Russell		One of the best wreck dives ever, reminiscent of Scapa Flow. Up at 5am, left at 5.45, at Palm Beach 6.30, boat left 7, in the water at 8am. Keen. Wreck lies on its starboard side. We swam straight through the middle - out at the bows, past the buckets, then back over the deck, along to the stern and back. Beautiful inside - very accessible, and full of fish, mainly bullseyes, but some leatherjackets, morwong, sea perch, sea scorpions etc. Inside engine room - generators are still there. Other divers - Martin, Graham, John, Adam, Sarah and Sarah. (One of the Sarahs is from Scoutscroft, Eyemouth.)	2 x 63 cu ft tanks with 2 DVs, 28lb shot belt. Just right.
436	8 Dec 1990	Bombo	Wollongong	Sydney	Australia			32	29	29	Iain Hosking, Martin Zolfel		This was another 5am wakey wakey job. Martin drove us down, and we used the boat of a couple of blokes he knows. Sea was pretty calm, but on a very strong swell, and the other group of divers had to abort their dive when one of them became sick. We dropped down the anchor line to the stern, and had a look through the engine room (full of nannegai) then swam through to the port side, up the wreck and in again at the forward swim-through. Here we surprised a lovely big cuttlefish 1.5 feet long, with frilly tentacles, orange and red. We also surprised a moray eel when my weightbelt fell off. Vis not too good, but a very enjoyable dive.	Hot
439	19 Dec 1990	One Mile Gutter		Forster	Australia			11	74	74	Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries		Very shallow dive, so very relaxed. Swam up and down the gutter and out over the sand. Just as many fish as this morning, but a different selection, generally smaller. Many boxfish, a puffer fish, shoals of mado, bullseyes, yellowtail, stripey and some gropers. The mado were chasing off the scalyfin. A long wrasse took a bite out of my finger. Highlights were the eagle rays (2 mating) and a shoal of squid, looking like pelagic fish. Also cuttlefish, a wobbegong, with shrimps on its head. Porcupine fish.	Wetsuit - not cold.
450	16 Mar 1991	Dee Why	Long Reef	Sydney	Australia			48	17	39	Iain Hosking, Martin Zolfel		Slept in! Should have been up at 4.30 am, at Martin's at 5.30, Long Reef by 7. Instead I slept in till 5.30, then drove hell for leather direct to Dee Why. Arrived dead on 7, had the fastest kit-up in history. Beautiful weather, short boat trip, clear water. Wreck is upright and intact, but the wooden deck has gone. Swam down to the bow/stern (it's a double-ended ship) and into the boiler room - 4 huge boilers. Fish life - yellowtail, kingfish, wrasse, mado. (Out on Herb Adams' boat 'Venturer'.)
451	31 Mar 1991	Birchgrove Park	Avalon	Sydney	Australia			50	15	40	Iain Hosking, Martin Zolfel		The 'Birchgrove Park' seems to be one of those wrecks that people speak of in hushed tones. When it came to it, it seemed too easy - Herb Adams found it with no trouble, the sun was out, the water calm, all equipment worked fine, the visibility was good. The wreck lies on its port side, and is broken up at the forward end of the boiler. The prop (ferrous) is still there, and it's possible to penetrate inside. But watch out for nets.
455	23 Jun 1991	Gorgonia Wall	Point Perpendicular	Jervis Bay	Australia			36	16	26	Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries		Not The Arch, unfortunately, but this was an impressive enough site - a vertical wall beside a sandy 'street'; looked like a building. In the horizontal crevices were fish, a small cuttlefish and some very pretty starfish (like birthday cakes, or colour blindness tests). At the end of the street was a blue devil fish - beautiful colours. At this point Cathy was obviously very relaxed because she was all for continuing through a gully but it was time to go. Water much calmer today, and much clearer.
456	23 Jun 1991	The Docks	NW of Point Perpendicular	Jervis Bay	Australia			20	39	39	Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries, Maria Branson		This was probably the best dive of the weekend. Must have been a different part of the site from last time, because the scenery was much more impressive, with several swim-throughs. Started out by heading under a huge toblerone-shaped boulder. Underneath was a 1 foot puffer fish, and then, as it narrowed down, a Port Jackson shark, which pushed its way out past me. Then it was in and out of several caves, with beautiful gorgonia and squidgies. After squeezing through one swimthrough I looked back to see Cathy follow and Maria get stuck. In one cave I came face to face with a very large wobby. Just for good measure we found a 2 foot long cuttlefish. Perfect dive.
459	7 Aug 1991	The Caves		Holmes Reef	Australia			21	20	40	Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries		Beautifully clear. Very effortless drift beside and above the reef. Lovely pastel coral shades - green, blue, pink, yellow - and a heap of fish. The clown triggerfish stood out, and some fish were beautiful combinations of silver, pink, blue, purple but I can't yet identify them. Nice blue and yellow tubeworms too. Quite a fin back to the boat at the end of the dive.	New wet suit. 20lbs weight.
460	7 Aug 1991	The Twins		Holmes Reef	Australia			13	38	38	Iain Hosking, Garth O'Friel		Shallow plowter around a couple of bommies with Garth and Tracy. Heaps of fish, including yellow goatfish, butterflyfish, blue-spotted fantail stingray, black-backed butterflyfish, moorish idol, surgeonfish, damselfish, fire dartfish and attractive coral. Meanwhile Cathy was trying out her navigation skills with the compass for the PADI Advanced Diver qualification.	New wet suit. 20lbs weight.
461	7 Aug 1991	The Twins		Holmes Reef	Australia			15	33	33	Iain Hosking, Simon Caleri		Night dive, buddied up with Simon (from London) - Garth and Tracy following. Very atmospheric - the boat lights illuminating the sandy seabed like studio lights. Extremely clear water meant that the UK600 was overkill for this dive. Highlights were the sleeping turtle (2 foot long) and the parrotfish within its mucous membrane. Also found other fish, asleep and awake, and hermit crabs, shrimps and a worm with a retractile tentacle.	New wet suit. 20lbs weight.
464	8 Aug 1991	Viking Bommie		Holmes Reef	Australia			17	33	33	Iain Hosking, Catherine Mullery, Cathy Humphries		Had a preview of this site by snorkelling round it, with the Kodak disposable u/w camera. Lovely. Used the Fuji disposable in a housing on this dive. Nice clams, parrotfish, butterflyfish and coral. Bommie is so small you can swim round and round it on one dive, which is what we did. Main oddity: garden eels, all round the bommie.	New wet suit. 20lbs weight.
466	8 Aug 1991	Nonnkina Bommie		Holmes Reef	Australia			18	50	50	Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries		Back to the site of the first dive of the trip. 6pm and the light is going, but there's still a lot of activity. This time we were much more attuned to the Reef and knew what we were looking for. The lemon damsels look lovely against the blue of the sea floor. We saw a lionfish, several clams, clown triggerfish and a barracuda, and swam through an arch decorated with large yellow gorgonians. After circling the bommie two or three times we ended up on top, where fish darted around among pastel patches of living coral. Surfaced just as the sun was setting.	New wet suit. 20lbs weight.
468	15 Aug 1991	Yorky's Patches	South-west of Hastings Reef	Great Barrier Reef	Australia			19	40	40	Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries		Dived off 'Sea Trek', a brand new boat (this is its 22nd day on the Reef). Weather - sunny, windy (force 3-4). Sea - blue with white horses. Fairly secluded spot 1.5 hours from Cairns. Visibility - pretty poor - 30-40 feet. But lovely coral - staghorn, brain etc. Very colourful. Not so many fish as at Holmes Reef, but all very active - nibbling algae and so on. Saw a new type of clownfish (single thin white stripe) and black and white puffer fish. Relaxed dive.	New wet suit. 20lbs weight.
469	15 Aug 1991	Michaelmas Cay		Great Barrier Reef	Australia			14	40	40	Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries		Second dive from 'Sea Trek'. Slightly more sheltered area behind the reef. Better visibility (40-50 feet) and more fish life - coral trout, surgeonfish, butterflyfish, bannerfish, yellowtail. Also black coral in long, twisted shapes. Saw a giant clam more than one metre across.	New wet suit. 20lbs weight.
471	2 Nov 1991	The Tubes		Jervis Bay	Australia			24	30	36	Iain Hosking, Sarah McCracken, Steve Harris		Knocked this morning's dive into a cocked hat. Only three divers in the boat, in fact in the whole of Jervis Bay. Much sunnier out at Point Perpendicular. Dolphins rode the bow wave on the way out. That was the first surprise - then we saw a scalyfin chasing a stingray, a weedy sea dragon (spotted by Steve), a garden of sea-tulips, big sea-scorpions, a cuttlefish, a blue devil fish and a moray eel. Our navigation was perfect - down a sandy slope, then left through the tulip garden, up to an area of huge jumbled boulders, then back at 5m through all these house-sized boulders, with sunlight streaming past us. Sarah and I are now level pegging in dives - 471 each.	Valve dismantled and lubricated - now fixed.
483	29 Jan 1995	Akka	The Gantocks	Clyde	Scotland			25	25	28	Iain Hosking, Malcolm Gauld		A cold, dark, wet morning in Edinburgh turned to a beautiful day on the Clyde, calm, clear and cold. Even Dunoon looked lovely. Bacon rolls and potato scones at Port Glasgow. Found the wreck with no trouble. Freezing cold going down the line. Water green but clear. The wreck is big, with plenty of swimthroughs. Covered in plumose anemones and plenty of crabs. Some fish. Baked potatoes afterwards - lovely.	Geoff's dry suit and woolly bear + stab jacket + valve. 100 cu ft steel tank + various other borrowed bits and pieces. Dived from Graham and Mary's boat. Graham found a ship's log. (This looks like an artillery shell with canted fins It spins around when towed behind the ship, and the number of revolutions in a given time interval yields the speed.).
485	3 Dec 1995	Barron's Hut	off Port Hacking	Sydney	Australia			26	32	35	Iain Hosking, Martin Zolfel, Sarah McCracken, Steve Harris		Beautiful morning - warm and sunny. Left Dolan's Bay Wharf at 10am and it was a short, comfortable trip on Max's boat Sea Tamer II to the site. Kitted up quickly and dropped in. My buddy was Martin but we dived in a loose foursome with Sarah and Steve (Sarah on her first dive since June, Steve on his first since February). Reasonable vis, 30 feet or more, and warm until we hit a distinct thermocline at 22m. There was a real gin & tonic effect where the warm current from the north hit the cool southern water. Martin led us straight to the cave & chimney, where we entered in the cool water and emerged a few metres up in the warm layer. We then covered the whole site, including several swim-throughs. One contained a moray eel under a rock, which appeared to be moving in on my finger. Sarah also saw what might have been a baby wobbegong in this area. There were plenty of fish, including several varieties of leatherjacket (including one with a big yellow spot on its side), scalyfin (frequently in energetic combat), old wives, yellowtail, blue groper and an eastern blue devil with vivid blue markings. We had time to see several nudibranchs too, including the common Bennets Hypselodoris (wine-red dots), Red-lined Flabellina (purple fronds) and Variable Aphelodoris (bird poo). The cup coral were also very pretty. After a precautionary stop (because we were on the limit of decompression according to Mr Aladin) we surfaced to sun, soup, salami and cheese & bacon rolls. Delicious. Still $30, plus a $10 contribution to Martin for petrol. Home by 2pm.	Dry suit, 87, Arctic etc. Found the leak as soon as I put my head under the water - a 1-inch tear in my neck seal which meant that the dry suit functioned more as a wet suit. I followed the progress of the water throughout the dive - down my neck, then down my chest, then arms and finally, on the ascent, into my boots.
487	5 Apr 1996	Barron's Hut	off Port Hacking	Sydney	Australia			28	29	33	Iain Hosking, Martin Zolfel		Out with Max again. Clear, sunny day. Water clear, blue and not choppy, but on a 1.5 metre swell. This made it difficult to dive close to the rocks, so we chose Barron's Hut again. I was quite happy with the choice, and also with the clear water as we descended. We saw 6-spined leatherjacket straight away (with the big yellow spot on the side) then a large (2-3 foot) cuttlefish, out in the open and quite relaxed. Going through the chimney it was nice to have good visibility for a change (because only Martin was ahead of me and he took care not to kick up the silt). After this we swam over the top of the rock (covered in sponges with the occasional nudibranch and Sergeant Baker) to the slab-sided gully. We were followed here by the blue groper but though they might be used to getting a feed from others they weren't getting one from us. In fact we saw no live sea urchins on the entire dive. We found another, smaller cuttlefish in a cave and watched him go through a range of colour changes. Other life: nudibranchs, basket star, crimson biscuit star, pretty lemon-yellow/blue fish. Began our ascent on the no-decompression limit and did a 1 minute stop at 3m.	Wet suit. Warm throughout the dive.
488	7 Jul 1996	The Balcony	off Royal National Park	Sydney	Australia			17	44	46	Iain Hosking, John Arkwright		Up at 5am - cold (but not too cold) and dark. Left Valley Heights at 6am and arrived at Port Hacking at 7. Beautiful day - hardly a cloud in the sky. Sea choppy but only a slight swell. I was with Andrew Kennedy and Martin but John didn't have a buddy so I joined him. I jumped into the water first and had a bit of a shock with the cold water, and a reg that I don't think was performing up to scratch, so I hung on to the boat until my breathing had settled down to normal. We descended and turned left (south). Straightaway we saw a Port Jackson shark which didn't seem too bothered by us, probably because the viz was so good. Above us there was a shoal of yellowtail and beside us was a swim-through, and this set the tone for the dive. We covered a lot of ground, always in and out of overhangs, tunnels and caverns. with some lovely light effects so that I wished I'd brought the underwater (disposable) camera with me (that we bought in 1991 for the white-water rafting at Cairns). Always there were fish - bullseyes, leatherjacket, mado, old wives, blue groper, rock cod, sergeant major, scalyfin, eastern blue devil, a coral trout (or code? - beige with blue spots), wrasse, morwong and blennies. Although we were quite shallow for most of the dive (around 10m) the wave action was almost non-existent, and a fingertip was enough to hold on. The water was surprisingly warm, and I only felt chilly after 35 minutes or so. A nice, relaxed dive. (We would have been home by 12 if it weren't for the detour to Drummoyne for Andrew to return his kit.)	Wet suit, 82, Arctic. No torch - all u/s due to flooding. Reg probably needs a service.
492	25 Apr 1997	Fish Reef	off Port Hacking	Sydney	Australia			28	22	26	Iain Hosking, Martin Zolfel		ANZAC Day dive, and at 6 months between dives I won't make 500 by the year 2000. Today was overcast, and the swell was huge, but the visibility was excellent. The water was clear and blue and as we descended the bubbles of the first pair down could be seen all the way from the bottom to the surface. We swam in a clockwise direction around the reef, past shoals of pomfret under overhangs, impressive gorgonians, sponges (with plenty of nudibranchs), groper, leatherjacket, sergeant baker etc. I was just thinking that a cuttlefish would complete the dive when I turned a corner and saw one. It was about 14 inches long, and I hovered there for ages watching the colours change in waves and spots. Suddenly I saw a huge shadow out of the corner of my eye and jumped (making Martin laugh). It was a huge black stingray, 4 to 5 feet across and at least as long. It sailed past like a battleship, completely indifferent to me. It certainly made the dive worthwhile, even when after unkitting in the boat I had to jump back into the water and lost my breakfast. The seas were huge, especially from the point of view of a head floating at water level. Good food and company rounded off the dive well, and it's still only $30.	First dive following the repair. It could more accurately be described as a damp suit.
493	16 Aug 1997	Barron's Hut	off Port Hacking	Sydney	Australia			27	30	30	Iain Hosking, Martin Zolfel		8am departure from wharf. Up at 5am - cold & frosty. Only 3 on the boat - Martin and I, and Richard. Sunny, little swell. Vis OK, not great, but very pleasant to swim through the cave and chimney with no silt. Lots of Port Jacksons, a ray, leatherjacket, morwong. Saw a scalyfin chasing a Port Jackson. Mounds of grub afterwards.	Cathy's tank - too light, so damp. Add an extra 3lbs for my steel tank, 6lbs for an aluminium one.
494	13 Sep 1997	Seal Colony	Steamers Beach	Jervis Bay	Australia			30	20	24	Iain Hosking, Andrew Kennedy		Liveaboard trip on board "Ocean Trek". Long trip out in a southerly swell (I slept there and back). Kitted up quickly, jumped in and swam down the anchor line to a sandy seabed. No seals to be seen at first. We swam shorewards and the first seal appeared as we hit the rocks. We were soon surrounded by 6-8, which swam all around us with graceful ease. As quickly as they appeared they vanished again, but it wasn't long till a solitary seal reappeared. He stayed very close, practically twining himself around me. He didn't take his eyes off us, and big, round beautiful eyes they were. At the end of the dive he was rejoined by his family, including one very big seal with a young one beside her (I'm assuming it was a mother), and they stayed with us through the deco stop.	82 cu ft tank. Damp but not cold.
499	14 Sep 1997	Shark Rock	N. side of the Bay	Jervis Bay	Australia			15	39	40	Iain Hosking, Andrew Kennedy		Last dive of the trip (after missing the previous dive due to the tank shoulder strap pulling the drysuit zip open 6"). Jumped off the boat and swam towards the rock. Descended to 15m and saw the square shape of the rock loom up in front. Immediately we saw why it was called Shark Rock as a grey nurse cruised along the foot of the rock, 3 smaller fish keeping close formation beside it. We turned left and contoured at 14m, past rock face and jumbled boulders, with a sandy bottom below. At 100 bar we turned back, and within a minute saw a cuttlefish, exactly the same colour as the weed. We watched one another for a minute and then he streamlined himself and cruised off into the depths. A little further along a glimpse of brown tail revealed a large wobbegong in a cave. At 50 bar we came up to 5m and spent a couple of minutes there before swimming back to the boat. I've just done more dives in 2 days than I normally do in a year.	Dry suit dry again, and the woolly bear warm (it spent a couple of hours in the dryer).
501	8 May 1999	The Apartments	Long Reef, Collaroy	Sydney	Australia			22	38	40	Iain Hosking, Andrew Kennedy, Ramon ?		Good (but not brilliant) conditions - sea calm, air temp mild, vis good. High 10/10 cloud so no sun on the dive. 7 divers on the boat so not too crowded. We were first down, and swam first anticlockwise round the bommie, then through the middle (nice swim-through), finally clockwise to the line. Good big shoals of yellowtail (or pomfret?) and nannegai, plus the usual denizens: morwong, maori wrasse, blue groper, goatfish, stripey, old wives, sergeant baker. A large (2m) wobbegong and a cuttlefish were memorable, but best was hanging motionless in the middle of a big shoal of silvery yellowtail, feeling thousands of eyes on us.	Dry suit dry and warm at last. Added an extra 8lb weight belt to the 21lb shot belt, making 29lbs altogether. After the dive, changed the shot belt buckle to a metal one (more secure). No torch - couldn't find it. Borrowed aluminium tank - 72 cu ft?
507	23 Apr 2000	Idol Bay		Forster	Australia			10	42	44	Iain Hosking, Andrew Kennedy		A shallow second dive in a fishy paradise, made more challenging by strong wave action. Lots of juvenile warm water fish including spotted box fish (tiny one, like a pea) and lovely colourful blue fish with yellow tails. Groper, toadfish, pipefish, butterflyfish, leatherjacket, cowfish, fiddler ray, shovel-nosed ray, nannegai, cup coral, wrasse. Saw one wrasse slurp up a small school fish while it was distracted by a heavier swell than usual.	own, except hired tank (85 cu.ft. steel). No lifejacket - very comfortable without it.
509	24 Apr 2000	Latitude Rock		Forster	Australia			12		43	Iain Hosking, Andrew Kennedy		Not quite as interesting as Idol Bay yesterday, but similar, with lots of gullies, rock outcrops and sandy patches, and strong wave action. Saw porcupionefish (globefish) but no spotted boxfish. Couple of moray, groper and nudibranchs. The variety still puts Sydney in the shade.	own. Dry suit very wet. Sopping, in fact.
510	20 May 2000	Julian Rocks		Byron Bay	Australia			18		30	Iain Hosking, Andrew Kennedy		Cod Hole. Organised through Sundive. Left ~8.30am in old beat-up Landcruiser, which launches the boat by reversing at speed into the water and stopping suddenly. Immediate impression in the water and looking down was blue water and enormous visibility, then masses of fish, beginning with a... [2 yrs later]...a WHAT? I suspect I was not totally sober when writing this up. Nor am I now, but Andrew wrote that we saw leopard sharks, scorpionfish, clownfish, old wives, morwongs, crested morwongs, wobbegongs, angelfish, snapper, cod, jewfish, goatfish, orange basset and an eagle ray. I see no reason to argue.	wet suit
511	20 May 2000	Julian Rocks		Byron Bay	Australia			15		45	Iain Hosking, Andrew Kennedy		The Needles and Hugo's Trench. Also written up 2+ years later. Andrew wrote that a guide (an English lady, as I remember) took us all over the place, seeing turtles, huge lobster, coral prawn, trevally, trumpetfish and lovely coral. Had a beer at the shop after the dive, then a couple at the B&B, then a few while waiting for Trish, then many, many more. Ended up dancing at a nightclub with English backpackers half our age. Walked back from a party about 5.30am. Very sore heads next day [Ritz Rail trip]	wet suit
512	9 Jun 2002	The Balcony	off Royal National Park	Sydney	Australia			18		45	Iain Hosking, Martin Zolfel		5.30am wakey wakey, shower, breakfast, picked up by Martin at 8am. Thin crescent moon in a night sky. First dive in over 2 years. Dry suit looking untrustworthy, but warm enough in wet suit (but very hard to put on). Blue skies, mild conditions, sea calm with a 1m swell. Dived with Martin - leisurely fin around, over and under huge boulders, surrounded by bullseyes, yellowtail, stripey, blennies, leatherjacket, sergeant bakers, rock cod, old wives and attendant blue groper which even followed us through the swimthroughs. Highlight was a big cuttlefish which went through the full repertoire of colour changes. Other divers: Andrew and Andrew, David, Cathy, Carol, Olivia and others. Good food as usual. $40.	wet suit, 82 (with 2-year old air), ~ 18lbs lead
514	21 Sep 2002	The Docks	NW of Point Perpendicular	Jervis Bay	Australia			20	35	38	Iain Hosking, Andrew Kennedy, Martin Zolfel		NE of previous spot. Started with squeezing into a cold, wet wetsuit (first time in 11 years). Swam to the point on compass bearing and Martin immediately saw another weedy sea dragon. It allowed us to get right up close to it - fascinating. Then Andrew found a numbfish, swimming free. He didn't touch it. We enjoyed the sunshine in the shallower depths, and navigated on a reciprocal bearing back to the boat. Fish: boarfish, scalyfin, wrasse, etc as this morning's dive. A pair of moray eels in the one hole, crimson-banded wrasse, senator wrasse.	Wet suit, Arctic.
516	21 Sep 2002	Huskisson Pier		Jervis Bay	Australia			4	30	30	Iain Hosking		Solo night dive (Andreew and Martin wimped out) from the boat up the creek and back. Clear water, several octopus, all sizes from 4" to 2'. No less than 12 globefish (Diodon nicthemerus). Several estuary catfish (Cnidoglanis macrocephalus) with poisonous spines, leatherjacket inc toothbrush (Acanthaluteres vittiger). Anglers would be happy with the 11 luderick (blackfish) under the pier. I didn't write this in the logbook, but I do remember wondering whether sharks liked this area at night.	Wet suit, Arctic
525	20 Jul 2008	Cape Solander	Round from Inscription Point, Kurnell	Sydney	Australia			11		21	Iain Hosking, Cameron Hosking		Cameron drove down, via Scuba Warehouse in Parramatta, where I met Judith for the first time in 20 years. Late start, made later by Cameron's buoyancy problem. Found one of the bags of weight had come loose. Retraced our steps and found it. Carried on. Patience rewarded when Cameron grabbed my ankle and pointed out a weedy sea dragon. Rushed back - gates close at 5.30pm. Water 17°C according to Manly Hydraulic Laboratories. Weather - overcast. Sea fairly calm.	Wet suit, 82 cu ft. Too much weight! No hood.
534	7 Jun 2010	Prawn trawler	Kihei/Weilia	Hawaii	USA			20	48	50	Iain Hosking, Bob Britton		On the way back Ray asked us what we wanted to do for a second dive. I said "turtles", someone else said "wreck" and we combined both with a prawn trawler scuttled as part of an artificial reef (along wit hcar tyres in frames). Found one turtle inside the wreck - another one was waiting for us back at the line. Notable others in amongst the butterflyfish, tang and pennant fish were trumpet fish in various colours.	3mm one-piece wetsuit, ~12lbs lead, hired tank, reg and BC. Own mask and fins, snorkel, torch, boots and computer.
535	10 Jun 2010	Eel gardens	off Kona Airport	Hawaii	USA			25		50	Iain Hosking		Preparatory dive for planned night dive with mantas. Eel gardens first - they stick up from the sandy bottom feeding on plankton. Then coral reef (well, coral on volcanic boulders) with butterflyfish, pennant fish, boxfish, eels, trumpet fish; the usual suspects. Also a divided flatworm. Watched a blue and yellow wrasse operate its cleaning station for quite a while. Finished with half a tank of air because the damaged Aladin was overreading depth and time.	Kona Honu Divers' gear: wetsuit, Cressisub slip-on fins, BC, reg. Own mask, torch and (now dead) Aladin. It didn't like going up Mauna Kea, even in a pressure-proof capsule.
536	10 Jun 2010	Kona Airport	off Kona Airport	Hawaii	USA			20		50	Iain Hosking		Not the night dive with mantas. Lights set up, circle of divers sitting on the seabed with torches pointing upwards, an atmosphere of expectation. Above us were columns of silvery fish, and winding its way around us was Frank the Eel. But no plankton worth speaking of, so no mantas. Disappointing is an understatement. But watched an eel hunting (quite creepy, especially if you're a small reef fish), crabs and an octopus. Rated 4 stars for its inherent value as a pleasant night dive. Deck crew: Bo. Other divers: Father and son from Utah; single guy from Austria; another father and 2 sons.	Kona Honu Divers' gear: wetsuit, Cressisub slip-on fins, BC, reg, torch. Own mask and second torch.
545	4 Oct 2015	The Pinnacles, Forster		Forster	Australia			37	24	27	Iain Hosking, Nick Heiniger		Pretty deep for a first dive following a 6-month layoff. Took the GoPro for its first underwater outing (having checked it's rated to 40m). Clear, blue water, plenty of fish life including mado, bullseyes, cod, wrasse and a large male seahorse (long, like a sea dragon) carying eggs. Pity the SD card was full by that stage :-/. Seasick afterwards. But also saw humpback whales breaching, so well worth it. Nick from Forster Dive Centre recommends the pink Travacalm (I think).	Wet suit, hired aluminium tank, BC, 24 lbs. The wet suit (from 1991) was inflexible and restrictive, particularly on initial entry into the water.
546	4 Oct 2015	Bennetts Head Bommie	Underneath Bennetts Head Lookout	Forster	Australia			9	32	32	Iain Hosking, Nick Heiniger		Relaxing second dive around the bommie, and into the little cave in the middle. Plenty of fish life including an eagle ray and a Port Jackson shark looking very relaxed lying on top of a wobbegong. Heard whales singing throughout the dive; rather magical. Saw them on the surface too, along with a pair of dolphins.	Wet suit, hired aluminium tank, BC, 24 lbs
553	2 Jan 2017	The Pinnacles, Forster		Forster	Australia			37	20	26	Nick Heiniger, Iain Hosking		Didn't intend a solo dive but that's how it worked out. Overcast and dark. Visibility terrible down to 30m, then cleared a little, but very dark. Highlight was two grey nurse sharks in a gutter. Very glad to find the line again for the ascent	Fourth Element dry suit, steel tank, Arctic, 27 lbs
554	2 Jan 2017	Latitude Rock		Forster	Australia			19	30	36	Nick Heiniger, Karl Brindell, Iain Hosking		Dived with Karl Brindell. Notable for lionfish, turtle and moray eel. Water very green.	Fourth Element dry suit, steel tank, Arctic, 27 lbs
562	26 Jan 2019	Looking Glass	Broughton Island	Nelson Bay	Australia			17	36	39	Iain Hosking		Didn't write this up at the time but the videos tell the story. Grey nurse sharks galore.	Fourth Element dry suit, Oceanic Chute 2, 10 litre tank. 29lbs (+ 4lb in BCD)
565	30 Dec 2020	Latitude Rock		Forster	Australia			10	51	52	Iain Hosking		Diving organised through Dive Forster; Ron Hunter, daughter Gabby and Keith who shares the leading of the dives. Boat was the "Avanti", a twin-engined catamaran with 4 exits, 2 boarding ladders and a toilet. I visited the shop on Sunday, where Ron said Wednesday looked like the first day with good conditions; the wind changing to southerlies which would clear the water somewhat. The forecast had rain, but it turned out to be a beautiful day for diving, sunny and calm. The sea was flat except for a long, lazy swell. There were around 10 divers all up. After a briefing I was paired up with David, from Chester in the UK, but as I jumped in without my weightbelts I joined the second group. Ron and Keith led us to a gutter where grey nurse sharks swam lazily up and down beside us while we lurked in the kelp. The first was a male (white claspers behind its pelvic fin), which looked huge, and the other two looked like females. They seemed so close we could reach out and touch them. Return to the line was leisurely, with time to take in all the other sea life; gropers, scalyfin, mado, blennies, eastern blue devil; the usual suspects. We had a distant view of an eagle ray swimming away from us. Visibility was average; perhaps 10m, but for my first dive at Forster since October 2017 this was very pleasant, and rates 4 stars.	Fourth Element dry suit, Oceanic Chute 2, 12 litre tank. 29lbs
566	30 Dec 2020	Latitude Rock		Forster	Australia			12	41	42	Iain Hosking		For the second dive we remained moored at the same spot, but visited a different part of the site. Here there was a rock amphitheatre, where the grey nurse sharks swam against a black cliff, with a shoal of mado above for visual effect. Pity I left my GoPro at home. One female swam out of the amphitheatre to the left and continued anticlockwise while I turned to watch. As for the first dive, she seemed close enough to touch, and I could see the texture of her skin, the small eyes (which were fixed in me) and the rows of teeth. She continued off into the distance, but before she disappeared I was witness to her gulping down a small fish, which I haven't seen before. The rest of the dive was also interesting, with a couple of wobbegongs, the usual other fish and two different types of nudibranchs; one pale blue with purple spots and the other creamy white with a dark brown of black frill. As for the previous dive this rates 4 stars because of the sharks and good conditions. Good to have Forster back in play. Cost for the two dives was $130, and I filled my two tanks afterwards for $24.	Fourth Element dry suit, Oceanic Chute 2, 10 litre tank. 29lbs
574	2 Jan 2023	Latitude Rock		Forster	Australia			12	49	49	Iain Hosking, James Hagarty		The second dive made up for the first. Headed inshore to Latitude Rock in search of sharks, snd found them plus heaps of other fish. Strong wave action, but nothing we couldn't swim against. Filmed a large puffer fish in a cave, and Keith (dive leader) feeding a blue groper with a sea urchin. Other divers: Harriet (Hattie) from Sydney's Underwater Research Group, SAndrew, Peter, Nick, Charlie (Marine Science graduate and trainee divemaster) and James.	Fourth Element dry suit, Oceanic Chute 2, 12 litre tank. 29lbs. New Fourth Element undersuit (jacket & pants)
579	29 Dec 2023	Hayden's Rock	off Forster Main Beach	Forster	Australia			10	56	57			A good, relaxing dive to make up for the horrible non-dives on 30 September. Warm day so chose to use the new wet suit. Group led by Jimmy from Dive Forster, with James bringing up the rear. Both easy to identify with green shirts over their wet suits. Decent visibility and plenty of grey nurse sharks.	New Scubapro wet suit, Oceanic Chute 2, 12 litre tank (filled to 250 bar). 18 lb weight belt (plus weights in BC). Go Pro 5. Green C-cell torch. New Fourth Element fins.