Diving

Cathy's first dive. She survived the cold, dark, crowds, traffic, Jasper, mud, me, flooding suit and buoyant fins, to see sea anemones, flatfish, crabs, clabby doos, sea cucumbers and join the ranks of EUSAC! Bravo!

345

9 May 1987

Breda

Benderloch

Oban

Private trip to Oban, for the select few - Cathy, Sarah, Jackie and me, One car, old boat and tents (economy drive). Massive disorganisation meant launching at 3pm. Launched from North Connel. Exhilarating boat trip out to the Breda, planing over white horses. Dived from bow to stern - plenty of feather duster worms, dead men's fingers and plumose anemones.

349

17 May 1987

Doris

Skye

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.

350

17 May 1987

Meanish Pier

Skye

The Not The Chadwick (engine failed) so we did a night dive to look for scallops. No scallops but squat lobsters, fish, a shrimp and phosphorescence. Cooking chickens failed so no tea. The Curse strikes again. Crawford had a custard shampoo, Snash a margarine one. Yuk.

357

27 Jun 1987

Loch Ailort

North-west Scotland

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.

360

2 Aug 1987

Fidra

North Berwick

Forth

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.

361

9 Aug 1987

Soyea Island

Lochinver, Sutherland

North-west Scotland

Last dive in Scotland for a while. Jim Crooks looked after us well, filling our tanks for £1 and charging £5 for a dive from his very nippy little boat "Osprey" which is about the size of a mini with twin 50hp Yamaha outboards. The water was clear as crystal, and the seals were correspondingly bold - swimming right up to us before turning with a flick of the fins and disappearing behind rocks and kelp. Also interesting sponges, crabs, fish and dead men's fingers. Excellent meal in the pub - squid rings in garlic and scampi for about £1.50 each. Lovely!

362

19 Mar 1988

Lake Jindabyne

The flooded town of Jindabyne

Snowy Mountains

The weekend's diving was organised by out local dive shop, Scuba Warehouse, and it included accommodation in caravans, water skiing and heavy drinking. Cathy and I survived this unusual introduction to Australian diving with only minor heatstroke. Visibility so-so, water green. Submerged trees were the highlight of this dive but we also found the remains of a house and a bottle dump. Altitude was 300m so the correction is ¼ of measured depth. In practice the dive ended due to a severe case of buoyancy.

24lbs lead, hired BCD

363

20 Mar 1988

Lake Jindabyne

The flooded town of Jindabyne

Snowy Mountains

While others accepted a penalty due to the previous night's drinking (Arriving late means you're an 'F' diver; drinking late means you're a 'B' diver...) we adopted a simpler approach by using RNPL tables as usual. This dive was much better than the previous day's. We saw more: the foundations of a house, with fence, doorway, gate and windows; a veritable forest of trees below the thermocline (visible as a light line in the water); bottles; a cow bone; freshwater sponges and waterweed. After the dive we headed west through Kosciusko National Park to Albury. A good weekend.

24lbs lead, hired BCD.

366

19 Sep 1988

Julian Rocks

Byron Bay

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

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

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)

370

5 Nov 1988

The Pinnacles, Forster

Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries, Sarah McCracken

Overcast day - almost Scottish (but warmer). The Pinnacles is supposed to be a shark-infested spot, and right enough, there was a large grey nurse there. Everyone saw him except Sarah and I. Fish - mados, morwong, blenny. Not so much life stuck to the rocks, but quite a few sea tulips, whatever they might be. Visibility infinitely better than yesterday, and less wave action. Very relaxing dive.

Wetsuit, BC

371

6 Nov 1988

Cape Hawke (north side)

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.)

383

28 Jan 1989

Shiprock

Port Hacking

Cathy's first dive since 6th November. Dived with Paul and Di (from Cathy's work). Late start - didn't get there till 10.30 (Vietnamese the night before). First encountered a fish trap (with attendant fisherman above - Paul had to explain how the line broke). Cathy found a largish octopus which gave her a fright when it tapped on her face mask with a tentacle. Found its little brother close by, trying to cover itself with rocks. Masses of fish life (porcupinefish, numerous leatherjackets, a school of old wives, senator wrasse, morwong, scalyfin, stripey and many more), nudibranchs and a few little shrimps. Strong current meant all the soft coral had the polyps out - very pretty. After the dive met a very keen diver in his car waiting for anyone else to turn up.

Rather hot in the dry suit.

384

14 Feb 1989

Muir Rock

Bicheno

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.

385

15 Feb 1989

Hairy Wall

Bicheno

Pissing with rain before, during and after dive. As usual in this country all jumped in and descended together. Not me, though - a last check revealed that my tank was empty. Back out, cursing. Saw a fairy penguin. Steve (not in our group) came up sick, so I relieved him of his tank and followed the bubbles to the others. Caught up with Mark and Cathy, but lost them again looking at seawhips covered in pretty pink anemones. Tony arrived and signalled that time was up, and that was it. Frustrating.

386

15 Feb 1989

K? reef

Bicheno

Very clear, very relaxed. Fish - long-snouted boarfish, toothbrush leatherjacket, bastard trumpeter (yes, that's its name), globe fish, banded morwong, butterfly perch and two sharks, which I thought at first were Port Jacksons, except that their heads were more shark-shaped. Very lazy - sleeping in a cave. Also saw cuttlefish. Cathy picked up several empty abalone shells. Very rich site. Crayfish on this dive, and all others - the dive centre didn't let their divers take them.

387

16 Feb 1989

The Castle

Bicheno

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.

388

16 Feb 1989

Split Rock

Bicheno

Pretty tame - kelp, rocks, small cliffs, sponges, abalone, a cray or two, senator wrasse. The sort of dive that would amaze anyone straight from Dunbar. We wandered through this garden of coloured sponges, picking up abalone shells no longer required by their owners. Vis -tremendous, and weather now improved.

389

17 Feb 1989

Paradise Reef

Bicheno

Should have been the 'Golden Bommies' but communications breakdown meant Cathy and I did our own thing. Strong current - we drifted at first then took shelter behind a wall. Saw a cowfish and an opened 'brain anemone' plus sea whips, otherwise life similar to other dives here. Cathy tore her wrist seal with one of her rings. Repaired over lunch.

390

17 Feb 1989

Alligator Rock

Bicheno

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.

393

18 Feb 1989

Bicheno Slip

Bicheno

Night dive. Well-prepared with 3 torches and a lightstick each, but it still wasn't enough. Followed the stone jetty out of the bay - Cathy found a large conger under the jetty. We also saw a number of cardinalfish, looking stunned in the torchlight. Leatherjackets also behaved strangely, allowing themselves to be handled. Still couldn't tell what kind they were. 3 kinds - brown overall, fawn with blue spots on the back and blue stripes on the face, and light brown with dark brown blotches (the dorsal fin folded into a groove it its head). Also saw an ornate cowfish which was completely unperturbed by us. The highlight was the seahorses which we found attached to the kelp. With some persuasion they would wrap their tail around a diver's finger. Unfortunately we struck a heap of problems at this point - Cathy was too buoyant (air in BC) so her fins were coming off. My torch (Birchley) ran down and Cathy's failed and I accidentally pulled her DV out. However, we navigated back safely, and even saw phosphorescence.

395

27 Aug 1989

Cape Solander

Round from Inscription Point, Kurnell

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)

396

3 Sep 1989

Fly Point

Nelson Bay

We're trying to dive more often now. Nelson Bay was said to be excellent for shore diving, so here we are. Up at 7.45 am (stayed in caravan at Anna Bay). Fly Point is a popular spot for the local dive schools. The site, in short, is unspectacular as far as geology is concerned, being a shallow slope to sand at 24m, but the fish life is comprehensive. We started with a family of cuttlefish, which changed from black and white stripes, through orange, to light sandy, then it was mado, wrasse, a hungry big groper, small moray eels, a wobbegong, rays and an octopus, which spread itself out very decoratively over the rocks and turned its body black and its legs sandy-coloured. Ran out of air too soon (Judith in Scuba Warehouse only filled my tank to 150 bar) and surfaced to find two boats racing one another between us and the shore. Nerve-wracking snorkel back to the exit. Probably not a site to repeat. (HW slack 10.20am. Current - appreciable)

Cathy now has her own tank - an 88 cu ft aluminium one. Her BC failed, though. I swapped my hose onto it underwater.)

399

8 Oct 1989

Camp Cove

East of Watson's Bay

New site at picnic area next to small (but very busy) beach. Car parking a matter of luck on a hot day like today (we were lucky). Description in Tom Byron's book (p15): lots of morays, plenty of colourful nudibranchs, some lion fish and a number of giant sea slugs. We saw no morays, no nudibranchs, one lion fish (tiny) but several cuttlefish - colour changes amazing as always. They change colour if you move your hand next to them. Fish - bullseyes, mado, stripey, blennies, sweep and the scalyfin, territorial as usual. Cathy found a cowrie. Good caves at the start of the dive, full of sponges. I had buoyancy problems because of using Cathy's tank - mine no longer fits the backpack, which is sick. Hence very wet.

New yoke. Cathy's tank, 28lbs.

400

14 Oct 1989

West Point

Pitt Water

Out on 'Jennifer' - a 40 foot concrete Hartley motor cruiser - with Cathy, Hayden and Andrea. Sheer luxury - beautiful weather, good company, champagne flowing. We dived on the remains of our air from the last dive, but at this depth it gave us a decent dive. Saw mado, blennies, senator wrasse, morwong, yellowfin, little trevally and a cowfish, plus nudibranchs and bullseyes under the overhangs. Nothing edible, but in the evening collected half a dozen buckets of oysters by snorkelling along the shore. These went down very ell with the duck, prawns and champers, to the sounds of whipbirds, friars and mopoke (owl).

BC, 28lbs.

402

22 Oct 1989

Cape Solander

Round from Inscription Point, Kurnell

Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries, Eleanor Mullally

Threesome with Cathy and Eleanor. Could certainly never have predicted that a year ago. I'm afraid it wasn't as good as last time. Good weather, but a considerable swell, making entry tricky and exit downright dangerous. We descended quickly to get some calm water (and peace and quiet - the shoreline was very busy). Vis good at first, but relatively murky at depth. Saw a big wrasse (or groper) then nothing much except scalyfin and goatfish. Sponges were good, though. Found a couple of small moray, then lost Eleanor due to buoyancy problems (hers). Swam back on the surface and lost one of Eleanor's fins in the swell. Fairly warm in the wet suit, but legs heavy.

BC, 28lbs.

403

3 Jan 1990

Spot A

Latitude Rock, Cape Hawke

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.

404

13 Jan 1990

Not the Yambacoona

Terrigal

8am start so drove up to Terrigal the night before and camped. Up with the lark and on the beach shortly after 7am. Already hot. Much hotter inside the drysuit. Descended along the anchor line to find Bruce Smith executing a circular search for the wreck. He didn't find it, so after milling around for a while we came up.

405

13 Jan 1990

Haven Sponge Gardens

Terrigal

Donned the wetsuit in an attempt to keep cool. BC inflation hose burst before the dive so reduced to mouth inflation. Had to dismantle and reassemble it on the dive before it would hold any air. Vis pretty poor. Saw boulders, sponges, scalyfin (many juveniles), wrasse, shrimp (cleaning station?) and a huge whelk-like thing.

406

3 Feb 1990

Guerrilla Bay

South of Bateman's Bay

Bateman's Bay

[No date or time recorded - see Cathy's logbook? Obviously somewhere between 20th January and 14th April.] In Cathy's words 'more like a swim than a dive.' Unexciting terrain and sea life (bare grey rocks, sea urchins and scalyfin, with a few sea carp. Beautiful day, though.

410

9 Jun 1990

Fairlight

Manly

Wet suit dive due to hole in drysuit cuff. Planned 'Hole in the Wall' at Avalon but sea conditions were unnerving so we decided discretion was the better part of valour and nipped down to this site which Henny knew about. An amazing site for such a shallow dive, with heaps of fish - mado, scalyfin, yellowtail, wrasse, morwong, bream, goatfish. One bit me - a cardinal wrasse I think. Henny, Cathy and I dived - Bill snorkelled. He found a porcupine fish, which became offended and puffed itself up. The terrain was interesting, with lots of overhangs and tunnels. At the end we swam over weed and seasquirts and Cathy spotted a garfish - long and thin with a pipe-like snout and a tail like a spike. Weird. Although it was winter I wasn't at all cold in the wetsuit - there's obviously life in it yet.

411

13 Jul 1990

St Abbs

South side of the Firth of Forth

Forth

Acclimatisation dive for spoilt expats, plus test run for £1200-worth of new dive gear. Pleasant day, though hazy. St Abbs very quiet, water calm, but murky. Found Cathedral without problems - saw saithe plus the usual three ballan wrasse. Did not find our way back so easily, and ended with a hefty snorkel back. Luca's ice-cream in Craigmillar.

All-new: Typhoon Hi-spec drysuit, Thinsulate woolly bear, Spiro Supra DV, Aladin Pro, EUSAC 78, borrowed weights (about 28lbs - too heavy).

412

14 Jul 1990

Auliston Point

Loch Sunart

Scottish West Coast

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.

413

15 Jul 1990

Dun Mór

Sanday

Outer Hebrides

St Kilda Trip. Left Tobermory 8.30 am. Breakfast en route to Canna. Sea calm, but weather glum. 10 divers dived a cliff, but sorry to say we missed it. Still, plenty to see, including sea cucumbers, squat lobsters, crabs, cup coral, nudibranchs and shoals of fish (pollack?)

24lbs. Too heavy.

414

15 Jul 1990

Sgeir à Phuirt

Canna

Outer Hebrides

With the 'Jean de la Lune' moored at Canna we used the squidgy to run out to the reef. Several seals struggled into the water as we approached. Decent cliff face to 28-30m, with masses of plumose anemones in white, orange and green shades. Also dahlia anemones and the little white anemone, east and west coast squat lobsters, shoals of pollack, cup coral and nudibranchs. Vis too poor to see the seals. Overnight at Canna - now headed for the Outer Hebrides and hopefully St Kilda.

2 x 6lb, 2 x 4lb, 1 x 2lb (22lbs). Just right.

415

17 Jul 1990

Am Plastair

Soay

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

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.

417

18 Jul 1990

Rubha Bhrengadal

Boreray

Seal Cave, Rubha Ghill Caves

An unbelievably good dive. Jumped ino a fairly rough sea, and began with a knackering snorkel to the cliff. Descended and had trouble with Cathy's fin, then torch. We swam past the entrance to the tunnel (everyone did) and turned back. The tunnel mouth was indicated by two seals swimming out of it. Vis was excellent, and we could see the far end of the tunnel from the entrance. The tunnel was narrow vertically but wide horizontally, and boulders covered the floor. A large lobster lived under one of them. At the far end we emerged next to the cliff face and turned right, over a rock fall into an enormous crevice perhaps 8-10 feet wide and a hundred feet deep. We finned slowly along this taking in the scale of the scenery, observed for most of the distance by seals. (They cock their heads on either side like a dog.) One seal made his escape past us and ran full-tilt into Snash who was following behind. The seals were light grey with dark mottling, and a silvery sheen, and they were big. Apart from the seals we met a shoal of pollack, and the squidgy life included walls of jewel anemones, dahlia anemones, sea squirts and dead men's fingers. Exciting exit (rough).

418

18 Jul 1990

E end of Hirta

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.

426

23 Jul 1990

Rondo

Eileanan Glasa, Sound of Mull

Mull

End of Trip 'Bows of the Rondo' dash. Murky green water, dark, atmospheric wreck (top has collapsed). Shook hands at the bows and then headed straight back up (into the current). Stops on the rudder. Still perfect surface conditions.

429

7 Oct 1990

The Gutter

Bass Point, Shellharbour

Beautiful sunny day, sun sparkling on the waves. A fair swell made entry and exit interesting, but didn't cause much inconvenience below 10m. Water pretty clear and masses of fish, many of which appeared to be following us, in particular a big groper (eastern blue) and his mate, leatherjacket, scalyfin, mado and various wrasse and blennies. Looks like a good spot for a return visit on a calm day.

432

4 Nov 1990

Seal Rocks

Iain Hosking, Bill MacFarlane, Cathy Humphries

[no depth or time recorded in log book] Late start from Sydney and a leisurely Saturday, ending with a Malaysian meal with Rory and Jo McMahon. Rory's bourbon measures were a little too generous so felt seasick this morning. The dive was good, with heaps of fish, and a cuttlefish, but the highlight of the dive was the huge turtle, which put in an appearance at the beginning and end of the dive (and tried to bite one of the divers - Jaws in slow motion). I didn't see the four sharks that everyone saw except Cathy and I.

435

2 Dec 1990

Cape Solander

Round from Inscription Point, Kurnell

Nice, safe dive for Andrew and Michelle who haven't been in the water since New Year. Sunny day and very hot. Sea calm, vis not that great (outgoing tide, 1 hour before HW). Plenty of nudibranchs, an octopus, big leatherjacket, a small moray, wrasse, scalyfin and wonderful sponge gardens. Saw three new fish: velvetfish, which is very reluctant to move, even when prodded, and two very colourful ones - one with blue stripes on the head, the other smaller, like a blenny with red spots on the head.

437

18 Dec 1990

The Pinnacles, Forster

Very unfortunate dive. No echo sounder on Rory's boat so we depended on transits - except it was too hazy. Very hot day - sunburnt. Water clear at the surface but absolutely pea-soup at depth. Didn't stray more than 20ft from the anchor yet lost it. Spent the whole dive playing with Cathy's BC, then were faced with a long snorkel back to the boat. Sea rough. Big swell.

Wetsuit, BC, 20lbs lead (began the dive with 28lbs - big mistake).

438

19 Dec 1990

Spot A

Latitude Rock, Cape Hawke

Out on Forster Dive Centre's considerably larger boat, with Ari. Offshore wind so much calmer - no white horses. 7 EUSAC divers (Cathy, Sarah, Graham, Iain Fairbrother, Malcom, Adrian and me) + Steve. An absolute mass of fish, including wobbegong, morays, marbled moray (very nasty-looking teeth, like hypodermic syringes), ray, groper, morwong, scalyfin, wrasse, bullseyes plus two cuttlefish. Vis not startling but better than yesterday. Good dive.

Wetsuit - cold by end of dive. 21 degrees C.

439

19 Dec 1990

One Mile Gutter

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.

442

21 Dec 1990

Satara

Seal Rocks

All psyched up (and kitted up) for a dive on the 'Satara' but Ari couldn't find it! Anticipation turned to disappointment, frustration, then exasperation, and we voted to dive on the approximate transits. We found a dogfish. Others found a lump of coal.

447

23 Feb 1991

Cathedral Cave

Point Perpendicular

Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries, Martin Zolfel

Swell up a bit. Began dive with a swim into the cave - 5m up to 3m deep with waves pounding over our heads. Then down a boulder slope to an other-worldly experience with another large cuttlefish.

448

24 Feb 1991

Point Perpendicular

Swell still appreciable so back to Point Perpendicular, which is sheltered from the north-east. Dropped into 13m and swam to the south of a prominent rock. Found a reasonable-sized cuttlefish, then a couple of small ones. Cathy found a little yellow nudibranch, then what looked like a minute (less than 1cm) wobbegong or other fish. Decided I was definitely overweighted with 28lbs of lead.

449

24 Feb 1991

The Docks

NW of Point Perpendicular

Iain Hosking, Cathy Humphries, Graham Russell

Better than this morning's dive. Took off a heap of lead and was much more comfortable. The water was also lighter because the sun was higher. Saw a blue devil fish in the docks, then swam south-east over jumbled boulders with lots of sponges and coral. Found a cuttlefish (as usual) and Graham saw a shark.

453

22 Jun 1991

Bowen Island

Beautiful surface conditions, though cold. Surprisingly windy. Into green water - relatively murky, about 10m. Anchor practically landed on an octopus - black & white colour scheme. Down on the seabed I was fiddling with Cathy's weight belt and put my hand down to steady myself - ZAP! - a couple of sharp jolts from a numbfish. I didn't even see it - it must have swum off quickly. Lots of fish - mado, leatherjacket, morwong, groper and a 'toby' I think - a type of toadfish. Lovely coral. Others on the trip: Steve, Sarah, Cathy and Maria.

454

22 Jun 1991

Bowen Island

Still choppy, so no mega dives outside the bay. Instead a very relaxed dive in the greenish murk that passed for water. Heaps of fish - I lay on my back for ages blowing bubbles which the mado then tried to eat. From below they look totally different - silvery and sinuous. Cathy's weights better, but she was wet.

455

23 Jun 1991

Gorgonia Wall

Point Perpendicular

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

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.

458

7 Aug 1991

Nonnkina Bommie

Beautiful dive after a nauseous trip out (mainly overnight). New and unfamiliar equipment meant I had to go back for more weight. Also the Mirage BC held no air. First impression was of stunningly clear water. Then we saw the bommie with a constellation of fish all around it. Most were familiar only from magazines but I was delighted to see a pair of clownfish in close attendance to their anemone, driving off passers-by. As well as the fish (which I'll identify later) we saw numerous different kinds of coral, crinoids and, on top of the bommie, a beautiful big crayfish, in a pink/lilac/white colour scheme. Surfaced to see mysterious white mounds on the horizon, which after we'd climbed into the boat turned out to be beaches on a very extensive coral reef (covers 90 degrees of our field of view). Fish positively identified: rock cod (spots), trevally (shoal), butterflyfish (long nose), longfin bannerfish, angelfish, half-and-half chromis (front black, back white), wrasse (a multitude of colours and shapes), steephead parrotfish, fire dartfish (like a blenny with a sabre-like dorsal fin), striped surgeonfish (yellow, longitudinal black stripes with blue/white stripes in centre of black stripes - poisonous blade either side of the tailfin), clown triggerfish (dots on top, white patches underneath.

New wet suit. 20lbs weight.

459

7 Aug 1991

The Caves

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.

464

8 Aug 1991

Viking Bommie

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.

465

8 Aug 1991

Predator's Playground

This is intended to give divers a feel for what it's like to be in a net for a change, with the fish looking in. The fish in this case included two white-tipped reef sharks, and what may have been a grey nurse, with attendant remora. Finally, sharks on a dive.

New wet suit. 20lbs weight.

466

8 Aug 1991

Nonnkina Bommie

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

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

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.

470

2 Nov 1991

The Docks

NW of Point Perpendicular

Iain Hosking, Cathy Cunningham, Cathy Humphries

Back in Jervis Bay, and back to The Docks. A grey day, but good to get back in the water again. Saw cuttlefish and the usual fish.

82, Arctic. Valve seemed to be leaking air into the suit - had to pull the hose out.

472

3 Nov 1991

Point Perpendicular

Iain Hosking, Cathy Cunningham, Cathy Humphries

Sun back behind the clouds so glum underwater. Concentrated on smaller life eg a tiny, blue nudibranch (probably the one at the bottom of p52 of the nudibranch book). At this point we saw a stingray about three feet across which glided off into the murk. Then back to the littlies.

479

4 Apr 1994

Shelly Beach

Manly

Cathy suggested this dive. Tame, safe, long hike to the water but plenty of fish, including a blue groper.

Pretty warm!

486

27 Jan 1996

The Balcony

off Royal National Park