In this log I use some acronyms to make it easier for me to remember where I went and what I saw:

LOCATIONS (Mostly at Bare Island unless otherwise stated - see website pages for locations) 

SHR - Sea horse rock

OHR - Opera House rocks

STR - Sea tulip rocks

SHC - Sea horse corner

BR - Block rock (also Big Rock at Inscription Point)

RIFR - Red indianfish reef

IR1 -Isolated Reef 1

LR - Long rock

AR - Anglerfish rock

N, S, E, W, NE, NW etc - compass headings

LBR - Little big rock at Inscription Point

ER - Exit Rock at Inscription Point

BIA - Bare Island Anglerfish (red fingered anglerfish)

PPH - Pygmy pipehorse

BBSH - Big belly sea horse

RIF - Red indianfish

USDP - Upsidedown pipefish

Decided to go to the dark side and cross the harbour to dive. Forgot my camera! Dived solo and went through the net, well I lifted it up (only one hole now, came back that way). Went along net and then to end of the wharf. Then W to the huge chain and followed that SE and then took the off shoots, now there is a rope for one section as chain is under sand at first. This goes to the yacht which has now totally fallen apart and collapsed. Then to the main anchor and buoy. Then took the N chain from here and at end over to the wharf on Chowder Bay side. Then across to wharf, easter island statue and bessa blocks, then to sea horse hotels and back into net. Only one white's sea horse, one or two large bullrays, some nice nudibranchs, a few small cuttlefish. All the usual luderick, leatherjackets etc. not the best dive. Visibility poor. 

A bit sloppy and some SE swell so decided to dive deeper. Humpback whales on the way out, only 20 metres from use, stayed on the surface for a while and one tail showing. Heard them all through the dive. Anchored off NE corner on the boulders. Viz 10+ metres. Went around the whole reef, large school of yellowtail followed us for half, then some seapike. A large wobbegong shark off N side and a PJ on S. Plenty of leatherjackets and some mado. No donuts or blue devilfish. Forgot to take lift bag so did not go back to anchor, just to top of reef near where the rope was. Some tiger anemones here on sea whips. Then up. A very nice and relaxing dive. Visibility good.

A little swell meant W point was not a viable option. Water cooler at 17C and a bit of surge down to 13 metres. Viz was 8 or so m. Went down normal way to start of IR1 and then to SHC and back. No PPH, RIF or sea dragons. A lot of the normal nudibranchs and two upsidedown pipefish. A few PJs, a large flathead and a pair of friendly black reef leatherjackets. A nice relaxing dive but that is it. Visibility good.

Club boat dive, three boats and 11 divers. Large swell running 2.0 to 4.0 m offshore and 8 to 13 sec period. Bommie was 1.2 to 2.2 m and breaking occasionally. Despite this, it was not too bad underwater, mostly surge was minor with some bigger pushes every few minutes. Sand was stirred up so viz only 4-5 m. Cold though, about 16.4C but 17.5 on safety stop. Went S till 15 min mark and then back to N and past anchor. Lots of sand there with boulders. Not many fish around, others saw a small RIF and a sea dragon. A few nudibranchs. Back to anchor and spent the rest of the time under the boat. Not the greatest dive but better than I thought it would be. Visibility poor.

Much better seas than yesterday. Checked out if there was a current here before anchoring, did not seem to be but sure enough, there was. Decided to not take camera. Went down as planned but my buddy did not follow our instructions and missed the line. He tried to get down and to deco line but did not, ended up on the extended mermaid line. I got to bottom, moved anchor and waited but he did not arrive. The visibility was well over 10 metres and not that much current on the bottom and warmer at 18C. Lots of fishlife. Then came down, but I was almost back up by then. So I only did a 17 minute dive. Not a great dive. Visibility very good.

For more details about these dives and other dives this year, click here.