Thursday 3 December 2009 - Bare Island Deep Wall
Club night dive. Went in off W point SW to wall. Slight current from S here (incoming tide). Went around the rocks and back N. Past anchor no Pygmy pipehoses (PPHs) on normal rock but one just past on main reef. Lots of fish around. Then up to 15m reef and then to main reef near cave. No anglerfish on this reef or IR1. 3 sea dragons, 2 with eggs on way back, at least 5 squid, some eels, octopus and cuttlefish. Near shark fin found the smallest shovel-nosed ray I have ever seen, only 200 mm long. Very cute. Very nice dive. Visibility fair.

Saturday 5 December 2009 - SS Tuggerah
No wind or current, a bit of sweel every now and then. Anchor dropped straight down and did not move. Les and Phil took the anchor from sand to wreck. Quite a few wobbegongs, dozens of bailer shells, at least 10 moray eels, not a huge number of fish. Went right around the whole wreck. Did 21 mins on bottom. Fantastic dive. Visibility very good.

Sunday 6 December 2009 - Inscription Point to The Monuments
My 1000th shore dive. Club Xmas party and dive. At least 40 diving. A bit hard getting in due to swell, but all okay. Saw 4 sea dragons, lots of nudibranchs, a small horned shark. A few people saw a larger shark, some thought it was a GNS but another thought a bull shark. Clean at first but at 30 mins hit an eddy which was dirtier. Fair dive, great day. Visibility fair at first then poor.

Thursday 10 December 2009 - Oak Park
Club night dive. Went in from back of pool and followed the low reef. Saw a female small green turtle along this section of reef. A six-spined leatherjacket just past the "sword" and a large horned shark. Wen to urinal and cave. On the way back a huge wobbegong and a blue devilfish. Some cuttlefish, some small and others medium. A few eels, including a very friendly one I played with for a while. Nice dive. Visibility good.

Saturday 12 December 2009 - Tyre Reef
Club boat dive. This is located behind the rifle range. Nice reef, with some good walls, large boulders, one swum-through. A huge school of ladder-finned pomfret and some one-spot pullers. A few cuttlefish, an eagle ray. Could see boat from 24 m. Visibility excellent.

Sunday 13 December 2009 - Oak Park
Club dive and BBQ. Went SE to deeper wall and then along this to second reef. Finally worked this out, near the end (where the "Sword" is) the rocks have been uncovered by sand washing away and you end up right at the start of this reef. Went to urinal and cave. Then back exiting at pool. Visibility very good.

Tuesday 15 December 2009 - Shiprock
Early morning dive before work. Very clear, at least 15 to 20 m viz, almost the best I have had here in over 120 dives. Kelly found the 2 pipefish, I found the 2 pineapplefish. Lots of octopus, small cuttlefish, nudibranchs mating. Heaps of small bream, a large school of small sweep and large seapike. Excellent dive. Visibility very good.

Wednesday 16 December 2009 - Middle Ground
What a dive! From 31m and at an angle I could see the boat and divers doing safety stop. Went right around the reef. No wobbegongs, but cuttlefish, heaps of yellowtail, seapike, silver sweep all over the place. Excellent dive, does not get much better than this in Sydney. Visibility excellent.

Saturday 19 December 2009 - Foggy Cave
Club dive. At least 25 m viz, easy to navigate. Went from mooring to cave and then to N. Then back across front of cave to S wall and then up over to mooring. Then to gutter to SW. Not a lot of fish, no GNS. Nice dive though. Visibility excellent.

Saturday 19 December 2009 - Skillion Cave
Very lazy and did as a boat dive! Lots of fish around, a few eels, two large bullrays, squid. Nice dive. Visibility excellent.

Sunday 20 December 2009 - Lilli Pilli Baths
For the first time ever here, did not see a single sea horse. Where have they gone? Went deeper off the baths to 16 m and then back to NE. Saw the biggest flathead. Shallow there were lots of smaller fish, bream, etc. Also lots of leatherjackets in pool. Easy dive, but not great. Visibility fair.

Tuesday 22 December 2009 - Bare Island Deep Wall
Club night dive, 11 attended. Went SW to wall, fairly dirty on way but  warm. Clean and colder on bottom. Carol found a red Indianfish here. Back normal way. Did not see any pygmy pipehorses but 2 sea deagons deep and three more shallow, one with eggs. Again could not find the anglerfish. Got very dirty from about cave, lost everyone when looking for anglerfish. Less than 2 m viz shallow. Visibility deep, good.

Wednesday 23 December 2009 - Barrens Hut/The Split
Club boat dive, last dive of the year for me. Anchor was stuck so spent first few minutes getting it out. Then along Split to N and back along sand. Not a lot of fish here, but behind cave there were lots of bastard trumpeters. Visibility very good on bottom but poor on safety.

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