Club boat dive. A few larger swells but smooth. Lots of seapike, found one eastern blue devilfish and a pineapplefish. Some smaller cuttlefish, black reef leatherjackets and lots of one-spot pullers. Very nice dive. Visibility very good. 

3 May 2012 - Bare Island Isolated Reefs
Club night dive. Too rough to go in off the W point, went out pool. Found a RIF just past the rocks near 44 gallon drum. Went to IR1 and along N side. Very dirty here. Went right around IR2 and back on S side. A lot of sand scoured out, shells showing. Also, a concrete block and large rope here that has not been here before. Then a T metal thing, looks old. May have been buried before. Back to SHC and before then, the yellow big belly sea horse that we first saw in February 2011. Back to exit. Visibility very poor.

5 May 2012 - Shiprock
Once again had to cancel Club deep dive due to weather. Kelly and I decided to dive here at 7:10 am. Only two other members there. Did the normal dive. I set up the GoPro to shoot timelapse. Got some very good sequences of octopuses and general scenes. The pineapplefish were in normal spot. Kelly found two tiny pipefish, with white stripe. Also saw a frogfish, horned shark, cuttlefish. Very nice dive. Good visibility.

Quite a few members dived here this morning, although not all together. There were at least 30 and maybe 40 dusky whaler sharks. We saw at least 10 at the one time. Probably saw over 150 sightings of sharks. Also some wobbegongs, huge flathead, lots of large tarwhine. Many other species, including luderick, some kingfish, one huge, trevally, salmon, blackfish and more. Great dive. Visibility good.

Club boat dive. Still a bit of swell running and slight current from S. Very clean near cave but lots of suspended sand on S side. BAstard trumpeters in two groups near cave. Two blue devilfish near cave. A few small kingfish, Paul saw a small eagle ray. Did some more timelapse photography. Visibility good.

Low tide. Did the normal dive, no current whatsoever the whole dive. Was pretty dark, almost a night dive, even though we did not end till 5:30 pm. Nothing special seen, apart from the pineapplefish. Could not find the 2 pipefish Kelly found on Saturday. Visibility very poor.

10 May 2012 - Shark Point
Club night dive. Seas a bit larger than we expected and the tide seemed to be higher than coming up from 0.2 m. Therefore, a lot of water over the exit site. Went in and SE to sand, here we saw 3 other divers who went in just before us. We went N along sand. Saw 2 PPH, lots of purple dragons, normal night fish, some large squid. Very surgy about 20 m, even a bit at 25 m. Headed back about normal spot and came to exit on corner. I got washed over the exit and back into the water. Was an effort to get to shore, used 30 bar. Ended up with a cramp in leg and a sore shoulder from holding on to the bottom. Should not have dived here. Visibility very good.

Club dive. Could not get to Wattamolla as stronger than forecast winds (15 kts) and from SW rather than W caused short, sharp waves. Four boats. Very warm and clean. Went very slow to cave and back. A very large black wobbegong came out from under a rock and swam around, almost getting Zorka. Lots of bastard trumpters as normal. Visibility very good.

Very windy again today so cancelled our dive to the Tuggerah. Ended up 10 members dived here. Could not find the elusive anglerfish but saw 4 PPH, one big belly sea horse, lots of purple dragons, Gary saw 3 sea dragons, heaps of yellowtail and bream. Nice easy dive. Visibility very good.

Club boat dive, 4 boats. W wind and dragged a little back from the main wall. Followed a small wall to N and then cut across W to main wall. A blue devilfish here. Back to the N there was a large bullray. Lots of one-spot pullers. Back near anchor a 6-spined leatherjacket. Kelly used her new GoPro video lights, reasonable result. Visibility good.   

Again tried to dive the Tuggerah but once again, very strong winds. Decided to dive Middle Ground instead, even here it was rough and uncomfortable. Kelly decided to stay on the boat. Very silty on bottom, anchor chain was putting up lots of silt as was a groper. Found two blue devilfish on E side. Went right around reef. Lots of yellowtail and seapike. Easy dive. Visibility fair.

Raining and a bit windy. Went  out to wall and then N and NW to deeper 23 m area. A few moray eels, a huge flathead. Then back to wall and E. Huge fishlife here as normal. Saw a few medium kingfish and then two huge ones. A large school of stripeys as well. Very nice dive. Visibility good. 

26 May 2012 - Fly Point

Very, very strong SW winds. Quite choppy at the entrance spot, difficult to not get knocked over. Went out to 11 m level and then N and NW to the 20-23 m depth. Very nice out here and the water a bit cleaner and warmer. Back along the shallower 12 m level. Lots of bream, sweep and stripeys. A few medium sized kingfish. Visibility fair. 

Went in E of channel marker. Sand all the way to 20+m. Bits of reef here and there, but mostly sand. What reef is there is still very good, but so much is covered with sand. Saw a few opera house nudibranchs, a few small moray eels and lots of leatherjackets. A large silver drummer. Turned around at about 23 minutes. The current was very slight. On the way back found a fiddler ray and two huge snapper. Again, reef is still here, but all the lower parts are covered with sand. Came out back at the old entry point. Sad that it has changed so much. Visibility good.

Went out with John B, first time for probably 5 years. Wind was blowing just over 10 knots S so too strong to consider going south. Blue water and no current. Saw 2 blue devilfish, one wobbegong, lots of yellowtail and silver sweep. Very good dive. Visibility very good.

After morning tea break went here. First time I have dived here for over 2 years. A bit surgy on top but reasonable on sand. Anchored right over the cave. Three cuttlefish near here, all very friendly. Went E and S and then back to cave. A school of bonito went past. W of cave a very friendly blue groper who followed us all over the rest of the site. Visibility good.

Changed Sunday's deep dive to today due to forecast and changed to reef dive due to lack of divers. As we arrived at the site three humpback whales and lots of dolphins put on an amazing show. Had to move boat twice as they got too close. Whales sticking heads and flippers and tails out of water, dolphins leaping. Dive itself was very good, huge numbers of bastard trumpeters, seapike, trevally and yellowtail. Visibility very good. 

Went out on Peter Fields boat. Very large seas, up to 4 m, but relatively smooth. Slight current from north. Anchored in front of boiler. Went to stern and then to bow. Used Kelly's computer to compare deco. It was a bit more conservative than mine, but good for deco on 59%. Stops were deeper. Lots of fish, a few big cuttlefish and a large wobbegong. Much better dive than I thought it would be. Visibility fair.

Heavy rain all day from 9 am. Stopped just as I arrived at site. Dived at high which was 1:17 pm. Did normal dive, lots of opera house nudis, plenty of moray eels, all the normal fish. Not much of a current at all. The 3 pineapplefish are still at the N end, also saw a frogfish. Nice dive. Visibility fair.

Club shore dive. Good to dive after a week away camping. Very clean and lots of fish. Went a bit slow at first and ended up using a lot of air here. Found two big belly sea horses, one on the same rock where three have been seen in last few months. Another one further on, Kelly found a tiny pygmy pipehorse. A large school of striped catfish on sand. Some interesting nudibranchs. Very good dive. Visibility very good.

Club boat dive - 4 boats. First dive with new HW OSTC 2N computer, went well. Was to be xanadu but first ones down returned straight away as filthy. Went to Osborne. Not that much better, 3 m viz and very surgy. Did 45 minutes anyway. Nice blue gropers, some interesting nudis and a tiny yellow boxfish.Not one of our better dives. Visibility very poor.

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