2 July 2019 - Pizza Reef
Club boat dive. Little wind, smooth rolling swell from NE (almost 2 m), slight current from S. A bit surgy on bottom. Anchored a little N of main reef, had to drag it over, hence air consumption high. No donut nembrothas, but huge numbers of seapike and lots of trevally, one-spot pullers and yellowtail on W and S side. Found a blue devilfish near anchor out in open. Whales singing all dive, plenty around the boat, two surfaced 30 metres from us but never saw where they came up again. Visibility good.
6 July 2019 - SS Annie M Miller
Club deep wreck dive. No wind since late morning yesterday but very rough seas (not big). Weird! Slowish trip to site, took a while to find, had to use visual marks as GPS not great. Anchored and stayed in the spot. Went down and found that anchor was hooked into a very small piece of wreckage about 20 m off wreck. Swam to wreck, then back. The wreckage was very flimsy, in fact when we tried to pull anchor in and tie off to it so we could move towards wreck, it broke! No way we could trust it. Also not possible to pull towards wreck, so we set anchor free and ascended. Better safe than sorry! Visibility very good.
3 August 2019 - Middle Ground
First dive in four weeks after return from Birdsville. Largish swell running, with an 11 second period meaning some surge at 32 metres. Anchored on NW corner of reef and a seal came up behind me and then past Les as he came down. Never saw it again. Went clockwise, huge numbers of silver sweep and bag seapike on N and E sides. Came back from SE corner. No wobbies. First dive with drysuit for the year, small leak on left ankle, think I have fixed it. Reasonable dive. Visibility poor.
3 August 2019 - Barrens Hut/The Split
Club boat dive. A bigger swell again but less than Saturday. Smooth with NW wind. Anchored in normal spot. Went N along Split to end, a donut nembrotha outside the end. Then back S along sand, found another nembrotha on smaller rock. Further S went under the gap between the big rock and main reef, first time I have been able to do this for 15 years I reckon, sand has moved out. Then to cave, lots of silver sweep here and then back via the rear gap to anchor. Bastard trumpeters and blue and red morwong as normal. Saw probably 10 Port Jackson sharks in various places. Quite warm water, 17.4 about 2 m above sand but 16.4 on sand. Good dive. Visibility good.
9 August 2019 - The Crossroads, Jervis Bay
Club weekend away at Jervis Bay. Amazed we got out, blew over 40 kts NW all day yesterday and last night till at least midnight. Now about 20 kts, trip out okay but very rough on way back after second dive. Quite flat here. Dropped in and went S, followed wall, similar to last year. Noting special seen, but a very nice dive as the wall and sponges are fantastic. Visibility very good.
9 August 2019 - Cathedral Cave, Jervis Bay
Located towards the Drum and Drumsticks but well back from the corner. Never dived this before I think. Dropped into a small inlet and then once descended, you swim under and between the rock face and a large boulder towards the entrance to the cave which is at 13 m. Cave is very wide, at least 20 m and about 10 m high (a bit lower at entrance). It extends back 100 m and then 20 m to left. Some wobbegong sharks inside and plenty of Port Jackson sharks. Apparently they get lost inside once they go to the left as you cannot see light here unless you surface. DM helped one escape. Back out and then deeper where there are some huge boulders. Quite interesting. Very nice spot. Visibility very good.
10 August 2019 - The Arch, Jervis Bay
Wind way down on yesterday and even less than forecast. However, a bit of swell from SE. Dropped right onto top of Arch and then down under and out. Went out deeper to 41 m and then N for about 50 m. Then back past Arch to S and followed wall SE. Then back and up drop line. Really nice dive, nothing special seen, but great to get full perspective of the site again. Visibility excellent.
10 August 2019 - Echo Point, Jervis Bay
This is a new spot for me. Located to W of Drum and Drumsticks (where there is now a colony of seals living all year round). Anchored very close to shore. The site consists of some huge boulders off the shore then a wall which runs to the N. The sandy bottom has some large rocks as well. Went this way. About 150 m along there is a small indent in wall before it begins again. Here we saw two small male grey nurse sharks. They swam up and down the wall and out over the rocks. Headed back and explored some of the cracks in the wall and around the boulders. Back to anchor. Some saw a seal and some blue devilfish. Nice spot and dive. Visibility very good.
15 August 2019 - Bare Island Right
Could not get a crew for boat today, so did a shore dive. Bit of swell coming over W point so went in near plaque. A bit surgy, even at 13 m. Kim showed me 3 PPH at first crop of rocks. Some schools of silver sweep and trevally, some Port Jackson sharks, a few different nudibranchs, one RIF. Nice dive. Visibility good.
28 August 2019 - Barrens Hut/The Split
Club boat dive, first one for 3 weeks due to weather. Wind a bit stronger than forecast when we went out, 10 kts and then went to perhaps 15 kts. Slight current from N meant side onto swell. Water 17.3C on top and 16.5C on bottom. When underwater wind dropped to less than 7 kts. Anchor was on sand so moved to reef. Went along Split and then N. No donut nembrothas seen by me, but Ida saw one. Lots of Port Jackson sharks in Split and on sand. Back to anchor, a seal came down and swam past us and then back a bit higher before disappearing. Went to back crack where lots of red morwong and some bastard trumpeters and blue morwong. Plenty of silver sweep all over the dive site. A really good dive. Visibility very good.Â
4 September 2019 - Pizza Reef
Club boat dive, 4 boats out today, 2 here and 2 to other spots. At least 3 humpback whales near us, two fin slapping and then tail slapping. Smooth seas but a swell of 1.5 m at least. Slight NW wind. Anchored next to cave. Went around reef as normal. Three large schools of seapike, plenty of Port Jackson sharks, lots of leatherjackets, including some six-spined ones. An eastern blue devilfish to N of cave. Then a donut nembrotha in front of cave. Excellent dive, could see boat from 26 m. Visibility very good.
5 September 2019 - Bare Island Deep Wall
First dive with new Olympus TG-5 camera but no strobe yet. Went in off W point, some waves so had to time it right. Went to wall, bit south than normal spot. Back normal way. Took quite a few photos using torch, probably 60% good. Saw plenty of nudibranchs, one fiddler-ray, one PPH, no RIF, two upsidedown pipefish, one moray eel, one small cuttlefish, a large flathead and more. Very nice dive. VIsibility fair.
14 September 2019 - Inscription Point
Club shore dive. Flat seas and blue water. Went to almost 15 m slowly. First dive with new camera AND strobe. Batteries flattish so very slow recycle time. Still got some good photos. Nothing real special seen, but a nice cruisy dive. Visibility good.
15 September 2019 - The Split
Dived today rather than yesterday as weather no good. Even today the wind was well over 10 kts NW when it was supposed to be less. It dropped back to 6 kts while I was underwater. Very slight current from N and slight swell. Hossam's hired tank had a problem, probably valve is not square as it leaked all the time despiute changing o-rings. He used Zorka's used tank with 130 bar, so short bottom time. Anchored near bastard trumpeters, not so many today, also some red morwong here. Went N along Split, dozens of PJs. Outside saw three donut nembrothas S of Split end. Water was greener than recent but okay. Whale snot shallow. Visibility good.
21 September 2019 - Henry Head
Club boat dive, no other boats. Wind forecast was 15-16 kts NNE, was blowing at least that but good run across Botany Bay. Dived Henry Head rather than intended Bypass Reef due to wind and swell. Good here. Dirty on top but opened out to 10 m viz on bottom. Reasonable current from S (tide was incoming, should have been from W or SW) so did not go too far. Was anchored next to a reasonably sized Admiralty anchor, never see it before. Two sea dragons, one a larger juvenile, plenty of nudibranchs, a large school of trevally, some black reef leatherjackets and more. Very nice dive. Visibility good.
22 September 2019 - Bare Island 15 Metre Reef
Went in off W point and straight to sand each W of here. Took camera but strobe would not fire, damaged the optic fibre cable I think (yes it was). Torch also died! Dirty till about 5 metres then clear, on way back, dirty shallower than 11 metres. Lots of Port Jackson sharks on 15 Metre Reef, heaps of nudibranchs, including red-lined flabellinas. A very friendly blue groper followed us from here to about 12 metres. Very slow as looking at everything. Kim showed me a PPH and some tiny nudis. Went back normal way. I found the white PPH on last rock. Lots more to see as well. Very nice dive. Visibility good.
25 September 2019 - Pizza Reef
Club boat dive. No wind or current, some swell from SE and a bit surgy on bottom. Dirty on top but clean on bottom like Saturday. Big schools of yellowtail, seapike, silver sweep and old wives, all in different spots. Only a few bastard trumpeters. The blue devilfish from 3 weeks ago was not seen by us, but second group saw it. Two mating donut nembrothas in front of cave. Went very slow around as I had my camera and strobe was working. Took some nice photos. Very good dive. Visibility good.
29 September 2019 - Bypass Reef
Moved dive from Saturday due to strong winds forecast for yesterday. A bit of swell, very slight current from N, little wind from SW. Dirty on top as recently, but clear on bottom. A bit of surge, but okay. Dozens of red morwong, bastard trumpeters and Port Jackson sharks in hole and overhang near anchor. Went E and S and then W along the wall. Back along the top edge. Plenty of nudibranchs and starfish. Some yellowtail and silver sweep over reef. Very nice dive as usual. Visibility good.
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