Michael McFadyen's Scuba Diving Web Site

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.

Site is SW from Liquid, less than five minutes. Millpond seas, no wind and 29C temperature. Started at mooring and went SE and then SW. Sandy bottom, a few bits of coral with growth. Quite a few Shaun the Sheep and other nudibranchs. A flamboyant cuttlefish, two small soles, a few anemones with clownfish, porcelain crabs and glass shrimp. After 30 mins headed NE back to mooring. A few more nudibranchs and in the shallows a large wide-bodied pipefish. A nice relaxing first dive of the trip. Visibility very good.

Located off half finished dive resort called Black Diamond. Similar dive to first one, but coral reef to NE of mooring. A little bit dirtier, perhaps 12 metres. Went SW first and then back past mooring to reef and around that. More nudibranchs, an eel, some lionfish, two juvenile snapper, three cowries, and more. Anemones and clownfish too. There were five fish traps around the coral. Ended up back in shallows. Easy dive. Visibility good.

Only a short distance from resort. We didn't moor, live drop and picked up near where we started. Sandy bottom and some rocky reefs, only a metre or so high. Some small overhangs and coral growth. Went S along them for 50 metres and then deeper and N again. Another pipefish, different species, quite a few nudibranchs, anemones and clownfish with porcelain crabs, Plenty of ropes on the bottom and a couple of mooring blocks. Back up in shallows there was warm water coming out of the sand. Good dive. Visibility very good.

Further south than other dive sites so far. Tied to back of another boat and then did drift dive to north. Sandy bottom again but lots of ropes and moorings from the marine reserve boundary. Then into the artificial reef area. At first cartons of bottles and then a small boat full of cartons of bottles. Further on concrete structures of many types. Then a large barn structure made of steel. A tiny black anglerfish, a few lionfish, batfish, a larger yellow with black spots boxfish, anemones and clownfish. Also a featherstar with shrimp, nudibranchs and more. A very good dive site. Visibility very good.

Furtherest S we have been so far. Sand ridges to SE and small pebbles in between. Zig-zagged around. Lots of very large garden eels, biggest I have seen I think. Three flamboyant cuttlefish and a small lemon one. Quite a few ocotpus, including a couple of small wonderpus. A snake eel, another eel, no nudibranchs, featherstar shrimp and squat lobster, a couple of anemones and clownfish, a strange crab trying to open a shell, some interesting other small fish. Ended up in shallows as normal. Very good dive. Visibility very good.

Started on a mooring and went N, sand and then some coral outcrops on the slop. A larger bommie and some smaller ones. Some mooring blocks too and a large barrel sponge. I found a giant anglerfish on the bommie and then we saw a brilliant tiger pipefish. A few nudibranchs, some more eels, more featherstar shrimp and squat lobsters, Another nice dive. Visibility very good.

Located south 12 minutes. Two sandy ridges running east, went down gully then S to first one. Some rocks and coral here, a few barrel sponges, gorgonias and sponges. Not much life. A couple of fish traps off the reef. A few anemones with clownfish, porcelain crabs and shrimp. A small eel and a few other things. Then went N to the other ridge which also had rocks and coral and many more barrel sponges. Here a few nudibranchs, including green striped one with red extremeties. Huge garden eels all over again. Only an average dive. Visibility very good.

About 200 metres north of last dive site. Main feature is a tyre reef about 20 by 25 metres in size, small truck tyres split at bottom and standing in threes or fours making caves. Went via sand first, then to here. A black anglerfish, impossible to photo as usual, a tiger pipefish but not as bright as the one from two days ago. Then a brilliant green giant anglerfish which yawned. Lots of fishlife. Then back to boat, saw a few nudibranchs and a pufferfish being cleaned by a glass shrimp next to an anemone. Very good dive. Visibility good.