Easter with the sharks

This Easter we went up to Port Stephens for a few days to visit my mother-in-law.

The highlight of the trip was that Matt and I got to spend a day diving out at Broughton Island which is about 40 minutes off the coast in a marine park.  We had a great day, starting off at Feet First Dive at 7am.

The boat took us to the Looking Glass which is a fissure between two halves of a small island where we planned to traverse from one side to the other - but unfortunately the swell was too strong, so we had to move to the protected side and just stay on that side.  Even on the sheltered side we got swept around quite a lot - it was a bit like being in a washing machine with the swell moving us 6 feet backwards and forwards with each surge.

We have a new underwater camera housing, but it will take a while to work out how to take good photos underwater.  The camera certainly takes a lot longer to focus.  There's also a green cast to most of the images that I'll have to try and correct for -  but the reality is that the water tends to make everything a blue-green colour.

We weren't there long before a few of the locals came to see what we were doing.

Here the flash reflected off some of the sediment kicked-up by the surge.  Fortunately the sharks don't react to an electronic flash.

 Waiting at the decompression stop to bleed off some more Nitrogen from our bloodstream ....

You can see the opening in the rockface where we went in just behind Matt.

 This is the quiet spot that we pulled into after the first dive and decided to stay here for a second dive.

Matt and I having a break between dives.

 Underwater at the second dive site.

 Matt exploring.

 Matt leading the way.

 There was a lot of seaweed around, so I decided to go to ground level and have a look around.

Under the seaweed

 Matt discovered this moray eel.  You can see why it's a good idea to keep your hand away from its mouth.

 Coloured soft corals.  Under the water they just look a dull grey colour until you use a torch or flash to return some red light to the spectrum.

 Matt

Returning to Nelson Bay after the dive.

Scuba diving at Bateman's Bay

Over the past few weeks, Matt and I have been going down the coast to go scuba diving.

Matt recently learnt to dive, and is keen to get some experience under his belt.  It's been interesting for me to take up diving again because I haven't dived for probably 20 years.  I gradually stopped diving when we moved to Canberra because it really isn't convenient to dive when you live 2 hours from the coast compared with living in Sydney.  Before coming to Canberra I'd been a scuba instructor for 5 or 6 years, but getting into the water again after so long was surprisingly easy - it's like riding a bike. Personally I'm pleased to see that I finish the dive with more air in my tank than anyone else, which reflects a degree of relaxation under the water coupled with efficient movement through the water - the lack of either of which causes you to breathe heavier.

There have been some improvements to dive equipment, but not as much as I expected.  None of my old equipment is really any good now - too much of the rubber has perished.  My wetsuit also seems to have shrunk.  Surprisingly, people at the dive shops keep saying that the equipment now is so much better than in the past - they assume that ours were very primitve - but I don't find them any better.  I think that there is an incorrect assumption that newer=better.

We've joined a dive club and so far have had several shore dives at Bawley Point, about 20 minutes north of Bateman's Bay.

This is a popular spot where we've seen sharks, stingrays, cuttlefish, moray eels, octopus, and many, many, types of fish.  So many types of fish that I've had to pull out one of my old fish-identification books to help remember which is which.

We've been driving down to the coast on Friday afternoon and staying overnight; having a couple of dives on Saturday, and then driving home on Saturday afternoon.  Then spending Sunday recovering.

We are going up to Port Stephens in a few weeks, so we'll do some diving up there as well.