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.