> -----Original Message-----
> From: SouthEast US Scuba Diving Travel list
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of David Strike

> Wednesday a southerly blow lifted the seas and we canned it!  But Saturday
> at Shelly Beach saw ideal conditions.  30 plus metres vis,
> seadragons, Well,
> one!); a couple of wobbegongs; giant cuttlefish, rays; vast schools of
> yellowtail, seapike, ladder-finned pomfrets and trevally;
> friendly grouper;
> roughy's; long-finned bannerfish, (similar to Moorish idols); damsels and
> wrasse.

I have to say that Saturday was an exceptional day for diving. I had made
plans with Mark to dive Shark Point, which is usually an iffy proposition,
as it is affected by winds quite a bit, being exposed. It is also a long
hike over rocks with all your gear on, hence Cynthia has never been keen to
do that dive.

After what seemed like a 15 minute hike with gear on, we finally reached the
slot in the rocks, which was to be our entry point. The viz looked pretty
good when we took a dip to cool down, and for a bit of excitement, we
thought we'd start our dive in the slot. Talk about a roller coaster ride!
After being spat out at high speed on a retreating wave (I wonder what we
looked like to the group that was behind us, still resting on the rocks), we
came across one of the best viz I've seen in Sydney, around 15-20m! Fish
life was abundant, with thick schools of yellow tail pike, and several of
Mados in evidence. We counted well over a dozen nudibranch, with 4 different
varieties (pity Simon wasn't here to ID them). About 4 fiercely territorial
Eastern Blue Groper were around; it was an amusing sight seeing one of 70cm
chasing one of 90cm away... At 26m we came across a group of Port Jackson
sharks, about 15 of them just lying around in the sand. We also came across
3 weedy sea dragons on the way back. A very good dive, and an easy exit onto
a flat rock shelf covered with seaweeds, wave assisted. Of course I didn't
bring my camera along...

Did a dive on Gordon's Bay (which is one bay over) the next day, and viz had
dropped unfortunately. And the weather isn't looking great now that I have
this week off...

Cheers,
Poe
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