The eddy of cold water that swept in last week has gone.  Today the water
temperature was 22 deg. C.  Diving with Janet, Julian and Simon - not Simon
who's now in New York, but one from the UK - I opted to wear just the new
suit, the 'Extreme' Aqua-Shell.

Because of low - 2-metre - vis in the shallows, Simon and I lost contact
with Janet and Julian after only a few minutes.  Further out the visibility
improved to about 15-metres.  We spent the dive looking for the smaller
critters.  At one point, I spotted a Maori wrasse vigorously shaking what
looked like a small piece of wispy brown algae.  As we approached, the
wrasse dropped the piece of weed.  As it settled back onto the bottom a
small cloud of fine silt rose up while the 'weed' planted itself firmly back
into the seafloor.  Using a piece of shell, I delicately lifted it up.  It
was a minute crab with a mossy back perfectly camouflaged to meld in with
other similar looking small tufts of weed.

The suit was remarkably comfortable - and warm.  Simon and I did 104 minutes
and while - towards the end of the dive - I began to feel cool, I certainly
wasn't cold.  One thing that I did discover was the fact that the zipper
runs lower down the torso than is the case with my SSA suits.  It also
features a double zip that allowed me to take a leak during the dive by only
unzipping the lower portion! :-)

I guess it now remains to be seen just how well the lining stands up to hard
wear!  :-)

Strike