I'm a bit late with this report...but what the hey.

Fairlight Beach in Sydney Harbour
Saturday January 20
Water Temp. 23C
Viz. variable to 5 meters
Airtemp. 26C
Bottom Time 77 minutes
Max. Depth 5.8 meters
Cast: Julian, David P., Jonathon, Gary, Julie, and moi.

A substantial ocean swell made Shelly beach a no-go this day so
the other alternative was Fairlight Beach. As mentioned before,
the viz. in this Harbour site isn't usually very good, but today
was slightly better than usual.

A shallow water entry and then Julian made the suggestion that
we try something a bit different than our usual route.
Rather than swim out to the rock ledge then down to the
sandline, we elected to explore the shoreline where the water
meets the large sandstone rocks that make up the area.

What a pleasant surprise! The amount of critter life along the
rocks was staggering with large schools of Yellowtail shooting
by and masses of Bream, Morwong, Luderick, Snapper, Goatfish,
Leatherjackets, Squirrelfish and Surgeonfish scouring the rocks
and sand looking for a feed.

Ol' eagle-eye Julian found 3 very dark coloured Lionfish hanging
upside-down under some ledges and then happened across a rather
large octopus which had a death grip on what we think was an
anenome of some kind. Hermit Crabs crawled about on the rocks
while a very large Blue Groper swam past to say "G'day". On the
way back I managed to locate a nice sized Wobbegong Shark having
a snooze under a ledge. For a large critter, they always seem to
squeeze into the tighest spots.
The Nudibranchs appeared to be in a rather festive mood and
clusters of a dozen or so were not uncommon.

Our buddy groups eventually separated and went their own
directions. Fairlight is a macro world and large groups tend to
stir the bottom up making it difficult to see the little things.
We all hooked up post dive for the coffee and bikkies. A very
pleasant way to spend a Saturday morning.

Cheers
Bird

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