The conditions at Broughton Island - Looking Glass, the tunnel straight through the island that Grey Nurse love to lurk in - were perfect, so we did both dives there.

We saw thousands of fish, big blue groper, but most importantly, 7 or 8 big Grey Nurse, one of them easily the biggest I've ever seen - about 2.5 metres long.

There was a fair amount of surge, so the first dive was a little hair raising. After a decent surface interval, the swell died a bit, and the sun had angled into the crack in the island, so the second dive was well lit and a lot more plesant.

Sat 11 Nov 2006 | /Diving/Australia/NSW_-_North_Coast | permalink

North Haven, Cod Grounds

Finally, some Grey Nurse. Still very scarce. The water was sensationally clear on the last day at Cod Grounds, so clean you could see the bottom from the surface - almost 35 metres down. Carpets of Wobbegong everywhere.

My old friend the Eastern Blue Devilfish made a few appearances, such a lovely fish.

Mon 02 Oct 2006 | /Diving/Australia/NSW_-_North_Coast | permalink

North Haven, Titan and Cod Grounds

The weather relented and gave us a stunning clear and calm morning, the plan was the Titan and then the Cod Grounds. Never a huge fan of wrecks, to be perfectly honest, and this one is espectially boring in that its subsided into the sand, about all thats showing is the featureless bottom plating, covered by, well, at 40m, not much at all.

Still, getting Narc'd is almost as good as a few beers, so I didn't complain.

THe Cod Grounds are entirely different prospect - last time I was here there were an astonishing number of Grey Nurse about. This time only a couple, perhaps the weather didn't agree with them...

After the dives, we had the whole afternoon - we took a drive to Crowdy Head national park.

Sun 01 Oct 2006 | /Diving/Australia/NSW_-_North_Coast | permalink

North Haven, Bonnie Hills.

Back diving for the first time in quite a while. Had to just about commit murder to get the time away from work commitments. I'm sure they'd lock me in the office if they though it was legal (or at least could be gotten away with).

Anyway, the weatherman totally and utterly failed us for the first day in North Haven, blowing a gale in the morning meant we were restricted to inshore reefs. Still, a very colourful reef at that.

A couple of Port Jacksons, a couple of painted crays, and quite a bit of colourful weed and spongues - was certainly not unpleasant.

Sat 30 Sep 2006 | /Diving/Australia/NSW_-_North_Coast | permalink

The Wreck of the Oakland, Nelson Bay

Sunk in 1905, A steamer that carried mollassis and coal to and from Qld, is lying in about 26 metres of water on sand.

The guys were going their deep module, and wreck module, and I don't especially enjoy wrecks much anyway, so I enjoyed being narked instead. There is always something else you can do if you get bored in the water ;)

Thanks to Jules, Mel, Tabi, Steve (Ox), James, Aimin and Aimina for a great weekend. Drop me a line if get a minute guys, so I have your email addresses.

Sun 29 Jan 2006 | /Diving/Australia/NSW_-_North_Coast | permalink

Halifax, Broughton Island and Cabbage Tree Island, Nelson Bay

An amazing days diving. In only three dives we'd cranked up a large list of animals, one of which is found only at Cabbage Tree island - the Donut Nudibranch. We saw eagle rays, wobbegong, grey nurse sharks, at least 8 different varieties of nuidbranch, pinapple fish, feather stars, a blue groper and a brief encounter with the creature from the black lagoon...

First dive was at Halifax point, an aquatic reserve just around the point from the boat ramp and jetty o the east of the Nelson Bay township. A nice leasurely stroll into the water on a sandy bottom and a very easy dive, especially since we had timed our entry to coincide with the high slack tide.

Nudibranch's abounded, and colourful spongues and weedbeds were the backdrop for the dive. I counted 7 varieties of Nudi's in a little over half and hour. Truly fantastic.

2nd dive, Looking Glass at Broughton Island, is simply breathtaking. A balloon shapped tunnel right through the island, the Lookingglass is a gloomy lurking ground for grey nurse sharks and huge schools of bullseyes and stripey.

There was a bit of surge, which surved to hurl you flying along the dark corridors of the tunnel, and then leave you weightless in the back-surge. Once such surge brought me up over a large boulder and face to face with the first grey nurse shark of the day. I'm not entirely sure who was more supprised, but I give the prize for best reaction to the shark: a quick turn, a snap of the tail and he was gone. All I did was drop my camera :)

The final dive was at Cabbage Tree Island, on the swell leeward side, amongst two smaller wrecks. Instructed to watch for a rare 'Donut' Nudibranch, James and I had it spotted and dazzled with strobe light in under 5 minutes flat. THe rest of dive didn't fail to disapoint, an Eagle ray took a bit of a chase to get within camera range, and a dozing wobbegong had made the old wreck his home.

After all this, the group still had enough energy to front up for a winery tour and some wine tasting. That finished us off though I think, the rest of the evening ends sort of, well, blurrily.

Sat 28 Jan 2006 | /Diving/Australia/NSW_-_North_Coast | permalink

Forster, The Barge

An Excellent dive. Perfect conditions, no current, great visbility.

The barge is an old garbage barge that was used to help build the bridge between Forster and Tuncurry, twin towns on the NSW north coast.

Julia and I, both interested in the idea of a barge covered in Nudibranchs stayed on the barge, which John from Action Dive had expertly anchored within 5 metres of.

We weren't disappointed. Huge nudibranchs everywhere. Thousands of fish, small and large. Moray Eels, small and large. Colorful and abuundant sponges.

I normally don't really go for wrecks, but this has to be an exception. Perhaps because it lies on the tip of a rocky reef, life seems to have colonised it extremely rapidly. There are big hols all over the hull, large enough to poke your head and a light though, but not large enough for divers to be going in there messing things up.

Even the dive profile is near perfect textbook ;)

Sun 30 Nov 2003 | /Diving/Australia/NSW_-_North_Coast | permalink

Seal Rocks, Off the beach

After a disasterous incident involving me trying to be helpful, a badly maintained pneumatic steering line and a bit of swearing, we limped back to the bay at Seal Rocks on the emergency outboard.

There is a group of reefs and rocks off the right heads of the bay, and we stopped there for a second dive, again looking for Grey Nurse.

This time we weren't disappointed.

Not far from the rocks is a large sand patch, somewhat circular surrounded by tall banks of rocks and circling slowly inside and around it were 8 or 9 grey nurse.

A thrill to see always, these sharks were a little more formidable with the extra light afforded by the shallower depth at which we encountered them. They normally live a bit deeper.

We spent a bit of time cooling our heals just watching quietly and then started to explore some of the extremeties of the caves and overhangs around the perimiter of the sand patch. At the back of a long trench heading away from the patch we found a large resting port jackson shark.

An excellent dive.

Sat 29 Nov 2003 | /Diving/Australia/NSW_-_North_Coast | permalink

Seal Rocks, Little Seal Rock

Little Seal Rock isn't all that much to look at. The huge crashing waves attempting to complete the job of eon's in a day, however.

We anchored a little way of the island and got into the water. Our goal was a series of channels and gutters that ran obliquely away from the island down into about 30 metres of water, and hopefully to find grey nurse sharks.

We didn't find any.

We did see plenty else though, an abundance of large bull rays gliding around and over the canyon walls of the gutters. Huge schools of red morwong - far more than I've ever seen in one place before.

There were several moray eels out swimming in the open water which I found unusual. As soon as they spotted us though, they retreated back to their rock crevices.

Lots of fish life and interesting geology made the dive a good one. There was a medium current, which we small into at the begining of the dive to get to and along the gutters. It then was so kind as to turn on us and we had to swim against it to return.

The current prevented us getting to the anchor again, and our safety stop had to be performed in open water with no reference - with the current as it was, this put us some distance from the boat.

I used my marker bouy. I have a scubapro dump fitted bouy, so all you need to do is inflate it and attach it to youself below the water line and it stands to attention for you and stays inflated - an excellent investment.

It was a long snorkle back against the current. The dive and current itself had been a bit much for Julia and I needed to help her the last few metres back to the boat. I don't think my legs have forgiven me yet :)

Sat 29 Nov 2003 | /Diving/Australia/NSW_-_North_Coast | permalink

South West Solitary Island - Groper Island

This dive site was much more remeniscent of Sydney dive sites, lots of broken rocks, large soft corals, crested horn sharks and of course, blue gropers. Enhanced, though, by a staggering abundance of fish and the addition of more northern species such as plate coral, anenome's and clownfish, and colorful wrasse.

At the beginning of the dive, a batfish was sticking closely to the mooring line, and seemed to be unfazed by the swarm of divers that descended around him. Inifinitely patient, he almost seemed to enjoy having his photograph taken.

Almost immediately I happened upon a wobbegong taking a morning nap in his natural hammock, a large plate coral. Sharks seemed to be a bit of a theme this morning, as the next thing we came accross was a crested horn shark.

Other highlights include a massive starfish, so big I could not touch its outstretched arms with mine, a black cowry shell with white spots (that appeared to emit light), and a lovely clown fishand anenome.

A fantastic dive, extremely relaxed and refreshing, and very nearly an hour long.

During the surface interval before this dive, a small manta ray made an appearance near the boat, but not before masquerading as a shark for a while (causing quite a stir) as it swept and turned while feeding a bit too far from the boat to be more positively identified.

After a bit of a snack, we got back into the water and found that the batfish was still swimming about near the mooring line, still as oblidging as ever. This time we went off to the west of the mooring and got down a little deeper to around 17 metres.

I finally spotted a nudibranch, having spend all of the previous dives looking out for them and not finding anything. I took over 20 photo's, but sadly only one was even remotely in focus - very strange.

Another cowry shell, and another crested horn shark rounded out this most excellent dive.

Sun 08 Jun 2003 | /Diving/Australia/NSW_-_North_Coast | permalink

North Solitary Island, Anenome Bay, North West Rock.

The first morning of the trip and the weather was behaving itself for the first time in ages for me - calm, clear, not a cloud in the sky and not a breath of wind - A fantastic day. The Pisces is a fairly small vessel, 7 metres long. Luanched from the main beach at Woolgoolga, it was a snack to get on. The 30 minute trip out to North Solitary Island was very calm and uneventful - not a single jump-slam for the entire trip out, which pleased me immensly.

North Island is quite small, little more than a lump of rock with a little grass clinging tenaciously to the very top and around the lower edges, we went past the island to a small lump of rocked topped with green called North West Rock, tied on to one of many moorings that are present throughout the island chain, and geared up for this dive.

Once in the water my ovservations from the boat were confirmed - the visibility was excellent, the boat lying in 16 metres, I could make out the fish at the bottom.

The rock was split so that a tinyier portion lies a little way away from the main rock, forming a channel, it was through this that we swam, starting at about 8metres in the channel and dropping down to 16 - 17 metres at the other side and explored the various rock ledges, walls and swim throughs on the other side before heading back.

There was a wobbegong in one of the swim throughs, along with dozens of huge painted and spotted sweetlip, thousands of smaller fish, and schools of larger fish above, it really deserved the name fish soup.

On the return journey under the boat at about 8 metres were a few patches of large anenome's each with a different species of clown fish as company. Moving from North West Rock, we made our way to North Solitary Island, and again the mooring points were quite numerous. We moored at a spot called Anenome Bay, David had told us that if w thise liked the anenome's on the previous dive, we would love this - he certainly was not wrong.

Once we'd had a little light refreshment and geared up again, it was back into the water to find that, if anything, the visibility was even better.

Descending down you became faintly aware that the sea floor was slightly fuzzy, indeed that it seemed to shimmer slightly. Approaching closer with the descent revealed that the bottom was covered with sea anenome's, shoulder to shoulder, as far as the eye could see, and with the amazing visibility, that was quite a distance.

The carpet of anenome's covered a vast area of the dive site, it was difficult to tell where each one sbegan and the previous finished. Anenome's with white tips, blue, yellow, red, or orange tips, thin tentacles, thick ones, bubbles on the end - the variety seemed endless. Each one had a colony of clown fish living amongst its protective fingers, the species of clown fish nearly as varied as the anenome's.

Most clown fish I've seen have been living on an anenome that is otherwise isolated. The fish tend to be very timid and shy and dive down into the heart of the anenome, or even under the rock it lives on in fear as you approach. Not so for the thousands of fish living on this margic carpet - the proximity and abundance of places to live must have nessesarily increased the competition for somewhere to live, because these clownfish were quite fearless and even agressive in their behaviour. They certainly weren't shy when you approached to take a photograph, even to the point of tapping the camera and your goggles if you got to close to their patch!

As if the anenome's weren't enough, a couple of Grey Nurse Sharks were lurking about in the gutters closer to the island, one of then being cleaned, and a juvenile lionfish was nearby - the first time I've seen on that A) has been in descent visibility - no clouds of sand, and B) hasn't immediately turned its back to me before I could get a photo.

Finally, the trip proved fruitfull, with a pair of humpback whales, one of them playful enough after we stopped to breach for us to see, magnificent.

This dive easily makes it into the category of best dives ever, absolutely magic.

Sat 07 Jun 2003 | /Diving/Australia/NSW_-_North_Coast | permalink

Titan and Shark Trip, North Haven

8 of us made the 385 kilometre journey north of Sydney on the eve of a busy and raining ANZAC day long weekend to try and find two behemoths lurking quietly in the deep dark places of the world � one natural, one artificial. One fresh and new and ultimately a failure, one perfected by millions of years of evolution. The wreck of the Titan, and the Grey Nurse Shark.

The Titan lies in around 40 metres of water about 3.5 km of the coast of Laurieton and North Haven NSW, and definitely qualifies as a deep dark place. The Cod Grounds are further out from the Titan, lying 5km off shore in around 30 metres of water and is home to a large population of large Grey Nurse sharks.

Setting out from Sydney early Thursday I realised with a sense of dread that the weather was not about to be nice to me. The dark clouds building to the north may have told me, or it might have been the bucketing rain that soaked me the second I stepped out of the house with my first arm load of gear.

I was sadly right. Clouds and cold clinging rain was our companion for the weekend, but that Thursday just before picking up Sam was the last time it bothered me for 3 straight days � diving awaited, not just normal diving, but great diving.

Our drive down was uneventful and cheery, passing through the small townships of regional NSW, and arriving safely at Kew, which is some 25 km�s from the coast. We made our way to Laurieton, and finally North Haven and without much problem our accommodation at the North Haven Boat Motel � formerly the �Boat-O-Tel� (an infinitely more appealing name, I thought).

The rooms were large and neat, the beds comfortable, and very shortly, the fridge was adequately stoked with a plentiful supply of beer. First dive was at 8am. Needless to say we promptly found our beds.

Peter from Scuba Haven was at the motel jetty to pick us up when we made the leisurely 50 metre stroll from our rooms with our gear and in our wetsuits, our first destination would be the Titan. The boat ride out was uneventful with the exception of the bar crossing at the mouth of the river, a rollercoaster like thrill.

Gearing up and jumping in the water gave us an idea of what the rest of the weekends diving would be like, the water was warm and a clear sapphire blue all the way down to the Titan, clear enough to give you a healthy dose of sunlight at even 40 metres.

The Titan was lying almost completely on its back in the sand, and is obviously a new wreck, the level of growth on the hull was quite low. We stayed fairly close to the bow of the wreck to avoid an overly deep dive, probing into the pitch black shadow of the cave formed between the wreck and the sand. A pair of performing moray eels was the highlight of the dive, using old anchor chain guides as a new home, followed closely by a large wobbegong lazing on the top of the hull with his tail draped into one of the hatches. As is the way with deeper dives, we were very soon out of time and left the Titan to its rusting and headed for the surface.

While at the deco stop we were treated to a bittersweet show of the rain on the surface of the ocean viewed from underwater � quite a show but an assurance that we were about to be cold and wet on the boat.

The weather had turned a bit for the worse and Peter decided that it would be best to head back in, we would try Telegraph Rock on the way. It turned out to be rather disappointing after the description Peter gave us, but the current and swell forced us to abort the diving for the day.

After a night of social shenanigans and beer and pizza, we were back on the boat at 8am, with the cheering news of an improvement in the weather and the even more cheering news that we were heading for the Cod Grounds and the sharks.

If anything, the visibility had only improved and the sapphire blue water welcomed us back. We could see the vague outlines of rocks on the bottom in 25 metres water. We were soon at the bottom and immediately spied several large grey nurse� slinking off into the distance. We headed off in the general direction they were heading and found a world of large boulders and rock pinnacles covered with sponges and weed.

We wandered a little way from the anchor line, and found a large cauldron shaped amphitheatre of rock full of sharks. Sam noticed that a few divers were not with us and went back to collect them, I perched on a rock in the centre and waited for him to return. There were already a few sharks around, but in the space of a minute or two that number rapidly grew to around 20 � sharks were leaving and joining the group all the time, but I could count at least that many at one point.

The rock in the centre of this amphitheatre made the perfect lap point for the sharks � they went around and around, the larger ones alone, the smaller ones in pairs. They got closer on each pass, so close that I couldn�t focus my camera on them anymore. I even got bumped by one. What a thrill.

Well, I think I�ll leave my story right there � it just doesn�t get any better than that. Peter and Scuba Haven were excellent and knowledgeable, the group of divers a fun bunch to be stuck with all weekend, and the sharks amazing. Thanks must go to Abyss for another trip away that allowed me to easily say �I had a truckload of fun, bet you�re miffed you missed it!� to anyone who asked.

Sun 27 Apr 2003 | /Diving/Australia/NSW_-_North_Coast | permalink

North Haven, Cod Grounds

An amazing dive, from the moment we got in the water. The visibility was a spectacular 20 metres, you could make out the rocks on the bottom at a depth of over 25 metres.

Clear blue ocean water, warm surface and a thermocline on the way down. Amazing feeling of free falling through the clear water on the way down.

Sharks EVERYWHERE, a small ampitheatre of rocks was a just a little way off from the anchor and Sam left me on my own there for 5 to 8 minutes while he went back to check on the other divers in the group. 20 Grey Nurse in and arround the ampitheatre thought I was the attraction of the day and circled continuously looking at me. This only came to an end when the other dive boat servicing the area dropped its (painfull and anoying) divers in and they came storming into my little spot and drove away the sharks (bastards!).

We went off for a bit of an explore and found a huge wobbygong, lots of other large fish like Black Cod, catfish and Sergant Bakers. There was also several large and not timid schools of bullseyes.

Overall and amazing dive. Easily the most and biggest grey nurse I've ever seen - all of them were bigger than the largest at Magic Point in Sydney. Sadly the depth of the dive had us returning to the surface all to soon.