We went to Kurnell and I was volunteered to lead Kim and Frank to the site as they did not know where it was. I knew where Kurnell was from my old triathlon days but I wasn't sure where the dive site was. I figured I would spot the Abyss truck when I got there and everything would work out. Needless to say 3 carparks later we eventually found the dive team.
The dive master was Bill and my dive buddy was Steve. We had a fairly uneventful first dive. We spent a bit of time going over the sand before making our way north to the wall. Visibility was very bad at times with Steve becoming a blur at 2 metres at the worst point. I spent most of the dive keeping my eye on Steve and was amazed at how loud a large ship sounded as it went past. At one point I thought this huge steel hull would come ripping through the kelp towards us it sounded so close.
We exited by the large white sign and had a bit of difficulty navigating over the shallow rocks with a bit of swell.
The time between then and the second dive was more eventful. We had a BBQ and collected some cash for the National Coastal clean up designated charity. Upon setting up my gear I left it standing just out of reach of my fins and mask. I decided to try to grab my fins and mask with it balanced standing up (what was I thinking!) My nerves got the better of me and I quickly turned around to see if the gear was falling. No there it was upright, steady as a rock and not a breeze in the air. Whew! I felt more relaxed and turned to get my fins and snorkel. Reaching down to grab my fins BANG-PSSSSSS a huge gas explosion behind me! I turned to see my gear lying on the floor with gas belting out from the first stage a full throttle. I reached down and turned the knob for what seemed like 400 turns before the noise eventually stopped. The tanks had rolled over and bumped the first stage enough to pop the O-ring - this totally freaked me out and made me feel like a complete idiot.
The guys from Abyss were really cool about it but I was really shaken by the whole experience. I decided my second dive was canceled but the guys from Abyss dive club got me another tank and another set of regs and within minutes I was ready to go. I was really not in a good frame of mind for diving at this point and as I entered the water I seemed to totally calm down. It was as if my mind just shut out the drama to focus on the dive at hand. We saw a few Weedy Sea Dragons and my buddy Steve was counting and measuring them. We returned to shore after about 40 mins with another dive under my belt.
Lesson from this dive - be very careful with your gear when setting up. Always lie it tank down in a clean place.
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