Dry Suit Diving

I took the Dry suit course last weekend and had a familiarisation session in the pool followed by 2 ocean dives at Oak Park

Sam was the instructor and Ben and Chris were the other participants on the course.

Sam, Chris, Me and Ben

Overall the drysuit was good but I don't know that Sydney shore diving warrants the expense and trouble of a dry suit. Sure it gets cold in July and August but a good 7mm semi-dry with a hood is really all that is needed to keep diving.

Chris, Sam, Ben and Me in the dry suits

I found that my kicking action under the water had to be adapted as I tended to pull my legs in towards my body due to the air and extra buoyancy in my legs in a dry suit.

 The extra weight required for a dry suit is quite something. I usually dive with a 7/5mm wetsuit with 8lb but with the dry suit I needed 24lb which makes the walk from the shore to the car a chiropractors nightmare.

Sydney put on a typical sunny winters day for the course that lessened the value of the dry suit. On the day If it had of been 12 degrees and windy the dry suit would have offered so much more value, but it was 20 degrees and sunny with factor 30 sun protection needed more than a dry suit.


The "Onesy" (1'sy) underneath the drysuit  is a great piece of clothing and caused great amusement at times.

Sam, Colin & Ben in the "Onesy"

If I were to regularly go diving further south on a boat in the winter or take up Cave Diving then I would consider owning a dry suit. but for Sydney shore diving a good 7mm Vulcan wetsuit seems to offer me better value for my needs.
I know that I could moderate the temperature for year round diving with a dry suit by selecting different undergarments but my back just would not cope with all the extra weight required.
I recommend trying a dry suit in a course if you want to find out more or if you find it too cold in the winter to continue diving it would be a great solution as they are most definitely warmer than wetsuits. But for a rugged old Pom like me the water just doesn't get that cold in winter.

Shiprock and Oak Park

Two good dives yesterday first at Shiprock and then after the mystery of the Key was solved a trip down to Oak Park for the second.
Shiprock can normally only be dived for the short period between 25 minutes before and about 30 or so minutes after the peak of high tide (you can also dive at low tide but I would not recommend it). At other times, the water is subjected to very strong tidal currents and very poor visibility. Located at the junction of Burraneer Bay and Port Hacking on Sydney's southern outskirts, the name comes, not surprisingly, from a large rock on the shore's edge which, when viewed from the water, resembles a ship.

Shiprock ia an aquatic reserve and there are always interesting things to see here.

A Stripey  (Microcanthus strigatus) hiding in the rock wall

A pair of pygmy cuttlefish

A  stripped dumpling squid

The flora at Shiprock is very colourful

Inside the bubble cave, the water isn't green it is just the effect of the white balance

Molly at Oak Park wanted photographs underwater

Molly with the friendly blue groper

A nudibranch

He accompanied us for most of the dive

Molly with an inquisitive Comb Wrasse

Molly on the surface after the dive

After the dive at Shiprock my car key had completely vanished. Everyone helped me search and after a few frantic minutes it turned up in the lunch bag. Logic told us it had to be near but despite frantic searching it eluded us for several worrying minutes. Gavin and Brett had their keys in my car.

When we arrived at Oak Park we had a nice lunch on a magnificent Sydney August afternoon before going on our second dive. Molly was my buddy and she wanted some underwater photographs  and I am always looking for a subject so we got along well.
Visibility was slightly worse at Oak Park with maximum of 5M. There is always interesting things here and the Blue Gropers were very excited to see the divers in the water. They followed us around like over stimulated Labrador puppies.
The exit was exciting in some nice surf but everyone got out without event and was richer for the experience.

Two great dives again in Sydney. Here is a slideshow of all of the days photographs.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

OWSI

No recreational diving this weekend as I spent the weekend on an Open Water course.

I am DM on the 14th at Oak Park.

Maybe some photos and a dive report next week.