Two training dives at Camp Cove on Saturday. We covered the OW Open Water skills and Search And Recovery OW skills.
I sit the IE (Instructor Exam) next week and maybe then I can get back into some recreational diving.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Instructor Development Course
This weekend I started a 16 day Instructor development course.
The schedule is arduous, starting each day at 8am and finishing no earlier than 7pm for 16 straight days. We are scheduled to have 1 day of next Monday if we are on track.
Day 1 was in the pool from 8am until we eventually got kicked out at 4pm reviewing skills.
Day 2 was in the classroom from 8am until 7pm going over the Diving Knowledge exams and an introduction to the PADI standards.
I'm just leaving for Day 3...
The schedule is arduous, starting each day at 8am and finishing no earlier than 7pm for 16 straight days. We are scheduled to have 1 day of next Monday if we are on track.
Day 1 was in the pool from 8am until we eventually got kicked out at 4pm reviewing skills.
Day 2 was in the classroom from 8am until 7pm going over the Diving Knowledge exams and an introduction to the PADI standards.
I'm just leaving for Day 3...
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Camp Cove
Most of Sydney sites are closed out due to bad weather but Camp Cove is nearly always available as a dive regardless of conditions.
I forgot my camera so no photos today. My buddy was Phil, the DM was Damien and his buddy was Dave.
First dive we went the usual right (nor-east) direction- few interesting swim-through's, and an octopus with an eel. The visibility was quite poor and the area itself was full of boats due to Jessica Watson's return through the heads from her solo voyage around the worlds.
Second dive- We took a 240 degree heading from the beach until we hit a reef and then followed the reef in a South-westerly direction. quite an interesting dive but again visibility was not great.
I forgot my camera so no photos today. My buddy was Phil, the DM was Damien and his buddy was Dave.
First dive we went the usual right (nor-east) direction- few interesting swim-through's, and an octopus with an eel. The visibility was quite poor and the area itself was full of boats due to Jessica Watson's return through the heads from her solo voyage around the worlds.
Second dive- We took a 240 degree heading from the beach until we hit a reef and then followed the reef in a South-westerly direction. quite an interesting dive but again visibility was not great.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Forster & Seal Rocks - Big Rock and Little Rock - 01/05/10: The Pinnacles & Point A 02/05/10
A wet and miserable day is a great day to go diving and this was a great day to go diving.(wet and miserable)
We put our gear on board the dive boat at Forster Dive Centre and drove 40 minutes down the coast to Sugarloaf Bay where the boat picked us up for a 20 minute trip out to Big Rock. It takes the boat over an hour to get to the dive site and in a effort to reduce sea sickness the dive operators use this drive- cruise method of getting you to the site.
We did 2 dives on Seal Rocks. The first dive on the imaginatively named "Big Rock" and the second on the equally imaginatively named "Little Rock". The 2 rocks collectively are called Seal Rocks because of the huge Seal population that used to live here. Unfortunately the Seals were all shot by local fishermen because they were eating their fish, so today there are no Seals on Seal Rocks. This area is now a marine sanctuary and fishing is not permitted, although we did see spear fisherman on our return voyage and the Dive Operator stopped and told them he would report them. This led to a hasty disappearing act on behalf of the spear fishermen.
This picture was taken at Spot A by Jeff. There were many wobbegongs and they are well camouflaged in this environment. They can be easily knocked or kicked with fins if you don't notice them and they will give you a bite if they are threatened.
There were Grey Nurse sharks in all 4 dive sites; Big Rock, Little Rock, The Pinnacles and Spot A
Here is a map of Seal Rocks -Big Rock
and Little Rock
We put our gear on board the dive boat at Forster Dive Centre and drove 40 minutes down the coast to Sugarloaf Bay where the boat picked us up for a 20 minute trip out to Big Rock. It takes the boat over an hour to get to the dive site and in a effort to reduce sea sickness the dive operators use this drive- cruise method of getting you to the site.
The Dive operators were a very professional outfit and I liked their approach to dive safety and their excellent briefings. I would recommend them to anyone intending on diving this area, here are their details:
NSW Australia
Phone 02 6554 7478
We did 2 dives on Seal Rocks. The first dive on the imaginatively named "Big Rock" and the second on the equally imaginatively named "Little Rock". The 2 rocks collectively are called Seal Rocks because of the huge Seal population that used to live here. Unfortunately the Seals were all shot by local fishermen because they were eating their fish, so today there are no Seals on Seal Rocks. This area is now a marine sanctuary and fishing is not permitted, although we did see spear fisherman on our return voyage and the Dive Operator stopped and told them he would report them. This led to a hasty disappearing act on behalf of the spear fishermen.
From Left to Right- Me, Gab, Jeff, Danielle, Su-Ann & Brett
Here are my buddies from Abyss, We had a great weekend and the weather came good on the Sunday when we took this picture.
Grey Nurse Shark
One of the funniest moments of the weekend was on the second day on a dive called Spot A. The Grey Nurse Sharks are very timid despite their ferocious appearance and they will rarely approach the divers. As can be seen from my video above, they keep their distance and will quickly disappear if they perceive any threat. One medium size shark (about 2M long) slowly swam towards the group of divers in front of me. I saw Jeff seize the opportunity for a good photograph and start to move towards the shark, fully expecting that it would change course at any moment. The shark kept swimming towards him and with mouth agape swam inches over him. By this time Jeff had started flapping and retreating, the shark was just showing us who the boss is in this environment I guess. I was laughing in my reg and we were only in 12 M of water so I wasn't narked..
Here is the photo Jeff took as this was happening , amazing!!
At Spot A we came across numerous Wobbegongs and they were out cruising looking for food. Normally, in my experience, Wobbegongs are viewed still in a cave or hidden under rocks but at this site they were swimming in open water.
Here is the photo Jeff took as this was happening , amazing!!
At Spot A we came across numerous Wobbegongs and they were out cruising looking for food. Normally, in my experience, Wobbegongs are viewed still in a cave or hidden under rocks but at this site they were swimming in open water.
Wobbegong (Carpet Shark)
This picture was taken at Spot A by Jeff. There were many wobbegongs and they are well camouflaged in this environment. They can be easily knocked or kicked with fins if you don't notice them and they will give you a bite if they are threatened.
There were Grey Nurse sharks in all 4 dive sites; Big Rock, Little Rock, The Pinnacles and Spot A
Another Grey Nurse Shark
Thanks to Su-Ann Foo, Jeff Squires and Danielle DeJong for the photographs above.
Here is Su-Ann having a bad hair day without her hair clip
Here is Su-Ann having a bad hair day without her hair clip
Here is a map of Seal Rocks -Big Rock
Copyright Ron Hunter 1995
NSW Australia
Phone 02 6554 7478
Copyright Ron Hunter 1995
NSW Australia
Phone 02 6554 7478
Monday, April 19, 2010
South West Rocks
My Easter break took me up to the northern NSW coast to a place called South West Rocks. There is a small rock island off Smokey Cape Lighthouse called Fishrock. Some of the best diving in Australia is to be had here and I would highly recommend this trip to anyone who enjoys their diving. For me this was better than the Great Barrier Reef for one particular reason -Sharks.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Underwater Navigation
Today was the first day of the underwater navigation specialty course. We started in the classroom. The Instructor was Carl, ans other participants were; Keith, Michelle, Alex and 'Pixie'.
After going through the knowledge reviews we headed to Oak Park for a double dive with lots of skill assessments.
Dive 1 saw us calculating our time and kick cycles over 30 M. Then we performed a 5 minute swim in blue water at 5 M and set a reciprocal course to the flag. We then took visual and compass references over "split rock" to see if we could relocate the site on the second dive.
Before Dive 2 we plotted a rectangle with an equilateral triangle on top "house shape" which we attempted to reconstruct using 2 separate teams in the ocean.
Our first attempt was a disaster and we actually ended up losing one of the marker flags:
Our second attempt was much better and we managed to layout the flags and navigate fairly complex patterns across the site.
We went back to the surface of "split rock" using the visual aids from the first dive. I was quite pleased to descend within 5M of the target even with a moderate surface current.
The course covers a lot of "common sense" and anyone who has been diving a while will already know a lot of the subject matter. It is really good to practice these skills in a course environment as you get a better understanding of your abilities. I was quite surprised at my lack of ability to use my compass very accurately and this course has helped me to sharpen those skills.
After going through the knowledge reviews we headed to Oak Park for a double dive with lots of skill assessments.
Dive 1 saw us calculating our time and kick cycles over 30 M. Then we performed a 5 minute swim in blue water at 5 M and set a reciprocal course to the flag. We then took visual and compass references over "split rock" to see if we could relocate the site on the second dive.
Before Dive 2 we plotted a rectangle with an equilateral triangle on top "house shape" which we attempted to reconstruct using 2 separate teams in the ocean.
Our first attempt was a disaster and we actually ended up losing one of the marker flags:
Our second attempt was much better and we managed to layout the flags and navigate fairly complex patterns across the site.
We went back to the surface of "split rock" using the visual aids from the first dive. I was quite pleased to descend within 5M of the target even with a moderate surface current.
The course covers a lot of "common sense" and anyone who has been diving a while will already know a lot of the subject matter. It is really good to practice these skills in a course environment as you get a better understanding of your abilities. I was quite surprised at my lack of ability to use my compass very accurately and this course has helped me to sharpen those skills.
Monday, April 5, 2010
The Steps double dive
I was Dive Master today and gave the dive briefing. There were quite a few new divers in the group so we decided to cancel The Leap and do a double dive at The Steps.
At the shop in the morning about 5 of the divers were really unsure about how much weight they would need and admitted to not having been for a dive in over 3 months. The tide was high and there was quite a bit of white water on the rocks. If we had a group we were familiar with then we would have done The Leap but with all the fresh faces it wasn't worth the risk.
Double Dive at the Steps without incident but I did forget my camera so no pictures or video this week
Dive 1: I took a group of 5 East through average visibility. A big friendly Blue Groper accompanied us most of the way. We saw weedy Seadragons, nice sponge gardens, a few Nudibrancs and Leatherjackets. We took our safety stop on the white rocks and had about 100M surface swim to the exit with the current.
Dive2: I took a group of 7 West as we had past high tide and the current was now heading East. We saw large schools of yellow tails, various species of LeatherJackets, Eastern Blue Gropers and Green Gropers (females). We swam back through the shallower swimthroughs and surfaced with one diver down to 50 bar. Most others still had half a tank so it pays to go off on your own sometimes.We had about a 50M surface swim with the current to the exit.
Next Week Underwater Navigation course.
At the shop in the morning about 5 of the divers were really unsure about how much weight they would need and admitted to not having been for a dive in over 3 months. The tide was high and there was quite a bit of white water on the rocks. If we had a group we were familiar with then we would have done The Leap but with all the fresh faces it wasn't worth the risk.
Double Dive at the Steps without incident but I did forget my camera so no pictures or video this week
Dive 1: I took a group of 5 East through average visibility. A big friendly Blue Groper accompanied us most of the way. We saw weedy Seadragons, nice sponge gardens, a few Nudibrancs and Leatherjackets. We took our safety stop on the white rocks and had about 100M surface swim to the exit with the current.
Dive2: I took a group of 7 West as we had past high tide and the current was now heading East. We saw large schools of yellow tails, various species of LeatherJackets, Eastern Blue Gropers and Green Gropers (females). We swam back through the shallower swimthroughs and surfaced with one diver down to 50 bar. Most others still had half a tank so it pays to go off on your own sometimes.We had about a 50M surface swim with the current to the exit.
Next Week Underwater Navigation course.
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