Pete’s Point aka Windy Point (#280, 12 m, 57′, 15 °C)

Pete’s Point (Windy Point) in Cronulla is the small brother of the Oak Park dive site. The reef to the south-east eventually joins with the second Oak Park reef. The parking is on Rostrevor St, three streets north of Jibbon St (Oak Park). After gearing up there is a small grassy patch leading to the esplanade, from there it is a short way down to the Point itself. The best entrance and exit is on the south side close to the very point from an overgrown sloping rock. What I like most about this dive site is that there is really a lot of terrain to explore. I think I never did the same dive twice here yet.

Bare Island night dive (#279, 7.9 m, 43′, 15° C)

Last Tuesday was time for my first Bare Island night dive (will try to repeat that experience tonight…). The conditions had been rough for days, and the one option to dive at Bare Island was the west side. We started from the boat ramp on the island itself. The visibility was only 3-4m, but good enough for a pleasant dive. We crossed the sandy bottom to the west and followed the reef further, eventually turning south around a corner and then south-east. Despite the low visibility I had a terrific dive. I spotted my first striped pyjama squid, took a picture of what I was told later were mysids (mysidacea), had a Port Jackson shark almost swimming into me because it was so excited about the modelling light on my strobe… Ok, I let the pictures do the talking now

North Bondi (#278, 18.6 m, 60′, 15° C)

There are still many great dive sites around Syndey I was not able to dive yet. One of them was North Bondi, and last Saturday Matt and I decided to give it a try. At 7.15 in the morning we just scored the last parking spot above the dive site. Whereas most of the cars there probably belonged to residents I was still surprised about the amount of people on Bondi Beach or in close by cafes at that time of the day.

Bare Island east (#276, 9.1m, 74′)

Matt, Mogens and I jumped in on early Saturday morning on the first day with summer like temperatures – that is, outside of the water. The 16 degrees water temperature did not prevent us from taking a long photo dive. We entered the water on the left side of the bridge and crossed the channel to dive the east side of Bare Island. We did not get too far though, once we arrived at the nice wall with lots of nudibranchs we simply got stuck as all of us had brought photographic equipment along. The visibility almost uniquely allowed for macro shots (the PJ shark picture was about the only exception), and that’s what we did for almost 75 minutes underwater…
It was a great start in the day, and what a difference to dry within minutes in warm wind rather than freezing badly due to a cold breeze as it had happened only two weeks before…

View away from Sydney Opera House

Sydney Opera House is an enchanting construction, and ends up on thousands of pictures every day (does anyone have a good estimate for that number?!). Much less attention is attributed to the street light just next to it. I like it.

Big Wave Surfing in Cronulla

The forecast for the weekend suggested strong S/SE winds with 3-4m surge coming in from east. This type of conditions has a strong impact on almost any of the dive spots around Cronulla and the eastern suburbs. We decided to stay dry – for good reason, as I found out on Sunday. The weather was not as miserable and we went for a walk along Cronulla esplanada. The waves were certainly reaching a height of 4m, and a few guys on their boards were showing off. Quite impressive, I must say! I attach a few pictures.

Shark Point (#274, 16.5 m, 53′)

It is hard to believe, but it took me 1.5 years in Sydney to finally dive Shark Point in Clovelly. The spot is considered as one of the best dive sites around Sydney. The sea has to be fairly calm though for a safe entry and exit.
Matt and I entered the water at the fissure a bit back on the left side of the point and descended fairly quickly to a depth of 15m. Since Matt had not dived the spot too often himself we stayed rather shallow, making sure that we would arrive at the exit on the other side of the point with a conservative air reserve left in our tanks. The visibility was rather disappointing with a lot of heavy particles present. It looked as if the seas had been rough the last few days.

Canon G9 Underwater Photo Gallery

For those of you looking for sample pictures to evaluate the Canon G9 performance underwater:

- I have put a collection of recent shots on a separate page.
- my camera setup and the settings I use can be found on this page

Koalas, Brisbane Ranges NP

Being banned to stay off the water due to flu and cold I have to concentrate on different activities. I spent a great weekend with my friends in Melbourne, and on Sunday we drove to the Brisbane Ranges National Park. We hoped to see koalas on the Anakie Gorge Walk. Many of the eucalyptus trees were black from a fire not too long ago, with new branches and leafs blocking the views to higher regions of the trees. We were already on the way back when we finally discovered a drowsy koala just next to the walking track.

I don’t pay attention…

What the hell is this clicking next to me?! I need to have a look…

Ok, enough…time for the next nap

Bare Island (#271, 10.1 m, 75′)

Apart from the SW wind we found excellent conditions at Bare Island. The water was 15 degrees, still reasonably warm, at least if wearing a 7mm semi-dry.
I jumped in with the crowd of ProDive and did my own little photo dive. Two minutes into the dive I found a little octopus hiding in a small crack, along the east wall there were tons of nudibranchs, two PJ sharks, a second larger octopus…all there. If I hadn’t told Dan to start getting worried if I wasn’t back after 75 minutes I would have stayed forever… especially because I met the small octopus again, this time sticking its head out of the hole…