scott's blog

A quick dip in the Haven. Conditions not the best after all the rain but very impressed at the amount of sea grass at the moment and with plenty of critters hidden amongst it.

The prized find was the black striped angler. These things are hard to get a good photo of at the best of times. The swell and sand being stirred up made it almost impossible !

Another reminder as to what good diving we have on a doorstep on the central coast.

Easter always seems to be a total washout for diving. I am struggling to remember a single easter in the last 10 year where the diving gods have been totally kind. This year I managed to get out on the Monday after the sea had calmed down enough and the torrential rain had stopped.

I was not expecting good conditions given the amount of rain we'd had but I was pleasantly suprised to be greeted by a good 10m or so of vis. I could actually see the sun shining on the surface of the water from the deck of the wreck.

It had been many months of hard work by the boat sub-committee but the new TUG dive boat was bought down to the Haven from Lake Macquaire on Monday. Yesterday was an opportunity for members to see the boat and familiarise themselves with the new rig. An impressive piece of kit it is indeed. It is a little bigger than TUG 2, the same basic layout, and has a very solid feel about it.

The conditions had been terrible in the lead up to the trip, with large seas and lots of rain running off into coastal waters for the prior weeks.

Last weekend I dived out of Terrigal with a friend from Canberra in what were pleasant water conditions, 10m vis and 19 degrees temp. I reflected on how different the conditions were to spring diving on the coast over the last few years. Over the last few years we have had a lot of spring rain, the water has been green and cold, vis shocky and diving only for the keenest of us.

Another sensational spring day on the coast with a cloudless sky and calm seas. We decided to head down to Avoca Reef, a well known local fishing spot just south of the ex-HMAS Adelaide site. I suspect this is part of the same reef system as the Jew Grounds, a favourite site of mine. It certainly has a similar profile with the reef at about 31m dropping down to 38m.

What a weekend of sensational weather ... The seas have been flat, vis 10m+ and the water 16-17 degrees.

On Saturday the wind was up a little so we stayed close in shore heading to 5 Mile Reef followed by Forresters. The water was blueish and clear on the top, very unlike the winter conditions we have seen of recent years. There are a few salp in the water so the green stuff may not be too far off.

After what feels like weeks of ordinary weather preventing diving since Easter I awoke to the type of conditions you can expect on a Monday when it is time to go back to work. There was not a cloud in the sky or a breath of wind on the sea. The sea was as flat as I have even seen it.

For the last few years I have spent Easter with the ANU Scuba Club at Seal Rocks. The diving is absolutely fantastic provided the weather and sea conditions are in our favour. This year I had been doing so much travelling for work, I decided to have a chilled out Easter at home. The weather was not too bad, and certainly good enough to get some diving done reasonable close to home. On some days, we would have been battling against the seas to get further up the coast.

Traditionally the Xmas/New Year period holds great promise of getting into the water and a lot of diving done whilst off work for a while. Unfortunately, usually this promise is dashed by summer southerlies and less than ideal seas. I have come to bank on poor weather and not get my hopes up about getting a good amount of diving in. The Xmas/New Year period of 2012/13 absolutely smashed all expectations with unbelievably good weather !!

This is the diving I managed to get in mostly from my boat but some shore diving as well as a trip out with Terrigal Underwater Group: