Diving the HMAS Adelaide – Finishing my Advanced Open Water
Just over a month after starting my Advanced Open Water course I climbed into my car to head to Terrigal to finally complete it. Previously, poor weather had resulted in the second day of the course being cancelled, and I was itching to get back into the water to complete the training. I'd collected my gear from Frog Dive on Saturday, which included testing and marking my nitrox tanks, for my Enriched Air Diver training. If I haven't said it before, I'd highly recommend Frog Dive in Willoughby! The staff are incredible, and there's a real sense of community in everything they do. The early morning drive to Terrigal was amazingly beautiful, and I was left wondering why I hadn't visited the area before. Sunrise over the bay was stunning,…
Half of my Advanced Open Water
Despite being new to diving, I was itching to get back into the water to do my Advanced Open Water certification. Why? Well, predominantly to open up a wide variety of exciting new dive sites, especially for our Great Keppel Island holiday in July (fingers crossed it doesn't get cancelled due to Covid). I spent the week preceding the course reading over the course material, and taking the required exam. This escalated the day before the course, when I made a last minute decision to tack on a nitrox certification, which required some additional reading and another exam. I was surprised by just how little additional information there was in the Advanced Open Water training. The course consisted of 2 required modules, Deep Diving and Underwater Navigation, as well as…
Diving Fairlight
After missing out on the dives in Port Stephens, Sharon was itching to get back under the water. So when we got back to Sydney, we jumped straight onto the Frog Dive website and signed up for one of their free shore dives. They were fully booked for all of January (thanks mainly to the reduced numbers due to Covid), and so we put our names down for the first free dive, which was at Fairlight in February. Fairlight is located in the Northern Harbour, and is a good site for beginners, with a maximum depth of around 8 meters. In 1949, the Dutch submarine K XII beached here, where it remained until January, 1951, when it was finally refloated and towed up the Parramatta River. On Friday evening we…
Diving Shag Rock, North Stradbroke Island – A Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upRwXZCN5eM Diving Shag Rock off Stradebroke Island. A really good macro dive.
Diving the Manta Bommie, North Stradbroke Island
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAuMuwnaNEY Some of the local dive sites on offer around North Stradbroke Island. Only a short boat ride from the launch site to this magnificent dive site. Run by Manta Lodge and Scuba Centre North Straddie.
A Wet Port Stephens – Fishing and Diving – The Video
https://youtu.be/AQHHMvaz22k It may have rained for most of the week, but we didn’t let this slow us down. We did some deep sea fishing, dived with ragged-tooth sharks (grey nurse sharks), raced toboggans, and so much more!
Diving with Sharks at Broughton Island
What’s the best things to do after getting PADI Open Water Diver certified? Jumping into the ocean with a bunch of sharks of course! Having had our Christmas trip to Brisbane foiled by Covid enforced border closures, we managed to find a single campsite in Port Stephens and quickly made a booking. Our mates then surprised us by making the long drive down from Brisbane, showing the ultimate level of dedication to spend New Years together. Amidst the rest of the fun, Nick and I decided to do a shark dive with Let's Go Adventures. We'd both grown up looking at ragged-tooth sharks at the aquariums in South Africa, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd ever be swimming with them...voluntarily. None the less, before I knew…
Diving Broughton Island – Ragged Tooth Sharks and a Starfish – The Video
https://youtu.be/O1c4U2Drt_4 Never a dull moment when you jump off a boat into shark infested waters! Diving North Rock Gutters, at Broughton Island, with grey nurse sharks was definitely an experience I won’t quickly forget, and highly recommend.
Getting My Open Water Diver Certification
My life has always include the ocean. Growing up, our family holidays were spent surfing, snorkelling, and fishing at Cape St. Francis (South Africa). And when we weren't holidaying there, we were often rock fishing in the Transkei. I have many a fond memory of free-diving for abalone with my father in the cool Atlantic waters of Cape Town, before we moved to Durban. I then got into fly fishing, and spent many a year targeting trevally (and multiple other game species) in the salty water of Cape Vidal. And then, after arriving in Australia, one of my first purchases was a Hobie kayak to get me out onto Sydney Harbour. I just can't seem to escape it. So when an excuse (finally) landed on my doorstep (in the form…