Friday was an early start for me, up before the sun to pick up the club boat. Luckily the sign guys that have a workshop near the club house were in and shuffled cars making my egress easier. I then met a few passengers at the Ferry carpark to transfer gear into my car and hop in.
Nelly arrived and as we started to load gear she clicked to open her boot. No clack. Clicked her key fob again, still no clack. Boot was stuck shut! We fiddled for a while with the boot lid, then turned out efforts to lowering her back seats, without much luck. We turned to the manual and Lynn found the instructions which were wrong! There was an extra and wrong steps but eventually I figured out and we were able to retrieve her dry suit.
Still plenty of time for the barge and the weather is near perfect so it was a smooth easy ride over.
After the barge we headed straight to Amity to meet the rest of the crew, many who were on an earlier barge. I was surface watch for the first dive and watched as the others geared up and got ready to start collecting underwater rubbish. Unfortunately more bad luck for Nelly, a split along her wrist seal in the dry suit. There must have been a heap along the wall as it wasn't 20min before divers were back on the surface with full buckets and heading down for more.
There was a heap of rubbish along the wall, definitely warrants a few return trips. When all said and done we had to empty out the Anchor box to fit more in! Back on shore Nelly waddled up the beach, about half her suit full of water :( A cold dive for her so she made the wise decision to sit out the next.
The rest of us got set and headed off to Cherubs Cave, through the north channel of the South Passage Bar. Great conditions today and barely a bar to speak of. It was even so good that it glassed out on the way back in. The same couldn't be said for underwater though, barely 5m vis. Still it was a good dive on Cherubs and despite a few fishers in the area not much rubish at all. Which I guess is a good thing.
With the smooth run back we got to Kens mid afternoon and begun the clean up of the massive haul from the Amity wall. So much line, sinkers, squid jogs and even two (yes, TWO!) oven elements. Finding places to sleep at Kens place is always a balancing act, where are the snorers sleeping..... where are the people with heavy boots.... or early risers... or late partiers....
Anton and Al D cooked up some amazing Spag Bog... but we forgot to pack the past last wednesday... wooops. Al ducked off to the shops to grab some and we all had a good dinner. Bed wasn't too long after.
The next morning we had a fairly leisurely start, at least so far as diving mornings go. Not leaving Kens until 8. By the time we made it out to Flat Rock there was already 2 boats at the shark gutters so we swung around to Turtle cave and dropped in there. Surpsing vis compared to the pea soup that was yesterday, almost a good 10 meters. There was also a bit of rubbish to collect making it a worthwile location to dive. Sadly I overshot the moring on the way back getting to the surface quite a ways away from the boat. Nothing like a good surface swim to work off that dinner from last night!
Second dive was around at Shag Rock. A few fishers on the surface and 1 very enquisitive dolphin that swam within 3 meters of the boat. Underwater there was a bit of waste to collect, including a dive slate. Alex and Iwent through the swim through and around the Eastern half of the Rock. Few turtles and heaps of fish. Usually see a Frog fish in that location but didn't seem to find any this time. On the return Alex was getting a little low on air so we popped up, I was dead on target this time, but still ~30m short making another (albiet smaller) surface swim to the boat :o Sadly in the last 5min of the dive the bucket I had snapped off to my D-ring must have bumped into my tank and broke lose sending it flying :/ Had a few sinkers in it, so it should sink but I didn't see it fly off but we've made a net positive this trip and we can get it next time.
Back to Kens again for sorting the rubbish and making sure it is recorded properly. In the afternoon most people headed up to Pt Lookout, some just for the Ice Cream, others to do the Gorge walk. I took a short walk down the beach but mostly chilled back at Kens and got a jump start on setting my gear up for Sunday. Some of the locals hopped by to help.
Another great dinner, thanks to Jez for cooking the meat and Coralie and Marja for the Salads. A more lively night tonight with ome very good scotch by Al, and some Port that was donated. It's great going on dive trips like this where you can wittle the night away sharing trip stories, or planning the next ones! We had decided to beat the other boast in the morning so the night didn't drag on too long.
Up and out of Kens by 7 for another smooth beach launch, conditions are great on the surface this trip. Looked like outher boats were already on their way out but we were at the rock with plenty of time to spare (they arrived after we were well and truely down) and were able to get the prime moring, right at the Shark Gutter. At least a dozen or more Grey Nurse Sharks in the gutter and a few in the side gutter. 50+ Mobula Kuhlii Rays schooling too, plus 2 Devil Rays near them. On the dive Kristie also found a Dive torch, looked likt it had been down a little while, but not too long. Battery was flat, but we chucked in one of mine to test it and it was a bright little package. Good find.
On the surface we were treated with a few shows from the migrating Hump Backs, the closest just a little under 50m away. Kristie got her mask and Fins on and hopped in trying to see them underwater but unfortunately with the vis that was all but impossible. My buddy decided the sun and whales was enough for him so I joined Kristie and Jez on the second. Soon after out descent was a Cow Tailed Ray and then back to the many many Sharks.
Not too much to sort out after todays dives, and clean up was pretty quick. Some awesome Bacon wraps made for returning divers and then a quick sweep of the houses. We had plenty of time to go before needing to be on the barge so it was off for another IceCream, so I went this time too. Great view from the Point Lookout Knoll. Dolphin Pods and Whales off in the distance. We hung around for a bit, but then it was time to get to the barge and start heading home.
Another smooth ride back and a quick transfer of Yanir and Lintons gear back to their respective cars and I was off to return the boat to the Club house. Good traffic the whole drive back and was long before I could Gerni off the boat and tuck it in the shed. Off home myself and dive gear away (washed it at Kens) and eat some Grub.
Another awesome URGQ weekend away.
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