During January and February I enjoyed 17 dives in Nelson Bay.
Unquestionably the most memorable of these was a dive at Fly Point with Jake Miller. Mick Todd’s longest dive to-date was a 301 minute dive at Fly Point in 1999 with a maximum depth of 15 metres. I thought anything Mick can do, I can do better so Mick and I agreed a wager on who could dive Fly Point the longest. Jake joined me for my attempt and every 90 minutes Tom Maz Maslen would ferry fresh tanks for Jake and I from Lets Go Adventures. Fly Point is tidal but is possible to shelter from the current in the shallows and when slack arrived, Jake and I dropped down to 25.3 metres - well below Mick’s 15 metres. And to rub it in, our dive lasted 361 minutes, a whole hour longer than Mick’s 1999 dive. Job done!
Unfortunately not. Mick had been determined to win our bet. A few days earlier, on Australia Day, Mick had left his Sydney home at 3.00 a.m. intent on improving upon his 1999 record. But he was in for a shock. When he arrived in Nelson Bay, he found the entry to the one-way Fly Point road cordoned off for Australia Day celebrations and learnt that no diving was to be permitted at Fly Point. Undaunted he drove to the exit point of the one-way Fly Point road, then drove the wrong way around the road system trying to get to the dive site. An official pulled him over. Mick said that he was doing a delivery for the Australia Day celebrations and was let through. Finally reaching the dive site he started unloading his dive kit but was immediately stopped by officials. A row ensued. Mick said that he knew nothing about the Fly Point diving ban. Eventually he was allowed to unpack his gear provided he then immediately removed his vehicle from Fly Point. He agreed and soon was carrying his five tanks down to water. The visibility was poor but Mick was determined to increase his longest dive time from 301 minutes. And he did. Sitting there for 501 minutes, interrupted only for a bounce dive down to 18 metres during slack. I had to hand it to Mick, he thoroughly deserved to win our wager.