During March to April I enjoyed eighteen boat dives with Let’s Go Adventures at Broughton and other islands outside of the Port Stephens heads. Many of the dives were with Let’s Go Adventures' dive guide Jake Miller - a great guy to dive with. Sometimes conditions were good, sometimes not. 

Seven dives were at North Rock Gutters, North Rock, just north of Broughton Island. One was with Chantelle Hayek who I had dived with previously. Chantelle kindly posed underwater for me. It was a shame that the visibility that day was poor as I would have liked to have photographed her surrounded by Grey Nurse sharks but that was never going to be possible. Herbie & Birgit Schmitz from Dinslaken, Germany visited Mary and I in Port Stephens. I had first met them when diving in Western Australia in April 2005. Herbie and I were soon heading out to North Rock Gutters. We could hardly have chosen a worse day. Overcast, poor underwater visibility, raining, windy and a rough sea. What bad luck. We returned two days and the conditions had improved. A little. Fortunately for me, some of the other dives at North Rock Gutters were very enjoyable.

Five dives were at Cabbage Tree Island near Yacaaba, the northern head of the Port Stephens entrance. Herbie & Birgit were not the only visitors to Port Stephens, Paul and Mel Hymers from the UK also stayed with Mary and I. Paul and I had often dived together in the UK and I was keen to show him how much better diving is in Australia! And we were blessed with good diving. Chantelle and Herbie also dived Cabbage Tree Island with me but Paul had hogged the best dive conditions. After our dive at Cabbage Tree Island, a disappointed Herbie described it as “a day wasted out in the ocean”.

Four dives were at Looking Glass Island, south of Broughton Island. I may have occasionally been unlucky elsewhere but that was certainly not the case at Looking Glass Island. I enjoyed excellent dives there with fellow Snappers Underwater Photography Group member Trevor Howard and with Paul Hymers. And Let’s Go Adventures guide, Horrie Noble showed me a resident Eastern Blue Devilfish as well as a Giant Cuttlefish.

My other two dives were at Safety Cove on the southern side of Boondlebah Island and west of Spider Cave in Fishermans Passage on the western corner of Broughton Island.