November. My second year in Sydney kicked off with a dive in disappointing visibility at Clifton Gardens with Nicci “Scuba Squirrel” Johnson. As ever, Nicci was able to spot lots of sea life - bizarrely there never seemed nearly as much sea life whenever I solo dived the site.
December. Next a cold dive on my birthday at Bear Island, La Perouse with Mick Todd, well 16º seemed cold to me having lived in Australia for a year! Mick spotted a Clingfish which posed for me on a Sausage Zoanthid. I had been feeling cold up until then but caught up in the obsession of trying to photograph this Clingfish I forgot all about the chill. My friend Rob Iles had not dived for a while and wanted an easy dive so we dived Shelly Beach, Manly and the next day I again dived Shelly Beach and again with a Rob. This time Robert Hawkins, son of my UK dive buddy Susan Coatsworth, who was holiday in Sydney and wanted an easy local dive.
January. Three dives at Clifton Gardens, Chowder Bay followed. The first with Nicci Johnson. The previous year Nicci had complained about surface finning out to Magic Point from the Sydney shore so I thought it prudent to keep an eye on her as we surface finned out to a buoy from the Clifton Garden shoreline. The old girl made it ok nevertheless I made a mental note to avoid diving with any more “senior” dive buddies. The next day solo diving the site it seemed to me that much of the sea life had again bizarrely disappeared. Either that or, as Nicci suggested, I’m as blind as a bat. Hmmm. My third dive was my first with local underwater photographer Jayne Jenkins. Her eyesight was fine. Jayne spotted two Octopus mating. My next dive was with sailing friend Bertrand Philippe at Fairy Bower and then a solo dive at Clifton Gardens for a solo dive, memorable for all the things that went wrong! Prior to the dive, my tank apparently lost its o-ring as it was being filled causing concern that the Dive Centres Compressor Bank may have been damaged. The hood of my Subal dome port worked loose and almost fell off and a clip connecting my Subal housing to my BCD broke. Beginning the dive, the fin strap on one of my Scuba Pro Twinjet fins broke and as I descended from the surface my regulator, which I had thoroughly cleaned predive, went into freeflow. One fin and working regulator did not make for a relaxing dive.
February. My next dive was memorable more for the Exulted Company than the fish life as I joined Jayne Jenkins and Ron and Valerie Taylor at Clifton Gardens. Returning to Shelly Beach the next day with Nicci, we dived the north side finning out to Penis Rock. At least that’s what Nicci assured me the rock was called. I suspect she just wanted me to write the name in my dive log - anyway I could not find this “rock” on Google. My next dive, again at Shelly Beach, was with Mary’s son, Aaron then I solo dived Fairy Bower spotting some juvenile Dusky Whaler sharks otherwise known as Black Whalers, halfway between Fairy Bower and Manly Beach. Next I dived Clifton Gardens with Jayne Jenkins and Chris Miller, an underwater cameraman for Nine Network Australia. Good company, disappointing dive. The three of us returned the next day and the visibility was slightly better and I followed this up with two solo dives on the same site. Then it was back to Shelly Beach to dive there with Leila Cara who was visiting Sydney, had come across my website and was keen to see Wobbegong Sharks.
April. After time spent in the northern hemisphere I was back in Sydney and Nicci Johnson and I were horrified to discover that Manly Council had replaced the mesh exclusion nets by Manly Wharf with new nets. Nearby Manly Aquarium World had released hundreds of tagged Sea Horses into the old nets to make their home there and in so doing, create a Research Area. Now, below the surface, there was just rubble, a heap of old nets on the sea floor and the brand new netting. Two dives at Clifton Gardens followed: one solo and one with Nicci, then Fairy Bower. The large sheltered bay in front of Fairy Bower has many fish and every year around January to March, female Dusky Whaler sharks arrive and give birth to their litters, these litters ranging from one to two dozen juveniles. Many juveniles survive staying to feed, build body mass and strength and learn how to hunt, leaving when the waters get too cold around July/September. With poor visibility and skittish Duskies, photography was tricky. I returned two days later, this time with Karen Raubenheimer but unfortunately the visibility was no better. And if anything was worse when I went back to the site with my wife Mary and Bertrand Philippe. There was however a dramatic moment when a Sergeant Baker caught a small fish, the fish twitching in its mouth. Suddenly a Dusky appeared moving in an aggressive twitchy motion and the Sergeant Baker quickly disappeared. The Dusky calmed down but was then joined by other Dusky Whalers who circled our area. Their mood was cautious and they soon lost interest and disappeared. Still hopeful of a decent Dusky image I returned yet again and pre-dive had an interesting conversation with a fellow underwater photographer who was also there to photograph the Duskies. He had taken to picking up discarded or snagged lures. He then twirls the lures so that they catch the light and glint. This he believes then attract sharks towards him. Once underwater I watched him for a while but he did not seem to be having any success with this technique. My next April dive was at Clifton Gardens in poor visibility, nevertheless I spotted four juvenile Roundface Batfish at the end of the jetty. The batfish were thousands of kilometres from home and faced a slow death as winter arrived. They are usually found in tropical waters off Queensland but had ridden the East Australian current down the coast during the summer and become stuck in Sydney Harbour as the waters cooled. Three of these Batfish, believed to be the first to be found in the harbour for more than 35 years, were subsequently captured and taken to Sydney Aquarium. My last dive of the month was another solo dive at Fairy Bower for another largely unsuccessful attempt to photograph Dusky Whalers.
May. Was I still in the UK? My first dive of the month at Fairy Bower was in visibility which certainly reminded me of the UK! However the water was 21 degrees. And there were sharks. The visibility was a better for my following dive at Clifton Gardens and a couple of days later I was driving past Manly Wharf on my way to Fairy Bower and spotted a very convenient car parking space with which to dive the nets. Was this fate - should I change my plans? I decided to dive the nets. Wrong decision. The dive was memorable for one moment only. I was scouring the seabed beneath me when a surge suddenly thrust the net and with it, a 0.75 metre trapped dead Kingfish which I had not seen, straight into my face. Its eyes had been eaten out and other than maybe Nicci Johnson first thing in the morning, I could not imagine a more unpleasant close encounter. Three dives followed at Clifton Gardens during which I photographed the chilly Batfish again and also a juvenile Lionfish which also must have been feeling the cold.
June. Mary and I dived Fairy Bower and Mary enjoyed a close encounter with a cuttlefish which turned quite aggressive! Then Clifton Gardens with Nicci. Nicci intended to rescue a local Eel caught on a fisherman’s snared and came armed with a bag and a big stick. A frightening sight and not surprisingly the eel gave her a wide berth. The next day, solo diving at Clifton Gardens I happily photographed the sea horses.
August. I dived Clifton Gardens with Jayne Jenkins spotting a particularly superb Frogfish, or as the Australians call them Anglerfish.