Sydney Sub Aqua Club

Well, the day started early for some with 3 out of the 4 SSAC divers kitted up and on the boat by 0645. For others, the day was more relaxed as having realised a social engagement clash with diving, Diver X decided not to come along... no names mentioned.  For Ben, the bail-out alarm clock failed and so he tried to get as many speeding fines as possible to get on the boat (which he managed by 2 minutes, well done Ben).

Mudgee Wine Tasting Weekend

After a stunning drive through the Hawkesbury, a pleasant start to Saturday evening hosted by Michelle & Ross unfolded, with Jill, Mike, Ben, Stu, Bec, myself and Rob in the spa looking like Al Capone. The Hawkesbury Residence achieved a new spa record consisting of eight of us touching toes and, created something resembling a waterfall down the garden. 

By our SSAC reporter, Jill:

The trip report is coming soon, in the meantime here are some pictures....

Another chunder dive was experienced by a few of us! Due to rough conditions, we dived inside North Head with Mike W, Owen, Vicky, Dave, Julian and Bec.

Plan of attack was:

Day one

With grey skies we met a Clovelly carpark for a single shore dive. Jules and Gary buddied and for over an hour and enjoyed the company of a large hungry blue groper, wrasses, cuttle fish and open water divers. Aimee and Bec took in the delights of the nuseries of baby fusiliers. With warm 20 degree water and 10-15m viz it made for a crusie dive. Rain, lightning and a few sets made for an energetic exit and a good giggle back at the carpark.

100% turnout. All three turned up -- Rick, Jonathan and petit moi.

Meeting with military precision at 0630 at Southern Cross Divers, we kicked the day off by hanging around for half an hour fixing Baz's engine*. With that problem solved, the engineering committee merged into the dive gear assembly committee and finally managed to produce something vaguely resembling a twinset for Gary's first dive on Long Reef.

Another sunny winters day with conditions flat as a tack!

2 dives, the first at 'The Waterfall' - Sydney Nth Head (26m)  and the second at 'The Colours' Sydney Sth Head (16m). Viz ranged from 15-20m on the first dive to 10-15m on the second dive with a fair amount of surge experienced on the second dive. A highlight included a massive 1.5m diameter ray, plenty of soft coral and a blue groper that decided to harass me.

The Colours: http://www.michaelmcfadyenscuba.info/viewpage.php?page_id=273

The big seas on Friday night had dies back to a slow rolling swell which, with the light westerly’s, made for a fast run up to Long Reef from Rose Bay on Yves boat.  The fist dive of the day was the Dunkenfield, a 50m collier which hit long reef & sank in 1889 and now sits at 25m.  The large two cylinder engine is still sitting upright amongst the splattered plates with the boiler just off to one side.  Stu made a good effort of examining every inch of it in the gloomy conditions. 

A most excellent dive.  Yves is offering a 'buy one, get one free' deal for May so we all had a double dive for 35 each.. fantastic.  The boat is quiet and fast, with loads of space.. what more would you want (bring your own Tabasco for the soup).  There was a bit of a sea running so Becs did a good job of feeding the fish (moral... pharmaceuticals are good!), but it was slight, certainly nothing to make getting out of the water difficult.

Following on from Rick's ravings about the diving on Stradbroke Island Ben decided it would be a perfect destination for a joint trip with our northern cousins BeeSAC.  Ben rallied five divers from SSAC and Jason Pacey co-ordinated diving, food for 12, and the BeeSAC divers.

Another great weekend aboard the Ocean Trek run out of Huskinson.

Organised by Bec, who sadly could not dive after being felled by a heavy cold, the five remaining divers were spoilt by some superb dive sites in the bay.

After a shaky start with some dry suit and kit problems (time for a little expenditure on kit service guys?) we started with two dives around Bowen Island to the South before the wind swung around and the diving moved across to the Northern Head of the bay.

It was the Australia Day weekend and the forecast was for hot and sunny every day, what could be better!  Well clocking off work early and getting to Jervis bay by mid evening was one, and having fairly palatial accommodation was another...even if it did have a bit of a Swedish sauna theme to the décor!  The rest of the crew rocked up over the course of evening, although Bec n Jules were staying down the road a local campsite so only swung by to drop Red off.

Three great dives on some of the best sites Shellharbour has to offer.

In an attempt to break the world record for the most $$$'s per dive, three fearless adventurers set off to Mooloolaba (about 1 1/2 hours north of Brisbane) to dive the HMAS Brisbane, which was scuttled just off the coast there in July 2005.

We stayed at the Mooloolaba Motel (no expenses spared on the accommodation) and as it was at 10pm on a Friday night, there is only one place to go for a cleansing ale: the classy and conveniently located Wharf Hotel.

An excellent weekend.  The students (Tash, Pete, Helen & Matina) worked really hard (harder than the instructors Ross & Rick?).  We even managed a barbie as well... wonders will never cease.  Now all that needs to happen is the students scheduling their diving assessments; over to you guys!

Well some may have had their doubts as we set off from Sydney and the clouds started to form.

Friday morning and though overcast the weather was fine and a dive at low tide was planned. As we kitted up the clouds cleared and the sun came out - perfect. A fun dive was had by all, except Roy who's dry suit flooded.

Friday at dusk we jumped in for our second shore dive, the water was calm and the fish were going to bed, as we surfaced dolphins danced around the divers.

Great set of dives, great company what more can you ask for a dive weekend away. Sharks, Dolphins, a marlin and even a snake eel. Great to find a really rebreather friendly boat. We'll definitely be back although next time I'll avoid Friday the 13th!

Between my late arrival and Nic's early departure it made for an interesting Friday 13th! Thank you for being so accommodating picking me up late. Great boat, crew, food, company and oh yes……..the diving, that was pretty good too!

The weather looked ok for the weekend so the trip was all ok to go. The Sevan apartments were excellent. Most of us squatted on the second floor whilst the Penthousers had ocean views, although level snobbery was put aside for the diving and Saturdays bbq.

First shocker of the hols, how much luggage can one girl need – Matina!

The flight from Sydney to Port Vila was like a party bus, Rob tried his luck ordering a beer and a bourbon and coke (well it was free) and was graciously served a very huge glass of bourbon, so it was game on for the rest of the party. Things were in full swing by the time we reached the destination, no one wanted to get off the plane! Air Vanuatu – highly recommended.

Twelve of us made the trip. What follows is a brief synopsis of the twelve and their experiences in no particular order.