JCJ called at the arranged 08:30 and we decided that Camp Cove of Keyhole, inside the harbour were our best options as the wind had come up from the south overnight and most other shore spots would be too lumpy. He came over to pick me up - still no car - and after Sally gave him the obligatory hugs we headed out in the 21 degrees, spitting with rain and overcast morning. I prefer keyhole (Camp Coves western/southern end) to Camp Cove itself and we had a look there fist. Three dive flags and one boat (UNSW) confirmed that pretty well all other dive sites would be blown out, but three flags? The other end looked diver-free so we got back in the car and found all of the divers getting ready in the car park so did a loop back to keyhole.
We got geared up, JCJ in his camo-pants wetsuit looking especially sexy. Slight reg free flow on his backup, but nothing too bad and we headed in. The facts and figures are
Keyhole, inner Sydney Harbour shore dive. 60mins, max depth 8.2m. Low tide ish, in at approx 11:15. Swam out around the rocks and back over them. Single tank, 3mm full wetsuit.
It was great to be back in the water. We had a gentle bimble and I saw plenty of the usual suspects. A small octopus under a rock and very protective of his (her?) shell collection, a decent sized blue grouper, a group of one spot puller each protecting their own small patch of algae, I saw one kingfish zap past, JGJ saw a school, plenty of mado, leatherjacket, small wrasse, rock-cod and so on. No seahorses, though we did look. The yellow, orange and purple sponges, though sparse, are still there, as is the kelp. JGJ also pointed out strange worm like thing buried in the sand with what looked like a horror-movie circular tooth filled mouth projecting. It disapeared into the sand very quickly when we stopped to look at it and did not emerge again.
Being inside the harbour we also saw a broken cup, plastic forks and spoons, bottles, cans, broken glass and so on. Being close to a rocky outcrop we saw and cut through loads of fishing line and JCJ collected probably as much lead as he was wearing. He should open a store selling reclaimed weights to fishermen.
It is over three years since I have dived with JCJ - or dived in Sydney - and it was great to be back doign what is, by local standards, a very tame dive. Many more to follow. Post dive tea and chat done it was wash the gear time and I am now waiting for the ladies to return and to see how they react to the bathromm being fulll of wet dive gear. Ho hum.
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