Happy New Year

Up typically early to take the dogs for a walk, a DVD back and to prepare to head for the ocean, I was feeling a little dusty but a Berocca later I was feeling fine. The temperature was due to hit 34degrees on 2009 day 1, so a cooling dip was the perfect start. Sal took 10 minutes to get from bed to car and at a little after 8am we left to collect JCJ and Susan and then head to Manly where we would be meeting Hempy for a swim.

The ocean was flat and blue and the air was warm-becoming-hot. We met a returning Josie and Jason plus Josie's folks whose names I seem unable to commit to memory. They had already been for a splash, Josie's Dad test driving his new prescription lens mask. Apparently the water was not as warm as it looked, nor as blue, but it was nice. We would discover that for ourselves; JCJ and Hempy, resplendent in camo-pants wetsuits and I in my full-black-seal suit took to the water while Sal and Susan took to a cafe.

Hempy, in his younger days, never seemed to feel the cold. That's not quite true; he did seem to feel the cold but he never admitted it. You had to pick up on the subtle tell-tale signs; he'd be blue and shivering uncontrollably. However, since moving to the tropics the lad has softened somewhat and felt no shame in letting the real men know how cold he thought the water was. To be fair he didn't whine that much but it was refreshing to see him behave like a mortal.

As Sal had a chaperon and as the water was really very flat we decided to swim over to the point, some 150-200m away. I did have the occasional sharky thought, what with a Great White having been spotted nearby only a couple of days earlier. That even made the news back in Blighty. The water was not super clear; in places it reminded me of the water colour you see on video from Dyer Island. But the thoughts didn't linger. In fact I was thinking more about the dive float JCJ had brought. The line attached to his float was only marginally longer that the blades of his fins. As is customary, we gave JCJ some abuse for that, hence starting the new year in pretty much the same way we'd ended the old one - taking the piss.

New Year, new policy...divelog entries will be entered into the main blog...cannot really be arsed to maintain two blogs dedicated to what I do...maybe I'll add a summary link to the other blog...whatever...

The water was neither particularly clear or fishy as we made our way over to the point, but it was pleasant. We didn't duck under the surface much until we got to the rocky reef of the point. There were a few leatherjackets, hula fish (so Hempy was happy), I found a porcupine fish, Hempy found a ray, there were yellowtail, some mullet, blackfish. The usual suspects. JCJ didn't point out as much as he usually does, possibly because he was tethered to the surface by a shoe lace length of rope (hahaha!) Not wanting to spend too much time out to sea, in case Sal went into labour, we headed back after 30 or 40mins. On our return we dropped down to the bottom of the rock pile and discovered that Jason had been telling the truth; at 4m the water temp dropped from its 22ish degrees on the surface to a around 19degrees. Enough to be noticeably cooler. Noticeably more green as well. We dropped down to the bottom a few times, a mere 8.5m below. Deep enough for me to feel like my lungs would pop after a few seconds (I was not having a great day) and shallow enough for Hempy to stop, look around, read a few pages of a book and make a few phone calls before inching his way back to the surface. Git.

With no sign of the ladies ashore as we returned to the Bower we decided to head over to its rocky reef to swim with the yellowtail and allow Hempy to have another brief whinge about the water temperature. To be fair, it was 10degrees cooler - colder? - than he is used to. Git.

JCJ looked as if he was getting run over - well, swum over - by a group of swimmers headed to Shelly Beach from Manly. From a distance it looked quite amusing. His head bobbed about a little way off from his float and swimmers looked as if they were heading between the two. I conjured up mental images of angry swimmers screaming at the bloke who had decided to roper the bay off. But it was all friendly and peaceful and before long we spotted the ladies wandering back from the cafe we would soon wander to.

We climbed out of the water into the now very warm air, ditched the neoprene and headed into Manly for breakfast at Cafe Steyne which has mixed reviews but I like. Lots of beach fronts are becoming homogeneous and bland. Big open sliding doors, check. Whitewashed walls, check. Chunky wooden tables, check. Sparse artwork on walls, typically quite average, often far sale, usually overpriced, check. Small portions on big plates, check. Cafe Steyne isn't like that. It's more old skool. A bit run down, iffy furnishing, iffy service, decent serving sizes, decent enough coffee, kids books and toys stacked (well, slung) in a corner and a view of the ocean. Suits me just fine. I had the big breakfast and Sal's left over ( = most of it) fruit toast.

Saying so makes me feel hungry. I'm off to find some breakfast.