Dive #101, #102: Magic Point and Old Man’s Hat, Sydney
| Dive 1 | Dive 2 | Dive 1 | Dive 2 | ||
| Place: | Magic Point | Old Man's Hat | Buddy: | Eithne | |
| Weather: | Fine | Type: | Boat ( |
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| Max. depth (m): | 18.0 | 19.8 | Visibility (m): | 10 | 9 |
| Time down: | 09:45 | 11:48 | Dive time (mins): | 54 | 45 |
| Average depth (m): | 14.0 | 14.3 | Water temp. (C): | 22.0 | 22.0 |
Notes: Fifth of a 10-pack of double dives with Pro-Dive shared between myself and Eithne.
Price: See dives #93, #94.
Diving: This was the first dive for Eithne and I in our new Seatec Viper Semi-Dry’s that we had made to measure. The Seatec guys are good. There’s a picture in the gallery of the measurement sheet they used to get a good fit. The suits were expensive as semi-drys go, but they were well worth it. Mine was absolutely lovely to dive in, especially in comparison to my previous costume that had a nappy-like flap that went under the crotch and attracted much ridicule. I felt svelte in the water, but tough, and slick and warm and very much like a pro.
There were some 10-15 Nurse sharks at Magic Point, and we spent some time observing them. Toward the end, having achieved perfect stasis, neutrally buoyant and unmoving, and being distracted by my video-making, I drifted peacefully in amongst them until tugged away, surprised, by our guide. After that there was a carpet shark and various other interesting fishies, but the suit was the thing on this one.
The second dive was at Old Man’s Hat, which was its usual colourful, soft spongy self. The suit maintained pleasant warmth and happiness throughout. There was a swim through (through which I glided gracefully, of course) and a few photos.
Equipment: Rented tank. Own everything else. 24 lb weight, 18 in BCD and 6 in weight belt.
Camera notes: RAW + JPEG again. I didn’t think to try taking photos of the sharks with no strobe (the ambient light was pretty good and the strobe just resulted in back-scatter). I could have done the white-balance properly in post-processing. Must remember that the strobe doesn’t always have to be used.
Accumulated time underwater: 2 days, 18 hours and 38 minutes