An early dive at Ricketts to beat the heat on a 42°C day. We entered near the yacht club (must remember to park at that end of the carpark). Several schools of Zebras, including juveniles grazing, but no Old Wives. Lots of fry around, which contributed to the reduced visibility at times. Spotted a pair of Pygmy Leatherjackets - one orange and a smaller green one - perhaps a male and femail pair? There were other pairs of Leatherjackets, so perhaps they're pairing up for the mating season.

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Quite a strong surge on this dive, which made the visibility close to shore very low. We found lots of male Weedy Seadragons carrying eggs, but only a couple of females. Kirsty an Amelia saw a few Cowfish but I missed them. I did get a glimpse of a large Smooth Ray cruising past the end of the pier.

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First dive of the season, with lots to see! Small schools of juvenile Swwp, Zebras, a few Seahorses, Moonlighters, a juvenile Scalyfin, and some small Stingarees.

We watched a large Magpie Perch nibbling on some seaweed, and we were circled a few times by a school of Australian Herrings.

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We headed down to Blairgorie to check out the Spider Crabs, now that they've come in to moult. The current theory is that this happens on the first full moon after the water temperature has dropped below 14°C.  There wasn't a massive aggregation to see, at least where we were, but there were thousands of crabs all along the pier, and there were also several Smooth Rays hunting them. We also saw lots of Moonlighters, a large school of Trevally, and a few Zebrafish.

This was a great dive to finish off the season!

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Visibility varied quite a bit on this dive, but averaged out to around 6 to 7 metres. Lots of fish in the growth near the dive platform, and there was a swarm of Leatherjackets, Wrasse, and Moonlighters trying to pull the body of a squid away from a crab further out along the pier. We spotted several Barber Perches, a Castelnau's Wrasse, a Short-tailed Ceratasoma, a few juvenile Old Wives, and a couple of Sweep and Scalyfins. Although there were supposed to be lots of Seahorses around, we only saw one adult, and no young at all. We went across to the Eivion, and were surprised to see how much of the hull was visible above the sand on the pier side of the wreck. Normally this seems to be be well bedded into the sand, but this time it was much more exposed.

Part of the reason for this dive was to try out Kirsty's new 7 litre cylinder. At around 3 kg lighter than her 10.5 litre cylinder, it is easier to carry. It looks like she will need to use either the same or slightly more weight, but she will still end up being perhaps 2.5 kg lighter overall, so that's a good result. Whilst we were trying out different weights, I gave Kirsty a half-kilo weight of mine, and I was still neutral, so it looks like I can take this oput of my weight pocket as well.

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This was a low tide dive, but we still had reasonable visibility. No massive aggregations of fish on this dive, but still lots of Dusky Morwong, Leatherjackets, Old Wives, and Zebrafish, as well as a few small Flathead. There were quite a few Scalyfins seen on this dive, chasing off the competition. This was a long dive, and we covered a lot of ground!

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We originally went to Flinders and set up there, but other divers there said that the conditions were terrible, so we decided to go to Rye instead. The visibility was great, and there was lots to see. A wide vriety of Leatherjackets, Old Wives, Sweep, Moonlighters, and a large Smooth Ray feasting on the gutted remains thrown over the side from a fising charter boat tied up at the pier. I spotted another Barber Perch, and lots of Pygmy Leatherjackets on this dive. We alsop saw a small Cuttlefish under the Eivion.

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This would probably be the best dive I've ever had at Ricketts Point!. Fantastic visibility, large school of Zebra Fish and Silver Trevally, and seven Port Jackson Sharks! On the way down, Kirsty had been wondering when we were going to see another Port Jackson, and were certainlty ticked that box on this dive. They were all nestled in under a couple of ledges. We say two together, and when we went further along we say another four, and when I turned around there was another one lying there on its own.

There were lots of Dusky Morwong around, some of them quite large. We think that perhaps some of these were females getting ready to spawn. We also saw a couple of Fiddler Rays, and Flatheads, as well as lots of quite large Leatherjackets, and also a few Scalyfins, Moonlighters, and Old Wives. Not many Sweep around on this dive though.

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A very murky dive at Ricketts!

The strong winds earlier in the week must have really stirred everything up. There were lots of very fine strands in the water, greatly reducing visibility. Hulafish everywhere, nd lots of Scalyfins, including some older juveniles. We saw several Scalyfins chasing Zebrafish out of their caves. Quite a few Moonlighters, Snapper and Dusky Morwong about, and we also saw a couple of large Flatheads.

This was our second dive for the day. We were able to get closer to the small schooling fish, but still can't identify them. We saw somne Ocean Jackets feeding off the end of the pier, and we went to check on the Pale Octopus in the tyre between the pier and Elsa's reef. Kirsty found a beautiful small fish that we think is a juvenile Barber Perch, and I spotted a couple of Castelnau's Wrasse. They're easy to identify because of their peculiar bobbing motion when swimming.

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This was Grace's first dive, so we kept to the shallower end of the pier. Spotted a few Stingarees, lots of Goatfish, and a couple of Big-belly Seahorses. There were lots of juvenile Leatherjackets around some of the pylons, and also a couple of Pygmy Leatherjackets.

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This was a very hot day, but great in the water! Lots of Weedy Seadragons, many of the males were carrying eggs. There were also also lots of Ornate Cowfish. A tiny juvenile Scalyfin was hiding under the engine block, and a Common Threefin was also spotted there. On the way back in we also saw a juvenile Mado - the first I've seen there.

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This was intended to be a dive at either Pope's Eye or South Channel Fort, but it turned int oa comedy of errors, and I had to drive back to the house twice - once for my camera, and then for the life jackets that had not been stored with the boat. We missed the tide, so put in at Rye instead, and anchored to the West of the pier and swam in. We saw lots of juvenile Moonlighters feeding together. Most books suggest that juveniles re solitary, but over the last few dives we've seen lots of them in groups. A Pale Octopus was in the tyre off the end of the pier, and there were a few small schools of Calamary around. We also saw a couple of Big-belly Seahorses locked together by their tails. From the pronounced split on the belly of the male we think that they were getting ready to transfer eggs to his pouch.

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Amelia's first dive for the season. Saw lots of small schooling fish. Can't work out what they are. Quite a few small Stingarees around the outside of the pier, as well as a single Spider Crab. We spent some time watching a Pale Octopus that lives in a tyre off the end of the pier, on the way to Elsa's reef. The Calamary have laid more eggs, and there were lots of juvenile Moonlighters hunting for food under and around the pier.

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Saw a fair bit of life on this night dive, including a few species of nudibranchs, a Sea Hare, Hermit Crabs, Sea Horses, and lots of Dumpling Squid. There were some very large schools of small fish, and only a few Calamary Squid. We learnt later that a solo diver died here the night before. No information yet as to why...

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There was a strong outgoing current on this dive, and lots of fishlife under the pier. Lots of juvenile Moonlighters, often in small groups. A reasonably good-sized school of East Australian Whiting were found to the West of the pier. Several Gunn's Leatherjackets were spotted near the pylons, as well as some Horseshoe and Mosaic Leatherjackets. A large Smooth Ray was poking around, and coming in close for a look at us. Kirsty spotted a Big-belly Seahorse, and a school of Calamary Squid, and an interesting little Sea Cucumber which we couldn't identify.

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