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Over 2 weekends,
Starting 12th and 13th March
Finishing 19th and 20th March.

Fran and Les.
Despite the rough seas the dives were still good.
Two poles in particular was the best dive we've had in a long time.
Tony Atkins.

Thanks for the kind words Tony - hope to see you again soon.
Fran

Our trusty helpers Nigel and Linda together with Glen went to dive Fish Rock Cave.

We are waiting for a dive report but at the moment "It was Great" and even now Linda has not seen a turtle!!!!!

It did not take the boys much time to collapse - diving is soooooo tirrrring. see the photo.

Its good to see you taking it easy - but don't get too comfortable.
See you all when you get back.

A good night was had by all - it was lovely to see a few people we had not seen for a while." Thanks must go to Linda for the lovely chocolate strawberries, chocolate crackles and a very nice "not to eat and dive/drive brandy cake" Thanks also to Shane who made the largest platter of "fairy bread" that I have seen. Yes the big kids ate it too."

"On a more serious note Saturday the 11th December 2010 marked the 11th Wedding Anniversary of Linda and Nigel. Congratulations to both of you - we look forward to your 22nd - not sure if some of us will be able to keep up the pace - but we will certainly try."

HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A VERY SAFE DIVING NEW YEAR
FROM LES, FRAN AND ALL THE DIVE TEAM AT TERRIGAL.

Les, Fran and all the Members of "Team Terrigal" would like to say a very. very big
MERRY CHRISTMAS and a SAFE DIVING NEW YEAR to everyone.Thank you
for your support over the years.. We look forward to having you come diving on the
ex HMAS Adelaide in the not too distant future.

Hello everyone.

It's your friendly reporter, Clark Bent with a short update on our recent jaunt to Jervis Bay last weekend 13th and 14th November.

Myself, Linda, Glen & his mate Matt stayed at the dive lodge operated by Dive Jervis Bay dive store for the weekend. We found it very comfortable and roomy.

The diving we did was all inside the bay with an average depth of 18 metres.
The water quality was quite good in general with temps at 19c on the surface but dropping to a chilly 15c about 10-12 metres down. The visibility varied from good (10 metres) to great in the colder depths (20-25 metres)

We dived twice on Saturday - Point Perpendicular, thick with yellowtail, bullseyes, strip-eyes and the obligatory blue groper then moved around the corner to Slot Cave which is a 60 metre long cave that penetrates the rock wall and is about 8 metres deep.

On Sunday we had 3 dives, back to Point Perpendicular but this time adjacent to Pyramid Rock. Massive swim throughs & gutters and plenty to see.
The 2nd dive was at The Docks. A bit further inside Jervis Bay and our 3rd dive was on a plane wreck from the 1950's.
This plane was a Firefly torpedo bomber that was involved in a mid air collision with another Firefly.
The pilot bellied the plane on the water and survived but obviously the plane sunk.
This site is a must to dive as it is about 90% intact and sitting on sand in 14 metres of water. Plenty of fish around and this makes it hard to get a decent photo.
The prop is still in place so are the wings & tail, the canopy is open and the pilots' parachute pack is still located in the cockpit. You can look under part of the engine cowling an see sections of its' massive power plant.
The paint is also in good condition and I think the planes' markings may still be found if you know where to look on the fuselage.

All in all a good weekend.

Safe diving,
Clark Bent (aka Nigel)

" Les, Fran, and all the Terrigal Dive team would like to say a Big Congratulation to Mitchell Davis and Lauren Fawkner who got engaged recently on a trip to Melbourne.

Great news, the next two years will pass quickly and then you will be an old married couple. We look forward to seeing you again soon. It was great that you stopped bye to let us know."

Saturday morning 30th October saw four brave souls venture out on a fairly brisk morning for a dive to Sweep City. Sea was a bit choppy but much better than it had been.Jumping off the boat and descending to the sea bed Gary, Peter, Dan and Glen had a nice surprise - they could see one another on the bottom and the visibility was a fantastic 6 - 10 metres

.If you have been diving lately you will understand why I say visibility was fantastic. Large schools of fish swam around and the verdict when they got back on the boat was that it was well worth making the effort.

Sunday morning saw 5 divers geared up to go out to the Kiama Wreck. Seas were a bit on the high side so Captain Potter made the decision to go to the Galava instead - a slightly shorter distance. Those of us left at the shop were certain that they would be back early - but no they were going to have their dive. It turned out that it was a fantastic dive 15 meters plus viz. and again lots of fish.

The temperature of the water was reported as being good too. To quote one person "it was better under the water than being in the boat." The second dive for the day was cancelled due to increasing swells and wind.

On a sad note the Terrigal Dive Team would like to offer their sympathy to the Appleby Family whose son Matt went missing from Avoca Beach and who was washed up at Forresters Beach. He did the dive course with us in May and always had a cheery smile for everyone. A young life cut short. Our thoughts are with his family.

Tongan Adventure

Graham Tight writes about his trip to Tonga on the P&O Pacific Jewel and his tropical diving experiencies.

Click here to read it.

October Long Weekend 2010 – Saturday 2 Dives managed to be run in choppy Conditions. Visibility was only between 5 and 7 metres at both sites.

Eight eager people went for a night dive and as usual the Haven did not disappoint with Port Jacksons, Bull Rays (yes they are back) and cuttlefish as well as the usual Schools of fish.

Nigel took charge of the Bar-B-Que, we will have to get him a white hat soon. He did do a very good job though.

Diving on Sunday was a definite NO NO, so a “Sunday Breakfast” was had – lots of talk and tea and coffee, planning diving procedures for Monday. Wishful thinking, we will just have to wait and see.

Monday came and went – another non diving day. Here is looking forward to the next long weekend and a lot of bubble blowing between now and Christmas.

Thanks to everyone who called in to have a chat it was good to see so many of you out of wet suits for a change.

Have decreed that next weekend will be fantastic “shoooosh.”

Fran

Congratulations to our good mates Linda and Nigel on becoming Dive Controllers. For all those who have done or observed this training you will know that it is no small thing to achieve this level of training.
Many happy dives mates! Those you take diving with you are in for a real treat with your sense of humour and will be safe as houses in your care.
John Johnstone

At the same time we would also like to say congratulations to Pete Davis in gaining his Dive Controller and Byron Potter in obtaining his Instructors certification. 
We now have four more - well qualified people to help us out at the dive centre. It took a lot of hard work and a fair amount of time but well done everyone. 
Les and Fran

Sausage Sizzle

Byron with Glynis	Gary blowing out candles
Nigel Cooking up a Storm	Saturday 24th July had been nominated to be a bar-b-que night, but it turned out to be far more important. Firstly it was one of our regular divers Gary Peters 60th Birthday we did not know this at the time of choosing the date. Also a welcome back for our Boat Skipper Byron Potter who had just got back from the lovely warm Philippines - what was he doing over there you ask - well Byron sat his SSI Instructor's Exam and we are very pleased to say that he passed.It was a very special get together. Nigel controlled the Bar-B-Que with great aplomb and the sausages were devoured as fast as they were cooked.
The diving on the day was good with dives at Sweep City and The Pinnacle. A special part of this was two whales resting just off Forrester’s Beach. On Sunday we dived The Kiama Wreck and First Point. Good Viz, and lots of fish again. Thank you to everyone who helped in making this weekend very special. We will have to do it again sometime.

Getting ready to eat

Diane, Jasmine and Tristan

"All the gang would like to wish Linda well in her new shop, St. Andrew's Florist. If hard work has anything to do with it - it will be "blooming" successful. Well done Linda, but don't give up diving altogether?" Only joking see you late Saturdays and Sundays.

Happy Birthday Glenys on the 29th April. Shhhh we won't tell how old she will be, but we will celebrate with you Saturday night.
Love from "The Gang".

	A very belated apology for not putting these images up sooner when we congratulated Grant and Paula on achieving your SSI Instructor Certifications instead of the "Mug Shots" published below. Pictured left are the proud recipients with their certificates. Pictured below are "The Gang" who assembled to celebrate this fine achievement.

Hello everybody,
I'm back !!! (sorry)
I haven't been doing much reporting lately as Linda & I are going through another course (torture programme) but we did get a couple of dives in last weekend.
Our dive on Saturday morning was at Foggy Cave.

Brilliant dive! We dropped in off the boat into milky water with about 5 metres vis. Following the anchor line down, when we reached 10 metres depth, the milkyness cleared to crystal blue water all the way to the bottom 40 metres below with at least 30 metres vis. After a slow swim to the ledge overlooking the cave, we stopped at the drop-off to see 7 beautiful Grey Nurse sharks leisurely swimming around below us.
Instead of just dropping straight down onto the sand, we stayed on the ledge until we were sure that all the sharks had seen us. Only then did we drop off the ledge to join the sharks.

Because they all knew that divers were around, when we dropped down, they weren't spooked by our presence and just went about their business, swimming over & around us and just doing what they do naturally, instead of being spooked by divers and swimming off.

Sunday's dive was also to Foggy Cave (just had to do it again).
The vis had dropped a little to about 20 meters. Water temp was 24c with a slight southerly current.

Back to the ledge, sit there for a minute to allow the sharks to accustom to our presence, then drop to the sand in the middle of 8 Grey Nurse (2 babies - probably last years birthings & 6 adults) one of which was obviously the dominant male.
He swam out of the cave towards me, turned slightly to my right as he passed and bared all of his teeth, probably as a show of dominance. Brilliant, the only problem is Linda had the camera as she was getting photos of an adult female with a large hook & trace line attached. She must have put up a good fight with the fisherman as her head is permenantly twisted to the right. She probably has neck muscle/tendon damage.

Take a look at our short video, but for the real thing, have a dive with us at Terrigal Dive Centre.
Anyway, on that note, I must say goodbye till my next report.

Video of Foggy Cave Scuba Dive.

Stay tuned - stay safe
Clark Bent

We had a great time! We were visiting Sydney for the holidays from the US and wanted a day of diving. A quick internet search turned up Terrigal Dive Centre.

My boys (18 and 20) and I were so glad to find such a great dive shop and an easy to access spot to dive. Les and Fran took great care of us. Our first dive was a boat dive

. The dive master and the more experienced divers on the boat were very helpful to the less experienced. They treated us like family. A very positive experience on rough conditions.

I look forward to diving here again on our next visit down under and hope to be able to dive the HMAS Adelaide out of the Terrigal Dive Centre.

Thanks to Les and Fran from,
Jim, Tim and Sam.

Les and Fran would like to congratulate Grant and Paula Bradley on passing their Dive Instructor's Exam's and we welcome them into our fold. Now their problems are only just starting - we are only joking.

Maritime put out the marker buoy at the site where the ex HMAS Adelaide
is going to be sunk. It is a further milestone in the history of obtaining the
wreck and it is suddenly getting quite exciting.

P.S. Les could not resist being the first in the queue.

The Open Water Dive Course divers all passed with flying colours and were a real pleasure to have and Les and I are looking forward to them visiting us again shortly. Thanks also for the birthday wishes.

Fran

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRAN!

Thanks again for a great week. We all thoroughly enjoyed the course and learned a lot.

Here is a copy of the photo Linda took yesterday of our happy group. We hope to see you soon for our follow up dive.

Have a lovely day,

from Rowena

Hi Les & Fran, We arrived back from our trip to Santo last Friday. The diving over there was great as usual - 15 days, 14 dives on the President Coolidge and 1 on an old Dauntless bomber wreck. The air temp was about 30c with 80-85% humidity and the water was a constant 28c at all depths. This is the life. If this is the rainy season, bring it on.  We had 2 days when it drizzled slightly for about 30 minutes and 1 downpour overnight. The fish life on the Coolidge all come in giant size - 1 metre long snapper, 1.5 metre tuna, 2 metre long barracuda, Nessie the moray eel (probably 3 metres) and Linda spotted some other big fish cruising off in the channel that looked to be about 2-2.5 metres long. Linda, being a florist, decided she would take a flower down to The Lady and I took a photo of the occasion. This is probably the 1st time that The Lady has received a flower in 68 years. The bomber wreck was also a great dive. Although it is broken up, you can see that the plane crashed under power as the propellers are bent back. The cockpit is still visible but too small to enter with scuba gear and the remainder of the plane is easily recognisable. During our offgassing days, we lazed around, ate, drank, ate, drank, I had a game of Island Golf at Santo Golf Club - yes, there is a golf club there (see attached photo. All in all, we had a great time and are glad to be back to see our friends at the shop. P.S. Can you please organise for Terrigal waters to be heated to 28c for us - pleeeeeeeze ? See you all soon, Nigel & Linda.

Manhatten Beach

Hi Fran & Les Thanks for the greetings you sent through Tristan. He just arrived back in Sydney following the funeral and Christmas. We loved the photo on your website of the new ramp in use for the first time. Looking forward to walking on it fully geared up myself in early Feb! For now have attached a couple of snap shots that are mostly self explanatory. Manhattan Beach is near the airport in LA where we spent half a day and one night when United cancelled our flight to the east coast . Unfortunately, that was the last time I've been able to wear the dive shop T-shirt. Snow is the order of the season in Connecticut, along with temps in the sub zero range. We got 5 inches today, with more expected over the next few days. Give our regards to all. Gary & Dianne

No Diving Here

Hi there Gary and Diane,
Just a note to let you know that all your friends at Terrigal are thinking of you at this time. Thank you for the photo's the No Diving Here one looks like a Christmas Card and I thought it would be nice to share them.

Merry Christmas everybody. Not many sleeps now till Christmas & not many dives left for the year. Also, I forgot to mention last week that the new ramp & path from the shop is NOW OPEN. It is so easy to get down to the beach & boat. No steps at all, just an easy walk along a gentle slope.

This week we dived at Foggy Cave & Skillion Cave on Saturday 19th. Foggy Cave is at 40 metres and the visability there was at least 25 metres (some reckon about 30). Heaps to see as usual - stripeys, old wives, yellowtail, grouper, baby cuttle fish and Captain Les. He is a resin garden gnome that has been moored to a rock just before the ledge down to the cave. When we were on our safety stop, what did we see, Byron having a paddle around the boat (without a wetsuit on), but with his cossies of course. Just goes to prove that the water has warmed up.

The 2nd dive was at Skillion Cave and what a dive it was. The bottom here is around 21 metres. Nice clear water again and fish galore. The large grouper greeted us first for a feed of urchin. The 1st urchin I touched for the day & the nasty thing spikes me in the back of the hand with six of his spines. How do I know there were six, I could clearly see the black ends under my skin (ouch) !! Entering the cave, all we could see were fish, nannygai, stripeys, yellowtail & numerous others. Again the grouper wanted a feed - ( here, pick the spines out of the back of my hand first & I'll consider it )

We couldn't find the resident wobby this time but the usual moray eels where there. Rising up towards the cave roof and fighting our way through the fish, there is a side exit through the rock. Just on the right hand side of this exit is an overhang and a rather large cuttlefish was hovering in a low surge trying to get some sleep. During our safety stop, we explored the life on one of the many vertical walls and there is a myriad of life all along here. Too much to mention. But, one of the giant bull rays (2 1/2 metres across) swam past us at a leisurely pace, probably going for a feed of mussels on one of the ledges.

Sundays' diving was at Two White Houses & Fifeshire Reef. Again, excellent dives. But I've rattled on enough. Its nearly Christmas, Linda & I are packing to leave for Vanuatu on Thursday - sorry, someone has to go (again) & I have alchohol waiting for me.

Click on the link below to see Saturdays' video. Again, have a Merry Christmas & a safe & happy New Year to all. Safe diving & we'll be back in about 3 weeks.

Click here to see our Scuba Dive of Foggy Cave and Skillion Cave

From your merry mild mannered reporter,
Clark Bent and Linda.

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