A great TUG night last Friday.

The threat of storms and rain faded in the late afternoon….so we had flat sea, reasonable viz, the tail end of a high tide, clear sky and generally warm water.

A big roll up of 13 divers….Simon and Sue Adams, Matt and Cath Toby, Grant and Paula Bradly, Mark Turner, Jane Smith, Marc Harry, Scott Hunt, Peter Kent, Jeff Heathcote and myself.

Last week’s weather and the bleak reports from anyone who had been out to sea would not have given the slightest hint of the great dive that was awaiting us.

We were not greeted with the 3 metre swells that have become our constant (if unwelcome) companion for the last few months…nor were the near freezing upwellings from the deep ocean waiting to give us a lesson in hypothermia 1.0…so surely we were to enveloped by near zero viz that even a 1000 lumen torch could make no impression on?....absolutely not….a rainy day?....no way…was a day to get out the sunscreen.

Put simply, 7 of your TUG mates had a great dive.

It was a beautiful morning with a gentle NE breeze blowing. The swell was rolling into the Haven was up on yesterday.

The crew on the dive, Peter, Marc, David K, Jane K, Jane H and Scott H managed to get TUG2 loaded quickly despite the ramp being busier than normal and many divers lining up to hop on a commercial run out to the ex-HMAS Adelaide.

We decided to dive at Forresters Reef such that we could get back to the Haven before the breeze stiffened to 25 knots (if the forecast turned out to be accurate).

I thought convening a dive on New Years Day might be a very lonely exercise...but that was not the case.

The dive was booked out over 3 weeks ago....so much for Tuggers staying out till the early hours of New Year's Day.

A full crew of Jane Smith, Robb Westerdyk, Leon Williams, Matt and Cathy Toby, Gary Fahy and myself have been glued to BOM and Seabreeze for the last week as that intense low pressure system headed south...and then south-east from Queensland.

Happy New Year !! It certainly has been from a diving perspective thus far, with the bad weather from Xmas disappearing the sea conditions once again allowing boats on the water and the sun shining.

Full Dive Report