After a brief, poor lunch during the surface interval we kitted up again to dive Shark Gutters.

A larger area for the site proved a better dive in terms of numbers. Saw a 'group' of around 8 or 9 Nurse sharks which was very impressive and one and twos throughout the dive: very, very good in terms of shark spotting! Also saw a few Manta Rays...

After 'one lap' of the dive site Mel and I went off and had a look around without the group.

We left Whitehaven Beach late afternoon and anchored up in Luncheon Bay in Hook Island.

Had one dive the next morning and non divers had a try dive.

Three days on Kiana sailing and diving - yee ha!

Went onto Kiana on the Friday morning and we left Airlie Beach and motored down to Whitehaven Beach. The weather was initially grim but by the time we arrived at Whitehaven beach it was fantastic.

Video of Whitehaven Beach (1085k)

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Two dives today with Calypso Divers on the Great Barrier Reef at Opal Reef.

Buddied with Steve for both dives, the first one was down to 15m and the second to just under 14m. Saw lots of reef fish (as per usual out here :-) and a couple of the other divers saw one reef shark but I missed it.

Both dives were led by Steph, one of Calypso's instructors:

...and a Longfin Bannerfish:

Booked to dive with Merimbula Divers today but crooked my neck on a run yeesterday and had to cancel!

Take a 6-hour bus journey up to Forster and stay in the divers lodge there. Regan (a Kiwi) and Roy and Carol (two Brits who have been living over here for 20 years) are also there.

Phoned Ron Hunter at Dive Forster (Fishermans Wharf in Forster) and book a few days diving with him. One of the dive sites (the Pinnacle) is known for having large amounts of Grey Nurse Shark.

Very cold and wet this morning but down to the Deep 6 Diving centre for 0815 and sort my gear out.

I get on the boat and all the other divers are either wearing dry suits or semi-drys with these thermal-type liners underneath plus hoods, gloves, etc. Beginning to feel that the gear I have is not going to be of sufficient warmth for the conditions.

I was right! I dived with Sharon and Tim and after the first dive I decided there was not going to be a second that afternoon. Ultimately it is too expensive a sport if you do not enjoy it!

Aussie Rules Grand Final day today so I drive up to Ulladulla and see if I can get on a dive this weekend. Guess what? No diving there! I try Deep 6 in Jervis Bay, hurrah! Drive there and book in for two dives tomorrow.

The dive centre is in Huskisson and I book into the Husky pub for a couple of nights.

Decided to drive over to Mount Gambier today to see if I could book myself on a Cave Diving speciality course.

Got to the address specified for the dive centre (in the Lonely Planet guide) only to find it is no longer there and is now a haberdashery! The guy who owned it sold up last year, that will teach me to use the phone in future.

Drive down to Portland to see if I can get any diving out of there. Unfortunately, no luck there either. It seems that its the time of year (it is a bit cold) and any diving is mainly weekends.

Decide now that I am going to go up the coast East of Melbourne for the weekend and get at least one dive in!

After going past their shop half-a-dozen tiimes over the last three days I eventually managed to find Cullen Bay Divers open.

Wanting to book on two or three dives today I was gutted when I was told that the next diving they do will be on the 14th and 15th September!!

Ah well, will have to see what happens as we go across the Indian Ocean and stop at the various islands.

Tried all the dive sites to get onto a dive tomorrow but all were fully booked. Fortunately a late phone call due to a cancellation from Poseidon Divers saved the day.

Went out to Agincourt Reef and did three dives with them: buddied with a guy from just down the road in the UK (Suffolk), Richard, who had dived with Poseidon a few times previously - a good recommendation there!

The second dive of the day was an Irish Drift Dive: this is where you start the dive and go against the current for the whole time, absolutely knackering!

The third dive was excellent though. Deepest was 12 metres and the vast majority was at 4 -5 metres winding through the reefs, brilliant! T-shirts getting more expensive the further North we go though - $55 Aus for this one, ouch!!

Big thanks to Andy and Richard today.

Did two dives today on the SS Yongala with Adrenalin Divers based on Flinders Street, Townsville.

The Yongala is billed as Australias best dive and to be honest with you, I'm inclined to agree as it's some of the best diving I've done so far.

I've never seen so much marine life on one dive as I saw down there today: massive Groupers, Napoleon Maori Wrasse, Clownfish, Unicorn fish, Damselfish, Travelly, Barracuda, a Tawny Nurse Shark, you name it. Also, as those who know me will testify, I have a certain thing for snakes, e.g. I don't like them.

All told, in the two dives, I saw 15 olive green sea snakes. Will, the instructor who accompanied us on the first dive, told us afterwards that they were the fourth most venomous in the world...aaaahhhh! Or is that aaarrrrgggghhh?

A big thanks to Paul, Jess, Will and to Emrys who I buddied with on the two dives.

Big problem of the day was moisture getting into my underwater housing (as will be seen in the attached photos).

Did my first diving since April with Frank De Bruynes, Whitsunday Action Divers dive centre at Abel Point Marina, Airlie Beach.

Was very impressed with the whole day operation and I was buddied with Linda for all three dives and, in addition to lots of different marine life, we also saw a White Tip Reef Shark on the first dive and a Manta Ray on the third dive.

A big thanks to Frank, Holly, Dean and Linda.

Been in Gladstone 11 days now and the worst part of it is that I haven't been able to go diving yet (aaaargh!).

There's a PADI dive centre in town, which I went into on my first day here with a view to dives of a weekend and lots of night dives, but due to the lack of nearby dive sites they only do weekend and week-long liveaboards... let's get a moving up the Great Barrier Reef...soon!