We went diving yesterday with Forster Dive Centre……😃. We could not have asked for better treatment, we were a small group of 3 divers, and the skipper/owner. The first dive was Forster Barge at a maximum depth of 28m. The skipper dropped the anchor right on the barge. Just as well, the deeper we went the murkier and colder it got. I actually hit the bottom, as I had picked up speed whilst descending and hadn’t inflated my BCD to slow me down also couldn’t see the bottom coming up at me. It was quite spooky down there, low visibility, cold water (14-16 degrees) and really big grey nurse sharks. It was quite a buzz. The visibility near the bottom was about 3 metres, and even in that visibility we could clearly see the sharks, they were that close. The diving here is so very different to what we are used to in the warmer northern waters, the hard corals have been replaced with soft colourful sponges. unfortunately I don’t have any photos of this dive, as my camera didn’t cooperate and the visibility was about 3m at the bottom.
The second dive was at Latitude Rock, a bit shallower and not so murky. Again the visibility was low at around 8 metres, but there was still plenty to see.
Bullseyes: All the nooks and crevices were thick with Bullseyes
Blue Groper (males are blue and females are brown):
Blue Dragon Nudibranch
Nudibranch: Hypselodoris Bennetti
Numb Ray: We are seeing more of these the further south we dive. They are unique to Australia and are called Numb Rays for a good reason – if you accidentally touch one, you’ll get a powerful electric shock. They grow to about half a metre across and have expendable mouths so they can electrocute large prey such as penguins and eat them whole.
The Long Adventure 