30Dec 2021 by Warren Prior No Comments
Diving Kurnell – The Monument

Diving Kurnell – The Monument

Diving
While Nick and his family were in Sydney, we were constantly on the lookout for family friendly dive sites. As such we headed down to Kurnell, and dived at the Monument. The site is situated on the on the southern headland of the Botany Bay National Park. Entry into the water is close to the famous Whale Sculpture, directly in front of the Commemoration Flat picnic area, which is what drew us to the site initially. It's also a great venue when a strong southerly is blowing (which is exactly what was happening). The Monument dive site, Kurnell Nick and I spent an incredible hour in the water, making our way along the rock wall, looking into every nook and cranny. Visibility was 10 meters+, and the water was a…
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29Dec 2021 by Warren Prior No Comments
December Diving at Clifton Gardens

December Diving at Clifton Gardens

Diving
December was a dive heavy month for us. Nick (and family) travelled down from Brisbane, which meant a week of near daily diving as we explored Sydney's plethora of shore based dive sites. And as with many Sydney divers, their journey began at Clifton Gardens. Clifton Gardens from the air Looking down on the Clifton Gardens dive site Nick and I made a last minute decision to do a night dive at Clifton Gardens on Christmas day. We arrived at around 7pm, and were immediately disappointed by the amount of rubbish left lying around from the Christmas day celebrations. After making a few weak excuses, and ensuring Nick things weren’t normally like this, we geared up and headed down to the water. We dropped below the surface at last light…
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26Dec 2021 by Warren Prior No Comments
Exploring Shelly Beach (Under and on Top of the Water)

Exploring Shelly Beach (Under and on Top of the Water)

Diving
Shelly Beach is one of Sydney's most well known, shore-based, scuba and snorkelling sites. It's located in Manly, and lies within the Cabbage Tree Bay Aquatic Reserve, home to over 160 species of fish (so there's plenty to enjoy). The site is perfect for beginners, and is sheltered from most weather conditions as it's a west facing beach on the east coast. We chose to dive Shelley Beach over December as it offers a wide array of activities, from swimming and snorkelling for the kids, to diving for the adults, all in close proximity to some amazing coffee shops. It's also the home of Weedyland, so there's always a chance of finding the gorgeous weedy seadragon. Before going further, it's worth calling out that one of the downsides of this…
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21Nov 2021 by Warren Prior No Comments
Rescue Diver Training

Rescue Diver Training

Diving, Salt Water
There’s no doubt about it, diving comes with a few inherent risks. And while it’s safety record is great, and it's standards are high, your safety is ultimately your own responsibility. And if you can extend that responsibility to also include others, amazing! With that in mind, I signed up to do a Rescue Diver course, which also includes an Emergency First Responder certification. As is the norm with PADI courses, the weeks preceding the course were spent going through online training, and writing short online exams. We then gathered at the dive shop on Friday evening to meet our dive buddies, do a short knowledge review, and collect our gear. And then the real fun began… Day 1 - The Skills Little Manly on a cloudy morning I arrived…
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31Oct 2021 by Warren Prior No Comments
A Spooky Halloween Night Dive at Clifton Gardens

A Spooky Halloween Night Dive at Clifton Gardens

Diving
Having never done a night dive, Halloween seemed like a great excuse to get into the water under the cloak of darkness. I met the Frog Dive crew at Clifton Gardens where we enjoyed a few tasty treats and did a little pumpkin carving. It's an amazing group, and I'd highly recommend joining a few of their outings if you can. As the sun started to set we kitted up, had the dive briefing, and checked our torches. I was concerned the water was going to be chilly, but I was pleasantly surprised as it was a comfortable 20°C. We opted to do a walk in, in order to minimise any impact on the few fisherman out on the jetty. And then, as the sun slipped below the horizon, so…
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18Apr 2021 by Warren Prior No Comments
Diving the HMAS Adelaide – Finishing my Advanced Open Water

Diving the HMAS Adelaide – Finishing my Advanced Open Water

Diving
Just over a month after starting my Advanced Open Water course I climbed into my car to head to Terrigal to finally complete it. Previously, poor weather had resulted in the second day of the course being cancelled, and I was itching to get back into the water to complete the training. I'd collected my gear from Frog Dive on Saturday, which included testing and marking my nitrox tanks, for my Enriched Air Diver training. If I haven't said it before, I'd highly recommend Frog Dive in Willoughby! The staff are incredible, and there's a real sense of community in everything they do. The early morning drive to Terrigal was amazingly beautiful, and I was left wondering why I hadn't visited the area before. Sunrise over the bay was stunning,…
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13Mar 2021 by Warren Prior No Comments
Half of my Advanced Open Water

Half of my Advanced Open Water

Diving
Despite being new to diving, I was itching to get back into the water to do my Advanced Open Water certification. Why? Well, predominantly to open up a wide variety of exciting new dive sites, especially for our Great Keppel Island holiday in July (fingers crossed it doesn't get cancelled due to Covid). I spent the week preceding the course reading over the course material, and taking the required exam. This escalated the day before the course, when I made a last minute decision to tack on a nitrox certification, which required some additional reading and another exam. I was surprised by just how little additional information there was in the Advanced Open Water training. The course consisted of 2 required modules, Deep Diving and Underwater Navigation, as well as…
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06Feb 2021 by Warren Prior No Comments
Diving Fairlight

Diving Fairlight

Diving
After missing out on the dives in Port Stephens, Sharon was itching to get back under the water. So when we got back to Sydney, we jumped straight onto the Frog Dive website and signed up for one of their free shore dives. They were fully booked for all of January (thanks mainly to the reduced numbers due to Covid), and so we put our names down for the first free dive, which was at Fairlight in February. Fairlight is located in the Northern Harbour, and is a good site for beginners, with a maximum depth of around 8 meters. In 1949, the Dutch submarine K XII beached here, where it remained until January, 1951, when it was finally refloated and towed up the Parramatta River. On Friday evening we…
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