2024

A great pre-Christmas dive at Ricketts Point. We were there early on Friday, 20 December 2024, to avoid the heat and to take advantage of the better visibility before the wind picked up in the afternoon. We caught up with Ivan, who came out with us and showed some of his favourite locations for Port Jackson Sharks, and pointed out a gorgeous sea horse. Thanks Ivan!

First dive of the season, in murky conditions at Ricketts Point. Surprisingly few Snapper around, and only a couple of Leatherjackets seen. There was a school of Zebrafish over one part of the reef, and we did see a couple of small Port Jackson Sharks on top of the reef, rather than in the caves where we would normally find them. Lots of vegetation, and very few Sea Urchins. We've seen a dive boat in the reserve over winter, and we wondered if they were culling the Sea Urchins. Looks like we might have been right.

Weather conditions had been good for a couple of days, so I hoped that the visibility would be OK, even with the little bit of rain a few days earlier, and this turned out to be the case. There was a lot of life around for this dive, ranging from big schools of Zebrafish, accompanied by Sweep and Snapper, a couple of pairs of Old Wives, some Moonlighters, and a small school of Silver Trevally. The highlight was finding 13 Port Jackson Sharks in the ledges around one small part of the reef! Some of them appeared to have small cleaner fish on them, which is the first time I've seen this.

This was quite a murky dive, with lots of muck suspended in the water. Apart from a reasonable school of Zebrafish, a few Silver Sweep, and a huge Six-Spined Leatherjacket, there weren't that many fish around. We did see more Port Jackson Sharks than we usually do, all in caves and crevaces. The water is starting to get colded, so this might have been Kirsty's last dive for the season...

Kirsty and I enjoyed another great dive at Ricketts Point in eerie conditions. There was a fog or smoke haze in the air which reduced visibility, making the water quite a bit darker. There was next to no wind, resulting in quite a smooth surface. There were lots of snorklers and a few other divers there, with lots of reports of Port Jackson sharks, although we only found two smallish specimens under some of the ledges. Apparently we shuld have followed the ledges, veered to the right a bit and continued on for 20 or 30 metres, where we would have picked up the next set of ledges, where there were many more sharks.

We did see quite a few large schools of Silver Trevally, with most accompanied by one or two Old Wives. I did see at least one Old Wife cleaning parasites off the Trevally. There were quite a few Moonlighters and lots of Zebra Fish, but not as many Snapper as we have seen recently. Several Leatherjackets (Horseshoe, Six-spined, Rough, and Yellow) were spotted, and a few Blue Throated Wrasse, Dusky Morwong, Scalyfins, and Fiddler Rays.

A slightly murky dive at Rye. Not as much growth under the pier as we've previously seen, but still lots of fish. Kirsty spotted a couple of Seahorses and a nudibranch, and I came across a big Maori Octopus hunting along the side of the pier. We also saw several Sea Cucumbers over towards the wreck of the Eivion. The wreck itself seems to be more exposed after the recent rough weather, with much more of the planking and structure visible.

Lots of divers and snorklers here today, probably due to a short film shown at the recent Ocean Film Festival, and by the great weather. Not quite as many Snapper this time, but more large Leatherjackets and Moonlighters. Visibility was a biy milky, but Kirsty and I were able to see each other from quite a distance. After the dive we met another diver who reported seeing a couple of Port Jacksons and an Eagle Ray! We'll just have to keep coming back until we manage to see one :-)

This was a fantastic dive, with lots of species and absolutely fantastic visibility in spots! The highlight was finding ledges out from the ampitheatre, where we spotted a couple of Port Jackson sharks. There were big schools of Silver Trevally and Zebra fish, lots of Snapper, big leatherjackets, some Sweep, Old Wives, and Dusky Morwong, as well as afew Banjo Sharks. Best dive that Kirsty and I have had for quite a while!

A very murky dive at Ricketts! We thought that this was going to be a dive with fantastic visibiliity, but there was lots of silt in the water as a result of all of the recent rain. Interestingly, visibility was much better in the shallows, so we finished up in the shallower water for much of the dive. Limited number of species seen today - Snapper, Scalyfins, Stingareees, Southern Hulafish, Dusky Morwong, and one Fiddler Ray and one Zebrafish. Quite a few Garfish in the shallows, but they were quite timid.

Divers: Peter Batchelor and Kirsty Batchelor

Weather/Sea: Calm
Visibility: 3 - 6 Metres.
Water temperature: 20°C.
Maximum depth: 4.5 metres.
Time of entry: 09:50am
Duration: 60 minutes.