2025

This was a solo dive while Kirsty was painting at Ricketts. On the way out from shore I spotted a few Flathead in the shallows, and once out on the reef there were lots of Zebrafish around still, with quite a few Silver Sweep swimming with them. There were a couple of very photogenic Six-Spined Leatherjackets and Rough Leatherjackets around, and a few Fiddler Rays as well. Not as many Snapper as I would normally expect to see though. The highlight of the dive was seeing 15 Port Jackson Sharks, mainly in "the Boy's Lounge", with many of them simply piled in on top of others.

Kirsty and I went down to Flinders for an early-morning dive, but the visibility there was terrible, so we decided to come back and dive at Ricketts Point instead. We had good visibility, and lots to see, including large schools of Zebrafish grazing on the seagrass. "Lenny", the resident Purple Wrasse, was hanging out with the Zebras, along with a couple of good-sized Old Wives.  We also spotted a few Yellow-Striped Leather Jackets, and a very curious Rough Leatherjacket. There were lots of Snapper, a couple of Fiddler Rays, and a few mature Dusky Morwong around.  There was a large school of Southern Garfish in the shallows, sharing the seagrass meadows with some Yelloweye Mullets.

Kirsty and I headed to Ricketts for what was probably the last 30° day for the season. We caught up with Ivan Lee, who showed us how to find the "Boys' Lounge", the ledge off Teahouse Reef that is a common spot to find Port Jackson Sharks. This time there were at least 12 sharks there, many of them quite young.

We didn't see many Snapper on this dive, but there were lots of Zebrafish, and quite a few Silver Sweep. We spotted a couple of Magpie Perch, which we don't see very often at Ricketts, and also saw several Old Wives and Dusky Morwong (including one juvenile). Lenny, the resident Yellow-saddled Wrasse also made an appearance.

Lots of Zebrafish around for this dive, and more Silver Sweep than we've seen for ages. They were very inquisitive as well.  There were also several pairs of Old Wives on the reef, and a couple of Fiddler Rays. Big schools of Garfish swimming around in the shallows as well.

Kirsty and I headed down to Rye for our first dive at Rye Pier for quite some time. There were lots of divers taking advantage of the great weather, although visibility was poor towards the end of the pier. There were lots of juvenile fish around, including Moonlighters, Leatherjackets, and Magpie Perch.  There was one large Smooth Ray patrolling the outer parts of the pier, and taking a keen interest in us. We found several Pot Bellied Seahorses around the pylons closer to shore from the dive platform. Once our camera batteries had died, we headed over to the wreck of the Eivion, where we saw some mature Moonlighters and Old Wives, as well as one large Cuttlefish hiding under the hull planking.

After our first dive for the day, I went back in to see if I could find more of the Port Jacksons and perhaps get another look at the Eagle Ray.  I did find more PJs, but there was no sign of the Eagle Ray.

The sun was a bit higher, which made the visibility even better than the first dive, and I spent my time marveling at the amazing range of species that inhabit the reserve.

Kirsty and I set up for an early dive on the Teahouse Reef to beat the high temperatures later in the day. The visibility was fantastic, and Kirsty spotted her first Eagle Ray! We also found 12 Port Jackson Sharks in the various overhangs in the reef. It's strange how each time we dive there we find somewhere that we haven't seen before!

When we got back to the car we had a great chat with Ray Lewis OAM, who gave Kirsty a fossil of a Sea Urchin that he had found further along the coast.