Malcolm Nobbs

February

My first “Fish Rock dive” of the year was my 2000^th dive with Mick Todd and my wife Mary helping me celebrate this statistical milestone. Mick pointed out that he had done over 5000 dives. But then that’s taken him almost 80 years. Our second dive of the day took me close to a large Bull Ray which was just “hanging” in the oncoming current. Afterwards as I was about to climb aboard Viper, Mick grabbed both of my fins leaving me “finless” in the water. Fortunately I grabbed the side of Viper in time and managed to get back aboard.

May

Three days of diving at Fish Rock with idyllic conditions on Day One for my UK buddy John Nightingale and I. Underwater visibility could have been better but a clear blue sky, a calm sea and plenty of close encounters with Grey Nurse sharks and Wobbegongs made for two fabulous dives. Twenty-four hours later John and I were not so happy as we had to contend with a heavy swell, strong gusts of wind and a foreboding grey sky. We were able to dive The Pinnacle at Fish Rock and then retreated to the shelter of Green Island where I was lucky enough to have a close encounter with a large Eagle ray. John did not stay for Day Three which although slightly better was still not a patch on Day One.

Eleven days later I retuned to South West Rocks for another three days of diving Fish Rock which unfortunately began with really disappointing underwater visibility. On Day Two, the visibility was much better and I was joined by Manly Octogenarian Mick Todd. I photographed what I took to be a pair of mating Wobbegong Sharks although Mick said they were females. I don’t know whether Mick was joking and it is now too late to check! On our second dive of the day Mick claimed to have seen a large school of Bat Rays near the moorings. More likely his cataracts were clouding his vision. Day Three, dive two found Mick mashing up barnacles that had broken off rocks and feeding the pulp to Blue Gropers.

June

Mick and I enjoyed another two days in South West Rocks sharing a room at the Rockpool Motor Inn. However there was no sign on our first night together. I called him and he said that he was “having to work late” Hmmmm… not the first time that excuse has been used! Mick never did make it to the motel that night and instead went directly to the dive centre in the early hours. Out at Fish Rock aboard Rocket, we saw a large Bull Ray which Mick got quite close to, although maybe with Steve Irwin in mind, not as close as I wanted for a photograph. Mick slept soundly at the Rockpool Motor Inn, exhausted from whatever nocturnal activities he had been up to the previous day. But he looked much brighter as we arrived at South West Rocks Dive Centre for Day Two. One of the factors that separates the professional from the amateur diver is the amateur diver’s all too frequent lack of proper preparation. You see it all the time - the amateur diver forgets something and then everybody has to wait for him. As was the case on Day Two as Mick realised he had left some dive kit at the Rockpool Motor Inn. The underwater visibility at Fish Rock had turned really poor overnight and both dives were disappointing.