Halifax Park. Unquestionably the stand out dive of my thirty-two dives was my solo dive at Halifax Park on 21^st October. The underwater visibility on this early morning dive was around 7 to 8 metres. A few big Kingfish shot by me and then shortly afterwards I saw the silhouette of a 2.5 to 3 metre shark cruising purposely past me in the direction of the fleeing Kingfish.  With its size, swimming action and large single dorsal fin I thought it might be a Great White.  Then it turned 180º to check me out and I had no doubts – it was definitely a Great White shark. Its handbrake turn was impressive not that I was in the mood to admire this. I raised my camera in part to take a shot, in part because the flash might discourage its interest in me and in part so that I can push the camera into its jaws as a last defence. Too late I realised I would not have time to untether my camera system from my BCD - if the Great White took my camera, I would be going with it. As my autofocus struggled to lock onto the rapidly closing shark, it suddenly executed another handbrake turn to continue its pursuit of the Kingfish. Obviously upon closer inspection it had realised that I was not a potentially good meal. Reflecting later on this brief encounter I realised that this had probably been the optimum time to see a Great White.  It was early in the day, Halifax Park is the closest shore dive to the open ocean, it is the shore dive with the greatest drop off, seals had been active nearby and it was the time of year when Great White numbers locally are at their highest. I continued the dive but could not resist checking over my shoulder - it took a couple of months for that paranoia to completely fade. Prior to this, I’d had four dives on this site which were relatively uneventful, the first a group dive to celebrate Cherie Adams Dodd’s birthday, the next two unremarkable solo dives and the third, a dive with my good friend and magazine article co-conspirator, Jamie Watts. Disappointingly we were not blessed with the best dive conditions. The last dive at Halifax was my first there since my Great White encounter. Other divers had since reported seeing Great Whites and the underwater visibility was only 3 to 4 metres but I needed to stop thinking negatively. I had hardly begun my solo dive when a largish shadow came hurtling through the murky water towards me. I felt momentary alarm. Then realised it was a friendly Blue Grouper. The rest of the dive was just pretty uninteresting and I was happy about that!

The Pipeline. The first of my six Pipeline dives was a pretty enjoyable solo dive, the second was with my good friend Jamie Watts. Jamie was staying with Mary and I and when not diving apart, Jamie and I put together some new magazine articles and presented a talk to Snappers, the local underwater photography group. I was desperately keen for Jamie to see my local dive sites at their best but our luck was out. In a 103 minute 3 to 4 metres visibility dive, we did a lovely coloured Seahorse and a Toadfish but couldn’t find what Jamie really wanted to see: a Blur Ringed Octopus. Of course as soon as Jamie left, the visibility improved to 4 to 8 metres and in a 100 minute dive with Nigel Hayward, I spend almost the entire dive with Blue Rings. Well technically the Southern Blue-Lined Octopus. But known to most people as Blue Ringed Octopus. My next two dives were both solo dives, the first had subjects prefect for wide angled photography but I had taken my 60mm macro lens, the second had subjects prefect for macro photography but I had taken my 12-24mm wide angle lens! Fortunately I had the ideal lens for my sixth and final dive at The Pipeline. My 60mm lens was just what I needed for shooting juvenile Giant Sea Hares.

Fly Point. The dive site I dived the most time during May to October was Fly Point and eighteen out of these twenty dives were solo dives. Highlights of these dives  included seeing Jake Miller hurtling by me on a DPV (Driver Propulsion Vehicle), Blind sharks, Easter Rock lobster, Fiddler rays, Silver Drummers, Slipper lobster, Turtles and Wobbegong sharks. My two accompanied dives were with Nigel Hayward and Jamie Watts. Nigel is a local but Jamie was a visitor and I was keen for Jamie to see Fly Point at its best. It was far from that but at least Jamie did see a Port Jackson shark, a Giant Sea hare and a Wobbegong.