In May 2013 Mary and I had moved from Forster NSW down the Australian coast to Corlette near Nelson Bay in Port Stephens. I was immediately impressed by local dive centre Lets Go Adventures. Over the years I’ve dived with a lot of dive centres and Let’s Go Adventures owned and run by Emma Challen and Adam Shorter is right up there with the very best of them. Their main boat, MV Tomaree, is a large comfortable twin-hulled dive boat, ideal for anyone like me who is prone to seasickness! During the rest of 2013 I dived three local islands with Lets Go Adventures, eleven boat dives in all. The main island, Broughton, is 114 hectares in size and is 14 kilometres north-east of Port Stephens. Nearby Looking Glass Island has a spectacular 5 to 10 metre wide crack running through which is home to Grey Nurse sharks and Boondelbah Island lies 2 kilometres from the mouth of Port Stephens.
My first two boat dives, both at North Rock Gutters off Broughton Island, were simply stunning. The underwater visibility was an amazing 25 metres – I had not seen Grey Nurse sharks in such clear blue water and it felt rather strange! My next dive at Looking Glass Island with dive buddy Trevor Howard was probably more typical with underwater visibility of 5 to 7 metres but it was still highly enjoyable. Two days later the water was a little green and visibility 5 metres at both North Rock Gutters and Looking Glass Island but I had numerous opportunities to get close to Grey Nurse Sharks so there were no excuse for poor shots. The following day the conditions were the same at Looking Glass Island, for our second dive of the day MV Tomaree motored to the southern side of Boondlebah Island and a new site for me, Safety Cove.
My UK dive buddies Jon “I Don’t Need Seasick Tablets” Clark and his elderly sister, Hilary-Maud Hickmott, joined Mary and I for Christmas in Corlette. Jon enjoyed four MV Tomaree dives, two at North Rock Gutters and one each at Looking Glass Island and a new site for me Elephant Rock off Broughton Island. Hilary-Maud would have ventured out with Jon and I for these dives but the water temperature was less than 30 degrees. I thought that after the final dive Jon looked pretty queasy. “That’s odd” he said “because I don’t need seasick tablets”. For someone who had never dived in Australia before, it was particularly exciting for Jon to see the local Grey Nurse, Port Jackson and Wobbegong sharks.