2019 December
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Lord Howe Island is a tiny NSW island in the Tasman Sea, 600 kilometres directly east of mainland Port Macquarie, Australia. The island is ten kilometres long and two kilometres wide with just 300 permanent residents and up to 400 visitors at any one time. Marine life there is a mixtures of temperate, subtropical, and tropical species courtesy of cool winter ocean currents and the warm East Australian Current. In all 490 fish species have been recorded, 13 being endemic. 

Mary and I flew there in December 2019 to celebrate my birthday. Landing on the short island runway aboard a QantasLink Dash 8 was simply spectacular and once there predictably I wanted to celebrate my birthday diving. Pro Dive Lord Howe Island were happy to oblige. The dive centre is owned and operated by Aaron & Lisa Ralph and they could not have been more friendly or helpful. Nothing was too much trouble. My favourite dive with them was an early morning dive at Shark Reef with Galapagos whaler sharks. I spotted a familiar face on the dive boat, Justin Gilligan, the Award-Winning Photojournalist. Some of Justin’s remarkable images have been a real inspiration to me so I was very pleased to be able to catch up with him.