Eight Brisbane SAC members descended on Wooli for the NSW June long weekend. The three-day outlook looked great. Swells reducing to < 1 m with a high-pressure system located centrally over the continent. Winds approximately 10 kts.  

Day 1 was shake out dive to North Solitary Island where we dived the Canyons followed by a deeper 35 m dive at the Steps to depth-progress Bernadette. Current was running out to the East and eddying around the Island. Water temperature was cool at about 20*C. No Grey nurse sharks at the Canyons, but the Steps didn’t disappoint with 10-12 sharks between 24 and 35 m. During the surface intervals, the humpback whales put on a fantastic show. Numerous groups of three whales were spotted very close to our boat with at least one bull run.

Day 2 took us back to Anemone Bay, North Solitary Island where we practiced limited visibility navigation. Again, looking for Grey Nurse sharks pushing up to the mooring line of the Steps but only found three sharks in total. Dive 4 took us over to Northwest Rocks, for a dive at Fish Soup. Although the surge was up, Fish Soup lived up to its name. At least 16 wobbegong sharks were congregated under the ledge on the eastern wall with soup of small yellow fish creating a cloud along the eastern rock face.  

By Day 3, the current had finally dropped off enough to dive Pimpernel Rock. Our third successful annual dive to this deep dive location about 15 nm north of Wooli. Gavin has finally dived the Rock! Dive 5 included an accelerated decompression dive for three team members. 15-20 grey nurse sharks congregating between 40-45 m with a large pregnant female shark sighted by most of the group. Tigga showed Steny one of the swim through caves leading to the second cavern. A nice box seat to sit and watch sharks swim by in about 42 m of water.

During the 2-hour surface interval, two humpback whales popped their heads out of the water to take a closer look at Wally’s rebreather. Dive 6 again at Pimpernel was another accelerated decompression dive and a 40 m depth progression for Bernadette. A number of king fish and mulloway were also seen on this dive and Tigga located the final swim through in about 40 m of water leading to a chimney on the exit out.

Food was phenomenal for the entire weekend with slow cookers running throughout the day. My thanks to Greta for catering and Kevin’s support with lunches on the last day while we were at the Rock and for driving equipment down in his ute. Thank you also for Gavin for acting as the deputy dive leader, picking me up from the airport as I arrived from Boston and driving me back to Brisbane. Wooli is a great opportunity to practice diving deep skills in current with easy navigation.

Safe diving,  
Tigga