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A summary of the current weather conditions at my house at Kirrawee, Sydney, is below. Click here for more Detailed Diving Weather and Conditions.
Weather from Michael McFadyen's Tempe Weather Station
Conditions at 14:44 on
9/2/10
| Temperature |
28.5°C |
| Humidity |
66% |
| Barometer |
1016.98hPa
Rate -0.521hPa/hr |
| Wind
Speed: |
0
km/hr |
| Wind
Direction |
NNE |
| Rainfall
for Today |
0.00mm |
| Rainfall
last hour |
0.00
mm |
| Rainfall
last 24 hours |
0.00
mm |
| Rainfall at Start of Month |
34.80
mm |
| Rainfall this Year |
113.50 mm |
| Today's
Extremes |
| High
Temperature |
28.5°C
at 14:35 |
| Low
Temperature |
21.8°C
at 6:36 |
| Peak
Wind Gust |
16km/hr
at 14:03 |
Weather from Michael McFadyen's Kirrawee Weather Station
| Yesterday's
Extremes |
| High
Temperature |
23.6°C
at 13:01 |
| Low
Temperature |
20.4°C
at 5:52 |
| Rainfall at Start of Yesterday |
65.40
mm |
| Rainfall at End of Yesterday |
90.80
mm |
Weather from Michael McFadyen's Tempe Weather Station
| Astronomical
Data |
| Sunrise |
6:20 |
| Sunset |
19:54 |
| Moonrise |
0:06 |
| Moonset |
14:54 |
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|
| Welcome | |
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I established this Web Site about scuba diving in Sydney, NSW, Australia and the South Pacific, as well as a few other places, in June 1996.
Since then it has gone through a few different versions. This latest version is the fourth and was completed in July 2006.
The site has grown from a few pages to almost 800 separate pages. Well over 600 dives are covered, mostly in detail and most with photographs and some with maps.
I am fairly confident that this is not only the largest diving related web site in the World, it also has more hits than any diving related web site in Australia.
This site is a non-commercial site and is unrelated to any dive organisation. It is purely here to provide divers with an information source to increase their enjoyment of scuba diving, shipwrecks and marine life in general. I hope that my experiences can help you when you are planning a dive trip, whether it is locally in Sydney, New South Wales, somewhere else in Australia or the Pacific Ocean region.
Any and all comments are welcome, as is any information to enhance the pages, especially more information about ships or shipwrecks or corrections to pages.
I have also included some articles on non-diving related interests, especially four wheel driving and camping.
NOTE:
This site is best viewed using a screen sized at 1024 x 768 pixels. If you use a smaller screen, some photographs may force a page that extends off the screen and cause printing problems. I cannot avoid this problem. It may also cause some photos to run over top of text. If you find any of these, please let me know as I should be able to fix.
In addition, some wide screen monitors (newer laptops especially) may have a screen that is too wide for the page and this may cause photos to appear in strange places. If you find this, let me know and I will see if I can fix.
I have now added a Search facility to the site. You can access this by clicking on Search on the menu at the top of the page.
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| Sydney Dive Site Hints | |
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"Pygmy pipehorses can be seen at Bare Island at various places"
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| News | |
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| Web Site Hits |
| In 2009 my web site had 114,131 unique visitors who visited 147,410 times. They looked at 429,527 pages. |
 Michael on 12 January 2010 00:00 ·
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| My Recent Dives - January 2010 |
Sunday 3 January 2010 - Shiprock
Never seen so many divers here, but they ALL went in way too early and would have had to battle back against the current. Found 1 black anglerfish, 3 pipefish and 2 pineapplefish. Lots of yellowtail, some nice whiting, one huge flathead and lots of cuttlefish. Great dive. Visibility excellent.
Wednesday 6 January 2010 - Pizza Reef
Club dive. Southerly hit about 6:30 am but dropped off very quickly. When we got outside it was only just over 20 kts. Lots of yellowtail, some seapike, all the usual bastard trumpeters. Could see the boat from 26 m. Excellent dive. Visibility very good.
Wednesday 6 January 2010 - Shiprock
Low tide. Went looking for the anglerfish that we saw on Sunday. Could not find it. Only found one pipefish. Found a couple of moray eels and a mosaic eel. Then, Kelly found another larger black anglerfish just S of bubble cave. Also a nudibranch we had never seen before. Visibility very poor.
Thursday 7 January 2010 - Camp Cove
Club night dive. Went to block reef. Used the new LED head for Kelly's torch. Excellent. Lots of small cuttlefish. Heaps of sand moved from the S side of the reef. Quite a few fish around. When heading from block reef to N shore, found some tiny 4 mm long "things" on kelp. May have been tiny shrimp like thingos. Then found Mark R's anchor and followed chain to his yacht. Then to N shore. Very dirty around here. Back to beach, found 7 Whites sea horses on rocks. Visibility poor.
Saturday 9 January 2010 - SS Undola
Flat seas and no wind so decided to go to Undola rather than Tuggerah. Anchored first go, went straight down but cross-over line had somehow got connected to O2 rather than deco line. Stopped to fix. Cold on bottom but very clean. Lots of fish, mostly at bow. Heaps of moray eels and one conger eel in boiler. Lots of bailer shells and eggs. Lost knife on deco. Excellent dive. Visibility very good.
Sunday 10 January 2010 - Middle Ground
Club dive with 5 boats and 25 divers. No wind and no current. Quite a few seapike and yellowtail. No wobbegongs. Went right around reef, could see bottom at 32 m from 13 m. Strong S came up while we were down. Nice dive. Visibility good.
Monday 11 January 2010 - Bare Island Isolated Reefs
Twilight dive. Went in off W point and headed W. Ever shit yourself on a dive? I nearly did. A huge seal came flying out of the gloom right at me before going over my head and then to Kelly. Scared the living bejesus out of us. This happened on 15 m reef. Then saw a red indianfish. At start of IR1 found a small yellow big belly sea horse. Two sea dragons on IR2 and two more on Right side, one with eggs. Lots of small fish out IR2. A couple of eels, a bream with a fresh bite, some small cuttlefish. Excellent dive. Visibility fair.
Wednesday 13 January 2010 - Six Fathom Reef
Club dive. A very strong S came up as I arrived at the boat ramp. Well over 15 kts on water. Saw 2 long-snouted boarfish and 1 giant boarfish. Jo saw a blue devilfish, we also saw lots of seapike, sweep, etc. Some octopus, an eel, a few six-spined leatherjackets. Visibility good.
Thursday 14 January 2010 - Clifton Gardens
Club night dive, 16 divers. Went across towards Chowder Bay and hit the huge mooring chain. Found a small black anglerfish here. Followed the chain to buoy and then out along ech of the other 2 legs. Found some small octopus and moray eels. Then back the way we came to wharf. Kelly found another larger black anglerfish on the SE corner of pool. Quite a few sea horses. Found a blue-ringed octopus along the S edge of pool. Back towards beach, Kelly saw another one in mid-water. Others saw 2 separate yellow anglerfish. Good dive. Visibility poor.
Saturday 16 January 2010 - Pizza Reef
Club boat dive, 5 boats and 24 divers. Almost millpond seas, no wind. Bastard trumpeters split half near cave and rest S end of gap. Huge numbers of seapike all over the reef. Kelly found a red pygmy pipehorse just past cave. Also a blue devilfish S side. Quite cold on bottom but clearer and warmer above 10 m. Visibility good.
Sunday 17 January 2010 - The Leap
Club shore dive, 18 attending. Very slight incoming tide. Kelly found a nudibranch with a tiny 3 mm long shrimp on it. I saw 13 sea dragons, one with missing tail and another with a tail with an S in it. Heaps of purple dragons, a large school of striped catfish and all normal fish. Cold on bottom but clear, warm and dirty on top. Easy dive. Visibility good.
Saturday 23 January 2010 - One Spot Reef
Flat seas, amazing considering 6m when we went out on Wed. This site is about 130 m N of The Cutting. We have only dived here before when doing a drift S from Underwater Wilderness. Huge numbers of one spot pullers, hence the name. Lots of boulders that would be great to explore in better viz. Visibility poor.
Sunday 24 January 2010 - Bare Island Right
High tide was after 3 pm so went diving after 1pm thinking would get clean water. Wrong! Seas up from yesterday's southerly so had to swim from before pool. Viz was not too bad to start with. Saw 2 long-snouted boarfish at shark's fin. At about 11 m viz went from 5 m to about 1.5m. Found a sea dragon at 14 m. Decided to turn back as too dirty to see anything. Found a small eel, not much else. Visibility shithouse.
Monday 25 January 2010 - SS Tuggerah
No wind, no current, flat seas. Very overcast. Dark on bottom, like night. Shaun's fist dive here. We needed torch whole dive. Anchor in front of boiler. Went to prop and then along hull bottom to bow. A lot of medium cuttlefish along here. At bow a lot more showing as sand missing. Back to anchor, moved to boiler and then up. Visibility very good.
Tuesday 26 January 2010 - Inscription Point
Club Australia Day dive and BBQ. Went east with tide, very slight. Found a pygmy pipehorse, Kelly found some tiny flea type things in Gabo Island soft coral. Lots of purple dragons. Saw a blue morwong being harassed by yellowtail. Three sea dragons, but others saw more. Visibility fair.
Saturday 30 January 2010 - Kiama Point
Club weekend away at Kiama. Very strong S so could not take the boats out. Started E of pool and went N and NW to sand and then W and SW till back near wall. Then S into harbour and out at end of wall. Saw two large bullrays, lots of luderick, one-spot pullers, some bream, heaps of yellowtail, some sweep. One sea dragon on sand. Nice dive. Visibility very good.
Sunday 31 January 2010 - The Olgas
Wind dropped last night so could get out. This site is off Minnamurra, found with depth sounder. Huge boulders with smaller ones in between on sand. Some were 5 m high. Lots of sea squirts, sponges and gorgonias on the boulders. Good fishlife including one made-up phyllodesium nudibranch. An excellent new site. Visibility good.
Sunday 31 January 2010 - Blind Shark Reef
Found this when running out to dive 1. A small reef that sits on sand coming up from 16 m to 10 m. Shear on E side. Huge school of yellowtail around, a number of blind sharks, mado, lots of sweep, one sea dragon, one short-tailed ceratosoma nudibranch.Visibility good.
Thursday 4 February 2010 - Shiprock
Club night dive. Low tide, but nowhere else to dive due to big seas. Visibility okay considering tide. Very little current, in fact appeared to work as per high tide. Warmest dive I have ever done in Sydney, 24.4C. Found two pineapplefish at normal spot and someone found one near Bubble Cave. Found the two pipefish at same spot as usual. No anglerfish. One huge octopus and some smaller ones, a few small cuttlefish. Two vercos nudibranchs. Nice dive. Visibility fair.
Saturday 6 February 2010 - Shiprock
Club deep dive cancelled due to large seas. Low tide again, very similar to Thursday. The two pineapplefish and two pipefish seen. No anglerfish. Two vercos nudibranchs, one laying eggs. A huge flathead and some seapike. Nice dive. Visibility fair.
Sunday 7 February 2010 - Shiprock
Club boat dive cancelled due to seas. Low tide and same dive as last two. 8 members, saw the same things as yesterday. Looks like we will end up doing 5 dives here over the 10 days. A little more current, but less than normal nigh tide. No anglerfish. A small moasic eel and a moray eel on the bommie off plaque. Nice dive. Visibility fair.
For more details about these dives and other dives this year, click here. |
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Michael on 03 January 2010 18:25 ·
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| My Recent Dives - December |
Thursday 3 December 2009 - Bare Island Deep Wall
Club night dive. Went in off W point SW to wall. Slight current from S here (incoming tide). Went around the rocks and back N. Past anchor no Pygmy pipehoses (PPHs) on normal rock but one just past on main reef. Lots of fish around. Then up to 15m reef and then to main reef near cave. No anglerfish on this reef or IR1. 3 sea dragons, 2 with eggs on way back, at least 5 squid, some eels, octopus and cuttlefish. Near shark fin found the smallest shovel-nosed ray I have ever seen, only 200 mm long. Very cute. Very nice dive. Visibility fair.
Saturday 5 December 2009 - SS Tuggerah
No wind or current, a bit of sweel every now and then. Anchor dropped straight down and did not move. Les and Phil took the anchor from sand to wreck. Quite a few wobbegongs, dozens of bailer shells, at least 10 moray eels, not a huge number of fish. Went right around the whole wreck. Did 21 mins on bottom. Fantastic dive. Visibility very good.
Sunday 6 December 2009 - Inscription Point to The Monuments
My 1000th shore dive. Club Xmas party and dive. At least 40 diving. A bit hard getting in due to swell, but all okay. Saw 4 sea dragons, lots of nudibranchs, a small horned shark. A few people saw a larger shark, some thought it was a GNS but another thought a bull shark. Clean at first but at 30 mins hit an eddy which was dirtier. Fair dive, great day. Visibility fair at first then poor.
Thursday 10 December 2009 - Oak Park
Club night dive. Went in from back of pool and followed the low reef. Saw a female small green turtle along this section of reef. A six-spined leatherjacket just past the "sword" and a large horned shark. Wen to urinal and cave. On the way back a huge wobbegong and a blue devilfish. Some cuttlefish, some small and others medium. A few eels, including a very friendly one I played with for a while. Nice dive. Visibility good.
Saturday 12 December 2009 - Tyre Reef
Club boat dive. This is located behind the rifle range. Nice reef, with some good walls, large boulders, one swum-through. A huge school of ladder-finned pomfret and some one-spot pullers. A few cuttlefish, an eagle ray. Could see boat from 24 m. Visibility excellent.
Sunday 13 December 2009 - Oak Park
Club dive and BBQ. Went SE to deeper wall and then along this to second reef. Finally worked this out, near the end (where the "Sword" is) the rocks have been uncovered by sand washing away and you end up right at the start of this reef. Went to urinal and cave. Then back exiting at pool. Visibility very good.
Tuesday 15 December 2009 - Shiprock
Early morning dive before work. Very clear, at least 15 to 20 m viz, almost the best I have had here in over 120 dives. Kelly found the 2 pipefish, I found the 2 pineapplefish. Lots of octopus, small cuttlefish, nudibranchs mating. Heaps of small bream, a large school of small sweep and large seapike. Excellent dive. Visibility very good.
Wednesday 16 December 2009 - Middle Ground
What a dive! From 31m and at an angle I could see the boat and divers doing safety stop. Went right around the reef. No wobbegongs, but cuttlefish, heaps of yellowtail, seapike, silver sweep all over the place. Excellent dive, does not get much better than this in Sydney. Visibility excellent.
Saturday 19 December 2009 - Foggy Cave
Club dive. At least 25 m viz, easy to navigate. Went from mooring to cave and then to N. Then back across front of cave to S wall and then up over to mooring. Then to gutter to SW. Not a lot of fish, no GNS. Nice dive though. Visibility excellent.
Saturday 19 December 2009 - Skillion Cave
Very lazy and did as a boat dive! Lots of fish around, a few eels, two large bullrays, squid. Nice dive. Visibility excellent.
Sunday 20 December 2009 - Lilli Pilli Baths
For the first time ever here, did not see a single sea horse. Where have they gone? Went deeper off the baths to 16 m and then back to NE. Saw the biggest flathead. Shallow there were lots of smaller fish, bream, etc. Also lots of leatherjackets in pool. Easy dive, but not great. Visibility fair.
Tuesday 22 December 2009 - Bare Island Deep Wall
Club night dive, 11 attended. Went SW to wall, fairly dirty on way but warm. Clean and colder on bottom. Carol found a red Indianfish here. Back normal way. Did not see any pygmy pipehorses but 2 sea deagons deep and three more shallow, one with eggs. Again could not find the anglerfish. Got very dirty from about cave, lost everyone when looking for anglerfish. Less than 2 m viz shallow. Visibility deep, good.
Wednesday 23 December 2009 - Barrens Hut/The Split
Club boat dive, last dive of the year for me. Anchor was stuck so spent first few minutes getting it out. Then along Split to N and back along sand. Not a lot of fish here, but behind cave there were lots of bastard trumpeters. Visibility very good on bottom but poor on safety.
For more details about these dives and other dives this year, click here. |
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Michael on 07 December 2009 11:01 ·
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