If there is one thing I am very quickly beginning to appreciate about living in Sydney, it is the incredible proximity of some of the most incredible diving in the world (that I've seen, anyway, and assuming the world = Monterey Bay and Australia).
This past weekend, I left on a 4-day, 3-night trip to South West Rocks (the actual name of the city, located about a 6-hour drive north of Sydney). This little coastal town is home to some of the greatest diving in Australia, the central focus of which is Fish Rock. Located in the East Australian Current, Fish rock is a massive boulder 30 minutes off the coast of South West Rocks. Going through the center of the rock is a massive cave. We were to swim through this cave. With nothing but our lights, our wits, and our Costco-sized tubs of shark repellant.
That's right, sharks. Fish Rock is a conservation zone for grey nurse sharks. These critters, though generally considered the Bea Arthurs of the sea, are nonetheless huge (14') and sharp (um...toothy). For those of you who know me reasonably well, know that I am terrified of two things: spiders and sharks. Fortunately, the former couldn't get to me in the water (with the exception of the great spectacled dolphin spider), but I was also going straight into the midst of some of the largest concentration of the latter. As a side note, my fear of sharks largely stems from the fact that I saw Jaws when I was about 5.
A map of Fish Rock Cave. I'll walk you through
it shortly.
I left work midday on Friday to drive down with a couple of guys I had met at the dive orientation the week before. Carl is in IT, and Brett is in recruiting. Both were really nice guys, and we had a blast driving up to SWR. I won't go into details, but we all decided we would shortly be leaving our day jobs to buy 95 acres of land out in the country, buy some bulls and heifers, and 'borrow' some of the vast amounts of concrete / gravel apparently not being used to repair the highway in Australia. Why we would be doing this, we hadn't quite decided, but the deal was just too good to pass up.
We got into town a smidge before 7, and met some of the other folks in the group down at the local pub. It also bears mentioning that we were driven to said pub in what can only be described as a steel tank / station wagon with a massive pushbar on front. Instead of pulling up to the curb, our driver nonchalantly drove up onto the lawn and stopped in front of the stairs leading up to the pub to let us out. We hung out at the pub for a few hours, had some beers, and one of the best $5 steaks I've ever had. Well, the only $5 steak I've had, come to think of it...
We made sure to turn in at a reasonable hour that night, as we would be heading out the next morning to do some diving. The plan was to do 2 dives per day over the next 3 days - 6 dives total for those who are really terrible at math.
This is the lovely Costa Rica motel / dive shop
where we spent most of our non-diving hours.
Here's a significant portion of our dive group.
Fun group of folks.
This is Carl, who was kind enough to drive us back
and forth from SWR. He is pictured here standing
next to the well. Which is actually a BBQ. Not
a well.
This is Brett, who Steph (our divemaster)
loving referred to as Nick Nack (James Bond fans
will get the reference). This photo was taken shortly
after he exclaimed "Nah, I don't do drugs. S'bad
for you." And yes, that is a cigarette in one hand,
and a bottle of beer in the other.
The following morning, we didn't have to be on the boat until 11 am, so we could take our time getting ready in the morning. Having recently discovered that I am quite susceptible to seasickness, I skipped breakfast and took one of my motion sickness pills before we departed. As an aside, the pill I took was recalled in 2003 for causing hallucinations, etc. They appear to have fixed it since then, as the following few days were hallucination-free.
Loading up the boat getting ready to go out.
The view from the docks just before our departure.
We drove to the docks and threw our gear in the boat, a small-ish 12-person craft. Our captain and skipper were Larry and Simon, the former being a witty, seasoned man of few words, the latter being a younger free-diver extraordinaire. They were both incredibly helpful the entire trip.
The boat engine roared and we pulled out into the water. We couldn't have asked for better weather. The sun was shining, there was a cool breeze, and hardly a cloud in the sky. With the Travacalm keeping me hallucination and hurling-free, we sped across the harbor out to the open sea. The boat ride out was extraordinary, as there were several moments of weightlessness as we leapt over waves only to slam back down on the water a moment later. We left the harbor, went by Green Island (another dive site), and slowly made our way around the coast to Fish Rock, a tiny speck on the horizon at first.
This is Fish Rock.
What would make this trip especially cool was the fact that one of the divers at work had allowed me to borrow their Nikon D200 and underwater housing to take pictures while diving. While the camera and housing weigh about 10 pounds out of the water, they are essentially neutrally-buoyant once in the water, making it much easier to handle. Our first dive of the trip was just to be in the area around fish rock. Jumping into the water (60 degrees - quite a bit warmer than the 49 degree Monterey water to which I was accustomed), we buddied up and started our descent. No more than a minute into our journey into the blue, we had our first shark sighting. It really was something that I can't do justice with only words. Here we were, out of our element, with a creature that has survived for millions of years as a result of being such a perfect predator, in its direct element. There is an initial moment of shock when you tell yourself 'holy crap, that is a rather large shark no more than a few feet away from me.' But that moment passes and you realize what an incredible opportunity you have to be able to share the waters with such a magnificient beast.
The first of many, many sharks we would see
on our dives.
Keeping always one eye on the shark, and one eye on the rest of my surroundings, I made my way with the rest of the group along the perimeter of the rock. Soon, other sharks began to swim by. Two, three, four... As we neared a rock outcropping, Larry took a knee on one of the rocks. I did the same, and just took in the scene. Hundreds upon hundreds of fish of all different species, moving in any and all directions in the water. Peering through the swirling mass of fish, I saw no less than 8 sharks, all of which were larger than I am. Some were swimming in slow loops. Others were just floating motionless a few inches off the bottom.
A larger gathering of sharks.
Here's an interesting fact: most sharks can never stop swimming, as they rely on the constant motion of water through their gills to breathe. Nurse sharks, interestingly enough, have spiracles that act as a means to force water across their gills, so that they remain motionless without risking asphyxiation. Cool.
And just to prove I was actually there (note the
sharks in the background).
This is a wobbegong, a species of shark. There were
a considerable amount of them on all of our dives.
Wobbegongs can actually get quite large (nearing 10
feet with a jaw nearly a meter wide). They have
incredible camouflage when they settle on the ocean
floor.
We were actually in more danger from the wobbegongs
than from the nurse sharks, considering they can be
a bit cranky if people happen to accidentally kneel / step
on them. They have tiny, hooked, dagger-like teeth
and have a tendency to bite and not let go. It's not
uncommon for a diver to come back up to the
surface with the wobbegong still attached.
Our first dive had gone swimmingly (pun clearly intended). And I was looking forward to our next dive, where we would be swimming through the cave.
Referring to the first image in this post (go ahead, I'll wait while you go look), we would be dropping down by the deep entrance of the cave (right side) and swimming in, up the second chimney, through the complete darkness of the cave for a little over 60 meters, and then out the shallow end (left side). After a surface interval where some lunch was served, we geared up again, this time with my trusty tri-LED light, and swam around to the correct side of the rock. Then, we descended.
The view prior to our descent.
We had to drop to about 70 feet to get to the entrance, which is difficult to notice in the first place because it is obscured entirely by fish. Think of the greatest concentration of fish you've ever seen, and then multiply that by ten. It essentially requires you to push the fish out of the way to get by. It also makes it difficult to see nurse sharks until they are right in front of you (didn't happen to us, but we were told it had happened before). While we were waiting for everyone to descend, I decided to take a quick peek around the bottom. Something out of the ordinary caught my eye, and I ducked down to get a closer look. Though I didn't have my camera with me this first time through the cave, I came face to face with another one of nature's dangerous little beauties,
the lionfish. This was really a sight to see, as all of the cooler fish seemed to be on their own, rather than in massive schools, making them a much rarer sight.
Once everyone had reached the bottom, I followed Larry into the cave. My light reflected off the massive schools of fish, flashing color and silver wherever the beam hit. The wall of fish gave way to a narrow tunnel, through which we swam until we appeared to hit a dead end (which, as it turned out, also contained a resting wobbegong). Looking up, I could see Larry swimming toward a large open cavern, and following him up, found myself in the complete and utter darkness of the cave. The beam from my light cut through the darkness and revealed the awe-inspiring nature of the cave. Rock walls shot upward. Schools of fish meandered lazily. Massive
double-spined lobsters, with antennae reaching upwards of 3 feet long. At one point, we spotted an enormous
bull ray resting on the bottom, more than 4 feet from side to side. The most incredible spectacle was yet to come, however.
Part of the way through the cave, we could see the glow of the shallow entrance. Before making our exit, we ascended into the larger of two bubble caves in the rock. We were able to take our regulators out and breathe - 15 feet under water. The expelled air from divers gathers in these caves, and since not all oxygen is used, it's breatheable. After enjoying the cave for a few precious moments, we dropped back down and headed toward the shallow entrance.
If I had any idea that the deep entrance contained a
lot of fish, it was very quickly whisked away when
I set my eyes on the shallow entrance.
This was just an awesome sight, to see the shark
wreathed in fish.
Yes, we got rather close to them.
For a little while, we just sat on the rocks (and almost a wobbegong) watching the hordes of fish move, making out the faint outlines of sharks swimming through them. We slowly made our way along the left side of the entrance, as to not scare the sharks (a funny thought). As we were floating along, we came upon the first of many turtles.
This little hawksbill turtle was kind / sleepy enough
to let me pet him for a bit.
We continued to swim along and I caught sight of a few other cool fish.
This chunky boxfish did not want to be photographed,
so this shot was taken as I was swimming frantically
after him.
Here are a couple of eels under a rock. If you look
closely, you can see the tiny one behind the larger
one.
Toward the bottom of this shot, you can see
a trumpetfish.
These moon wrasse, while a bit evasive, are beautiful.
Colored in oranges, blues, yellows, and greens.
You can see a better pic of one
here.
There were quite a few of these large blue
groupers around. While we were doing our safety
stops, an inquisitive one would usually come around.
By punching your fist into your open hand under water,
you could actually get it to come over to you and pet it.
Just before we ascended up over the ledge back toward the boat, we dipped down over the hill to see one of the most incredible creatures I saw the whole trip. What appeared to be a boulder at first was - in fact - definitely not.
This enormous loggerhead turtle was like nothing
I had ever seen. The image does not do it justice.
Its head was easily the size of a football, and its
body a good 4-5 feet in length.
It sleepily lay on the bottom, allowing me to settle
in front of it and capture some great images (and pet
it as well, obviously).
Then it gracefully soared off to the surface. Incredibly
beautiful to watch so up close.
While we were doing our safety stop at 15', Larry pointed to a few cracks in the rock. Peering in, we saw a total of 3 octopi spread across the rocks. They were rather fascinating to see up close.
Larry floated in the group's bubbles as we waited
on our safety stop.
The remaining dives of the trip were amazing. We saw a
giant black cod at one point, which can grow up to 2m in length (ours was ~1m). This was especially cool, considering they are a highly threatened species. I also saw 4
cuttlefish at one point (but nearly didn't, as they blend quite well into the rocks). At the end of one dive, we surfaced only to see a whale breaching a couple hundred meters away.
On the very last day of diving, we received a bit of inclement weather, but decided to do the dives anyway. With some light showers raining down upon us, we headed out to the rock. The wind and rain had stirred up a bit of sediment, so the visibility was not as great as it had been, but the dives were still fantastic. Between the two dives, I took a fantastic nap in the rain on the bow of the boat (this was made easier by the fact that only my face was exposed). For the very last dive of the trip, we were to do the cave one last time. Upon exiting at the shallow end, we noticed considerably more current (Fish Rock, interestingly enough, is located in the East Australian Current, which means if you let go, you'll likely end up in New Zealand). The current was pushing us back toward the cave, so we had to literally crawl along the rocks, pulling ourselves. This also resulted in the second time this weekend when I almost put my hand on a
stonefish. At one point, we were waiting in the current for about a minute for a lull to head up over the rock into calmer waters. Not only was the current pushing an immense amount of water toward us, it was also pushing no less than 15 grey nurse sharks in our direction as well. I should also mention that I was in the very front of the group, and was very close to having over a dozen sharks bumping right into me. It was humbling being at the mercy of such a powerful force, and as the sharks drifted within arm's reach, I was - for whatever reason - overcome by bravery and the overwhelming need to touch things. Reaching out, I ran my hand along the tail of a passing 12' grey nurse. It was an incredible experience, and I was relieved when the shark did not react.
We eventually crawled over the rock wall and into the shelter from the current. Surfacing, we were tired, but had so much adrenaline pumping through us at the same time. Boarding the ship, we made for land.
At one point during the weekend, we also managed to make it up to Smoky Cape Lighthouse on the cliffs overlooking the water. It provided us with some amazing views.
Cute little lighthouse.
Looking down, there are some fantastic views
of the surrounding beaches.
At one point, from our vista area, we could see a pod
of dolphins splashing happily through the water. There
was also a single dolphin who was splashing around in the
water nearby when we were at the docks preparing
to leave.
Heading back to the hotel, we noticed a vehicle stopped in the middle of the road due to something in its way. As we drove by, I shouted 'Ooo - a snake!' Naturally, we had to pull over to have a look. This was one of the larger wild snakes I had seen in the wild, and was easily over 6 feet in length. Considering I had been to more zoos in the past couple months than most people generally visit in several years, I was certain that it was not one of the many venomous species that was waiting to pounce in the bush. It slowly started to slither off the road as we gathered around it, and as I am usually inclined to do, I had to touch it. I got my fingers on its tail, which sadly caused it to slither off faster and actually start to climb a tree.
After doing a bit of research, it would appear that
our green snakey friend is a type of python, likely
a carpet python (non-venomous).
After having our fill of snake, we made our way back to the hotel. On the drive back to Sydney, we took turns driving and got home at around 12:30 at night. This had been one hack of a weekend, but I was glad to sleep in my own bed tonight.
Final count of critters who received a healthy dose of petting: 5.
Here was one of several concept vehicles to be
Continuing with the Nissan offerings, we have here
Mazda had a rather unique piece for the concept crowd.
The front looks kinda unique. The car of the future,
The Ferrari California. Beautiful.
Hmm...Lexus SUV meets Flight of the Navigator?
Honda attempts to fill the '8-fender / spoiler-econo-
The Kizashi 3 concept from Suzuki. It's ok - a little
Potential Prius hybrid follow-up from Toyota. 2 AAA
They also had a section dedicated primarily to really
The always-appreciated Lotus Elise - provided
I've always loved the styles of cars from the 20s
Morgan also made a brief showing with their Aero 8.
Someone modded the heck out of this Porsche and 
Here's another one you don't see too often: the Pagani
Koenigsegg dropped a bright orange bomb at the 
