Diving
Bare Island Dives
I've dived at Bare Island 4 times:
| Dive number | Date | Site | Location | Area | Country | Wreck | Freshwater | Depth (m) | Bottom time (min) | Total time (min) | Divers | Quality | Summary | Equipment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
520
|
29 Dec 2007 | Bare Island | La Perouse | Sydney | Australia | 11 | 27 | 27 | Iain Hosking, Brendan Hosking, Cameron Hosking |  |
Accompanied Cameron and Brendan on their PADI Open Water Course through Frogdive in Guildford - instructor is Sean). Buddied up with Jim. Conditions were perfect - sunny and calm. Water warm (though some students thought it was cold). saw a groper, rays, wrasse, scalyfin, rock cod and nudibranchs. | Wetsuit, old hood, no gloves. Own 82 (with fill dating from last test in Sept 2003). Arctic, shot belt with all weights (a little heavy - remember to take out 3lbs for the wetsuit). | ||
| 521
|
29 Dec 2007 | Bare Island | La Perouse | Sydney | Australia | 9 | 32 | 32 | Iain Hosking, Brendan Hosking, Cameron Hosking | |
Accompanied Cameron and Brendan on their PADI Open Water course. They looked relaxed and confident, even during drills like mask clearing and compass navigation. They're now qualified divers and looking forward to the next dive. 1 hour interval between dives. | Wetsuit, old hood, no gloves. Own 82 (with fill dating from last test in Sept 2003). Arctic, shot belt with all weights (a little heavy - remember to take out 3lbs for the wetsuit). | ||
| 529
|
18 Jan 2009 | Bare Island | La Perouse | Sydney | Australia | 15 | 48 | Iain Hosking, Brendan Hosking | |
Warm Sydney summer day - everyone was at La Perouse so parking was very hard to find. Long walk in full kit up the road, over the bridge, down the steps, under the bridge to the right. Easy entrance to water - snorkelled out and descended to around 5m. Gradually found 7m then over weed down to 15m. Plenty of sponge gardens, nudibranchs (4 varieties), scalyfin, blennies and a decent-sized cuttlefish. No sea dragons. Tricky return with waves on rocks. Hiked back to car, quick change and back to Scuba Warehouse by 5.05pm (it closes at 4pm on Sundays). [Now closed all day Sunday] | Dry suit, 21 lbs (definitely too light!), 82, u/w camera again. Brendan - my wetsuit again, hired gear and the knife, which he lost. | |||
| 540
|
31 Mar 2013 | Bare Island | La Perouse | Sydney | Australia | 14 | 53 | 53 | Iain Hosking, Brendan Hosking, Cameron Hosking | |
After a cloudy start to the day the weather came good and La Perouse was at its multicultural best. We were lucky enough to find a parking spot near an ice-cream van, where Cameron, Brendan and I kitted up while Alexander, Angus and Steph found a nearby beach for boules and boogieboarding. We walked down the hill, over the bridge, down the steps on the left and back under the bridge to a flat rock shelf popular with anglers. On submerging, I set a compass course to the left, ie anticlockwise round the island. The vis wasn't nearly as good as yesterday and we were glad of the torches to help stay in touch. Keeping the boulder slope to our left we contoured down to 14m. On the way we found a sizeable cuttlefish in a crevice, and several species of nudibranch, as well as scalyfin, morwong, wrasse, leatherjacket, goatfish, bullseyes and old wives. Towards the halfway mark we were joined by a groper who became an instant friend, sticing close to us, making eye contact and showing a keen interest in whatever we were looking at. Patches of sea urchin spines on the seabed provided clues as to his possible motivation for this friendly behaviour. Cameron and Brendan took their time and looked closer than I probably did, and were rewarded with sightings of small octopus and prawns that I missed. At 100 bar we turned around and followed a reciprocal course back to the entry point, past the same cuttlefish, picking up my dropped snorkel on the way. Exiting was straightforward except for the fishing line, but the owners of said line didn't seem too troubled, and helped disentangle us. Brendan was able to use his knife for its intended purpose. Afterwards I had a round trip to Manly to return the tanks and hire gear, while the others chilled on the beach. Evening meal at the Springwood Gardens Chinese restaurant for Angus' bithday. Air temperature 24°C; water 21°C. | Dry suit, Arctic, hired aluminum tank, 25 lbs |