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| Terrigal June Long Weekend by Michael McFadyen |
This weekend was originally planned to be at Norah head but the boat ramp there has fallen into such a poor state of repair that the charter operator can no longer launch from there. After exploring a few alternatives, the weekend was changed so that the diving was done out of Terrigal.
On the trip were Shaun Reynolds, Sharon Donoghue, Jason Coombs, Ron Walsh, Dave Casburn, Brian Byrnes, Mark Ridsdale, Kelly and myself. Unfortunately, Rox Fea was sick so she could not come up. We all headed up on the Friday afternoon or evening to the Toowoon Bay Holiday Park and all but Jason went to dinner at the local golf club.
Our accommodation was in the best cabins I have ever seen in a caravan park. They were huge and had everything. Jason reckoned that his bachelor pad (with spa) was the place to be.
The next morning we met Bob Diaz from Pro Dive Central Coast at the Terrigal boat ramp. We headed off, bound for Foggy Cave. Unfortunately, the GPS would not start but after a bit of fiddling it came good. However, it was of no use as the co-ordinates for Foggy Cave were not in there. Bob has two boats and it seems that he has not used this one to dive there for some time.
After trying unsuccessfully to find the buoy at the site (we later learn that it is missing), we head to an alternative site called The Pinnacle. This is off Bateau Bay. From what I could see, it is not really a pinnacle, but it was a nice enough dive site.
A few of us saw some huge kingfish on this dive.
The seas were almost millpond so we had some morning tea at this site before moving to the next one, Two Poles. This is located at the northern end of Wamberal Lagoon. This site was a sand gutter that had reef on both sides. We saw a couple of sea dragons here as well as some large wobbegongs. On one side of the gutter the reef had lots of cracks and there were heaps of fish in and over them. There were also dozens of gorgonias, all very colourful. Not a bad dive.
After the dive we headed back to the caravan park for some relaxing. That night we had a barbecue dinner and a few drinks. Kelly headed home after dinner as she had a uni exam on Monday and needed to study.
Sunday morning saw perfect conditions yet again and this time we made it to Foggy Cave. However, the anchor was a little off the wall and only about half of the crew actually made it to the cave. This was also Shaun and Sharon?s deepest ever dive.
After morning tea on the boat, we headed to Bateau Bay Reef. This is a sort of shallow basin in a reef. It was only an average dive.
That night we shared a huge Asian feed, a curry beef dish that I made and a chicken curry Mark knocked up. After the dinner Ron and Brian left as they had other plans for the Monday.
The next morning we had a late start (great after two early ones). After a leisurely breakfast, we headed to Terrigal. Shaun, Sharon, Jason and I dived the Skillion Cave, a first for all of us, while Mark and Dave went for coffee. It was an easy dive, although next time we could spend a lot more time in the water as we were not sure of how easy the exit would be so we left a lot of spare air in our tanks. After the dive we headed home.
Visibility on all dives was not great, perhaps seven metres. The water was warm, 19 to 20 degrees.
Another great Club weekend away.
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