The objectives of this dive weekend were three-fold:

1. Get everyone back safe,
2. Dust off those accelerated decompression skills for those qualified to dive a decompression dive with gas switching on stages with planned run times, and
3. Depth progress our sports divers in the team.

Pleased to say all three objectives were met.

We dived Pimpernel rock twice on the Saturday. Yes, I know what you're thinking: Pimpernel rock is a myth, like Windarra Banks! But we actually got there, dived it and have the photographic evidence. Pimpernel is a bit of a trek to get to but it is just a perfect advanced dive site with the bottom in 40-45 m of water. It has one big arch usually inhabited with grey nurse sharks in winter and two smaller swim-throughs. 

We saw lots and lots of grey nurse sharks, car sized groupers, black cod, and a really big yellow-tailed king fish. At first we thought it was a bronze whaler it was so big but it closed enough to see the flash of the yellow on its tail.  This is typical of these isolated pinnacles in the ocean with large pelagics circling them. Mel and Andy also sighted eagle rays around the rock on their second deco dive.

There was lots of other interesting critters on the rock itself.

Day two saw us diving North Solitary Island at the Bubble Cave and Fish Soup as the current was really starting to run. We decided it would be a good idea to irritate a Lionfish in Bubble Cave so we got to practise those emergency skills of pulling a buddy out of the way. I think I saw the largest turtle I’ve seen in 24 years of diving on the south side of North Solitary Island just where the current was really picking up and 40 minutes into the slog around the island. It was either a loggerhead or more likely a hawksbill but we couldn’t spend long admiring it.

These second dives were longer, shallower dives up to 80 minutes in some increasing current so we enjoyed better viz and lots of smaller fish life on day two.

Great diving, great company and some good technical diving discussions with the divers during the afternoon/evening. I learned a fair bit just chatting to some very experienced divers.

Keen to run this trip again next year in May.

Thank you to Donna Easton, Russell Reinhardt and Bernadette Hawkins for the photographs.