Six Fathom Reef 22-09-07

We had hoped to dive the Tuggerah but as we headed out of Port Hacking the wind whipped the seas up and we gave up on that, heading to 6 fathom reef. Sea Tamer was there also with a bunch of Technical Divers. He had been to the Tug but failed to hook up and after 3 goes gave up. He told us that our mooring at the Undola had come loose and was floating 180m away. We knew it was loose by have not been able to get back to refix it.

With the wind turning the seas into a washing machine we put down 2 anchors and headed down. At the bottom it was calm and viz a good 15+m. No sign of the wild seas on the surface. We were anchored on the West side of the reef and headed slowly south. We came across several of the Tug divers and gave them a wide berth. We saw a lone juvenile PJ which bolted when we approached. I came across an old admiralty anchor, not a big one, about a metre long. Despite Wayne saying it's a "bit daggy" on his slate, I indicated that I wanted it for me. We put my surface marker on it and sent the marker to the surface. Realising that we were in 19m depth and the rope on my marker was only 15m we moved it shallower waters. Leaving it there we headed to back toward the anchor. I had to surface to see where it was, only 30m away. Getting back to the anchor, the seas had straightened the prongs and it was not hanging on at all well. We lifted it with the bag. I stayed with the front anchor and Wayne headed to the back one. Recovering my anchor was a challenge. We had drifted several hundred metres away by the time we were in the boat and the seas were really chopped up. Sea Tamer has departed. We recovered my anchor and headed back in.