Barrons Hut 18-11-06

November 18, 2006 was shaping up to be a really nice day. We headed out of Dolans Bay with the thought that if the seas were flat enough we might have a shot at the Tuggerah. Getting to Barrons, the sea was about 1 to 1.5m and we elected not to go the other 5.8km to the Tuggerah wreck site. We anchored at our usual spot, just at the start of the Split. This allows us to head South towards the cave and chimney and explore the shallower rocks and caves on the way back. Viz was great, found a juvenile PJ on the sand, unusual for this time of year. Lots of fish of all types, bullseye, giant cuttle, nudies and kingfish. Groper are always present - they seem to expect to be fed. We saw 2 very unusual things. The first in a cave between the split and the chimney, 2 Beechers Devilfish together. We have only ever seen them solitary in the past. The second find, just south of the chimney cave, was a male weedy sea dragon with eggs on his tail. The unusual thing was this was at 26m deep. We've never seen sea dragons at that depth, usually finding them between 12 and 15 metres. And where it was there was no weed nearby at all. This was dive 274 for me.