Tuggerah 14-03-09

Flat seas on March 14, 2009 and out of Dolans Bay we head. We are trying for the first time our stage bottles. The dive plan is 23 min bottom time, at 21m switch to stage bottles for 2 mins, then 1 min at 15m and 1 min at 10m, then the rest at 5m, finishing at 3m. Having not used sling tanks before we thought that the Luxfer 40cu ft tanks, slung on the left side would be cumbersome. In fact, clipped to my Halcyon set up it was not an issue except that I have clipped my SPG under the stage tank clip, making it impossible to read the SPG. I also had my pony as I was diving on a single 12.2L and the stage could not be used at 45m. It seemed gloomy on the way down and as we got close we saw the wreck on our right and the anchor on the sand 10m away. But above the anchor was a large unusual shape. I thought it was a seal hanging in mid water but as we got closer it was a juvenile sunfish. WOW was it our lucky day. If we had anchored on the other side of the wreck we would not have seen it. It was not upset by our presence, allowing us to come within half a meter. It hung around, then slowly swam towards the wreck and out of our view. When your at 45m you can't exactly follow it away from the anchor. So we moved the anchor to the wreck and secured it. There was plenty more to see at the wreck including a very large wobbiegong. The water was very clear and it was a wonderful dive, despite the 14 degree water temperature. At 23 mins we headed up, having put some air in the lift bag and ensuring that the anchor cleared the wreck. At about 35m the anchor suddenly started rising rapidly and threatened to take us with it. I dumped air rapidly, trying to slow the ascent but could not so I had to let go of the anchor rope. Of course, then I was really heavy and started descending rapidly. I corrected this OK but had to keep an eye on the anchor rope so that I could get back to it. The viz was good so I could see the rope and slowly came up to it. After that it was back to following the plan, with some safety provided by my computer recalculating based on the actual dive. I was getting quite cold towards the end of our deco and was very glad to get out of the water. Sadly, lack of KWELLS caught up with me and that was our only dive or the day.