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Published: November 4th 2005
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We arrived in the lovely and very dead town on South West Rocks, the day before the Melbourne Cup. We did not have a pre-arranged place to stay, so we headed to the tourist information spot. They sent us to this "not-so-nice" motel. After passing on the motel, we went across the street and Sarah and I went into a real estate holiday place. We immediately were able to get a 2 bedroom apartment, one block from the beach and at a cheaper rate ($60 per night) than the seedy motel.
After arranging the apartment, we headed to the local dive shop and booked a dive trip for the next day. Sarah and I were going to do 2 dives, one of them being a cave dive. I have never dove at night so I was a bit scared, actually I was scared shitless.
On the day of the dive trip, we found out that we were the only 2 going out for a dive, along with 2 divemasters and 1 instructor and student. So Sarah and I each had our own divemaster so in case I got scared, I would not have to do the cave dive and
Attack of the Batfish.
Numerous batfish surround the diving boat. Sarah could continue on without me. This is exactly what happened.
First of all let me say this, I had my first experience with a bad regulator. I jumped off the boat for my first dive, ready to go. I placed my regulator in my mouth and I did not get any air. Instead, I got water coming in. I was immediately concerned. I let my dive masters know about my regulator problem and everyone thought I was kidding, until the divemaster placed my reg in his mouth and realized I had a problem. So as I am holding onto the side of the boat, they switched my reg and I was good to go. So not only am I scared about doing the cave dive but I have now experienced equipment problems!
When you first get into the water, you encounter a ton of batfish. You can feed them bread, which I did. They take the bread right out of your hands! I tried to get pictures of them underwater with me, but I had to keep pushing them out of the way so that I could get into the picture. When I get my underwater camera
developed, I will add those pictures as I am sure they are worth a laugh or 2!
After encountering a few grey nurse sharks (3 or 4) at the entrance of the cave, I decided that maybe diving in a cave was not for me. Kiddos to Sarah for doing the cave dive 3 times. Even though I did not do the cave part, it was still the best dive of my life. I saw so many fish, fed blue groper (I actually touched this fish underwater as I was feeding them. I climbed over rocks underwater, swam in current and reached my deepest level (25m or about 75 feet). I did see many grey nurse sharks on the rest of my dives - they are quite tame, will get close to the dives but they will not bother you.
We loved the dives so much that we made Chris go out the next dive and do the dive himself. He also had a private divemaster for his tour. He had a fantastic time as well.
Check out the dive site : www.southwestrocksdive.com.au
After completing our dives, we headed back to apartment to watch the
Anna Bay
The beach at Anna Bay Melbourne Cup on TV. It is a HUGE thing here, stores shut down, heck whole towns shut down to watch the race. It was over in less than 5 minutes. And the favourite horse won, and lots of people won money.
After Chris completed his dive, we headed south to Port Stephens, we were staying at a campsite in Anna Bay. Now, the weather was nice, just perfect for camping but since I had pre-arranged a cabin, there was no camping. Strange how these things work out 😊
We were able to spend the next morning lying around the pool at the campsite. It was awesome, huge pool with a slide and a hot tub. Nathan loved the hot tub and the adults acted like children in the big pool. Can't wait to see the pictures from my underwater camera!
After leaving Anna Bay, we are heading south to Sydney. I spend 3 days in Sydney and then I fly back to Vancouver for 10 days before flying to Denver and Scotland (gotta love work!)
For those of you who are interested, you can also read the family's bog at: http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/TravelwithKid/. They may tell a different
Anna Bay
The beach at Anna Bay story than me.
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