The first RLS Sydney Harbour trip ran 27-30 March, with 7 volunteers trained: Andy Myers, Steph Mifsud, Steve Lindfield, Candace “Candy” McBride, Carl Fallon, Jenni Bennett, and Jeremy Comer. We also had a number of experienced RLS divers join us, including Andrew Green, Margo & Ash Smith, John Johnstone and Chris Preston. Gedgar also dropped in for a few dives, although he forgot his dive licence – luckily Carl was an instructor and saved the day! We dived with Plunge Dive in Chowder Bay, and experienced first-hand the superior technological advances Sydney has on offer with the remarkable “inclinator” used to transport our gear to the dive shop. We also welcomed our newest RLS team member Andy Myers – who’ll is working part time for RLS in Sydney to help organise survey trips throughout the year, and instruct others on use of the inclinator…
We had some fantastic weather and dived at North Head, Fairlight, Chowder Bay, Quarantine Station and Chowder Bay. Carl spotted an angler at one site (Antennarius striatus), but later failed to grab Gedgar when he saw the giant boarfish (Paristiopterus labiosus) (yes, he’s still bitter, Carl). We were also treated with an angelshark (Squatina australis) at the start of one transect, and Steve found a poor fat little pygmy leatherjacket….in the mouth of a lizardfish!
Steph was somewhat focussed on the urchins, and none of us appreciated the bull shark banter as we swam the few hundred metres across Chowder Bay to our dive site…not sure who started that…I think it was Jeremy…with encouragement from Steve… All in all a great trip – plenty of keen divers and good to see so many trained RLS members drop by – even if they couldn’t make the whole trip! Thanks again (and always!) to Andrew for the great coffee. Look forward to the next Sydney trip…and to tackling Botany Bay of course… keep you posted, and remember to get in touch with Andy if you’re keen to head out for some surveys in and around Sydney!
