Yet another amazing weekend for diving last weekend! Once again we were busy busy busy so it was all hands on deck! Greg took the an Advanced Open Water Course, Rusty and Toni took out 3 Shore Dives, Jim took out a Night Dive on Saturday As well as all the diving Bib and Louise manned the market stall at the Marine Discovery Centre opening.

It looks like the weather will be just as great this weekend coming so get in and get your name on the board for a dive!

The boat will be an excellent option this weekend with the gorgeous conditions so phone early if you want a spot! BOAT DEPARTS: 9:30am from Norah Head Boat and is going to The Bull & Bird Island. Please call us if you want to join this dive. Also the Australia Day Dive to the Apartments only has a few spots left so call now if you want to be included! Please DONT LEAVE BOOKINGS UNTIL THE LAST MOMENT.

Shore dives will also be running all weekend again with Russel Leading Saturdays dive to the Skillion and Suzi leading Sunday to Cabbage Tree Bay. Bookings are essential!!

Congratulations to our newest Advanced Divers! Copper, Alex, Jason and Nelson! You guys did a great job and we hope to see you all on our night dives from now on!

BOAT DIVES
We have been having some awesome conditions of late with up to 20m vis! It really has been awesome! Bengally Heads is proving to be a favourite of mine because of the variety of sites in the area. There is always something to tantalise and such a variety of sea life! Lately we have been regularly coming across nudis, blue grouper, morays, wobbys, schooling fish such as yellowtail and kingfish, giant cuttlefish. Dragons Marbles is also full of life and we have seen similar sea life along with regular sightings of weedy sea dragons, hence the name.

SUNDAYS SHORE DIVE REPORT
Another beautiful day on the Central Coast - great for diving!

Toni Lee headed to Terrigal Haven with a myriad of people. Mark, Eric, John, Doug, Gina, Jackie and a guy from Lithgow. This being Mark's first dive since the Coolidge and feeling rather hot decided to don his 3mm wetty. Maybe not the right choice. Water temp 24 degrees.

After a sweaty suited up we headed into the water for a cool down first and then off. Having to fin out to the first read buoy we descend and headed to the second red buoy before turning towards the reef to dodge the hoards of fisherman on rocks. Visibility at the start was only 2m but by the time we hit the anchor it opened up to 5.

We saw the usual playful blue and brown groupers and 1.5m blind shark twisted among the rocks, before sliding through them to hide in the kelp bed below. Baby cuttle fish, which I might add I was quite happy to go up to and play with, only to watch them change colour (I'm not usually this friendly with these marine creatures). As we continued around to the point staying at 9m the visibility extended to 10 plus. Schools of whiting, bonito and bream circled above, resting mangrove jacks, goat fish fossicking the on the sand bed below, moray eels, shrimp hiding in the crevasses and an eagle ray glided by.

All in all we were there nearly 50 mins before surfacing, to watch the storm roll in from the south. Everyone enjoyed the dive and Mark realised he needs more body fat as a 3mm here in Australia just not warm enough.

TRAVELLING WITH SCUBA SHACK
Our trip to Vanuatu is completely booked out now with 21 people going!! Thats going to be a fabulous trip! So its now time to start thinking about our trip to Truk Lagoon in October! We are already taking bookings for this one so please get in quick as we can only take a maximum of 12 people on this trip!

The Truk Laggon trip will truely be one NOT TO BE MISSED! Divers from all over the world will testify that this place is amazing! Dont believe me .. Check this out and you will certainly see what I am talking about!


MARINE DISCOVERY CENTRE OPEN DAY
Louise, myself and Natalya spent the day promoting Scuba Shack and all its awesomness at the Central Coast Marine Discovery Centre on Satruday. After 40mins of me fighting and swearing at the shade tent I finally figured it out and the display was up! We were nestled amongst the trees and staegically placed next to a wonderful veitnamese food outlet which kept us fed and watered throughout the day.

The day was a complete success with hundreds of people stopping by to have a chat about diving and dive gear and marvelling at all our lovely photos and video display. Since we have been back we have taken numerous calls from people who dropped by to have a chat and now have 8 new members!

A big thanks to Gina and Jacki who lent us a stand for the day. And for those wanting something to do with the kids these holiday, definatley drop into the Central Coast Marine Discovery Centre, they will love it!!

RIP CHARLIE

It it is with great sadness that I have to start this blog to inform all members of the passing of Charlie Johnson. Charlie was one of our local dive identities. Greg and I spent plenty of time at his factory at Tuggerah talking about everything diving. You never went there if you were in a hurry as he could talk for hours about his passion. For those who didnt know Charlie, he was the man to go to if you wanted your dry suit fixed and made those fantastic soft weights that the shop sells.

Charlie died while diving on the Curtin Artificial reefs in Queensland. It was on the second dive of the day when his dive buddy ran out of air, they both surfaced but a long way from the boat, his buddy was too exhausted to swim to the boat so Charlie towed him, the buddy got out of the water but when they look back to Charlie, he was floating on the surface. A heart attack is suspected. His family and close friends said good bye on Tuesday in a ceremony in QLD.

The dive industry has lost a wonderfully colourful character & Scuba Shack has lost a great buddy.


The weather perked up a little this week and bought us some lovely sunshine! This weekend has promised the same thing! So dust off that diving gear people and come and enjoy that 21 degree water and clear conditions!

Once again the boat will be going out this weekend. On Saturday from Ettalong a double dive to the Valiant and Dragon Alley, then on Sunday a Double Dive from Ettalong again this time to First and Second Point. For bookings on to this weekends boat dives, please call us ASAP as the boat does fill fast!

And the Winner is!

What a fantastic night! The room looked amazing decked out in the underwater themes of bubbles, seaweed and fish! Congratulation to the winners.......

Male Diver of the Year .......................Darren Taylor



Female Diver of the Year ...............Alison Tye



Junior Diver of the Year..................Alex T



Photographer of the Year...............Jane Sherriff



And a big congratulations to all others who went away with prizes of Dive Bags, Trips away, Over Seas holiday vouchers, Sport Diver Subscriptions, Caps, Boat Dives and much more!

We would like to Thank, Oceanic Australia, Dive Adventures, Mountain Ocean Travel, Neil and Lynn Vincent, Scuba Shack Charters, and Cardzilla for there generous support.

The highlight of the night was definately the brilliant fireworks display bought to us by Millenium, thanks guys we enjoyed every minute of it!

Those who were enquiring about the DVD SCuba Shack 2009. Yes they are for sale for $5 if anyone wants to order one we are taking orders now. Its a great way to show your non diving mates what you have been up to this year with Scuba Shack!

We hope to see you all again soon for some fantastic diving in 2010!

Clairs is gone........ oh no!

As you may have read last week, Clair has taken a position further north, we wish Clair all the best in her future endeavours. We will probably all still see her when we venture up to Nelson Bay for dives so be sure to go up and say hi, she is attending our Christmas Party so you all will have a change to say cheers. Al is still here and will still be leading dives as usual.

Our summer snorkelling range has now hit the store so if you are looking for a really good bargain for friends and family for Christmas this is the place to get good quality gear and a great members price! A dive course is also a great gift for Christmas for those non diving friends or family! Or what about a specialty course or a gift voucher for those divers in your life??? Maybe you divers out there could hint hint about what you would love from Scuba Shack for Chrissy!


Now speaking about Chrissy, I have to give the venue final numbers on Monday for the Chrissy Party and Annual Diver of the Year Awards Night at the Beachie so all money is due in now. Over $6000 in prizes!! And vvery guest gets a fantabulous present thanks to Scuba Shack and SDI TDI! These fabulous gifts are only available at the chrissy party so you have to be there to get one, but it’s a secret so I cant tell you what it is.

This is also your last chance to get in your pics for Photographer of the Year so please Send in your pics by this Weekend or you will miss out on the Fantasic prize.

Once again we will be showing the Year That Was at Scuba Shack DVD. These will also be available for purchase. The DVD will have pics of club dives and events that have taken place through out the year. It’s a great way to relive the fun times here at Scuba Shack with your friends and family.

Finally I would like to welcome Steven Lipar to our team. Steve has just commenced Dive Master Training and is chomping at the bit to get started! Steve actually learnt to dive with us many moons ago at the old shop at Norah Head when still in high school, then throughout the years did courses up to rescue and specialties and now is ready to take the plunge to DM! Steve is a great guy and we encourage everyone to come on in and say hi to Steve during his training.

A lot of you will be seeing more of Mel Fahey in the shop as well. Mel has taken a position at Scuba Shack on weekends and will also be undertaking DM training at a later date, Belinda (me) will mostly be in the shop on weekdays and Greg will be mostly here on weekends instructing or leading dives

Those of you who have been asking about Suzi Diver. She is back and rearing to get in the water. Suzi will be Divemastering starting end of December and will be here every couple of weekends, so come along to those dives and say hi. Suzi has also taken that next step in her career and she and taken up Assistant Instructor training so everyone wish her luck! Jane will also be completing her Dive Master training this Christmas and we will be seeing a lot more of her in the new year! Rusty and Al both still here doing weekend dive master duties.

Ok so you are all up to date with the comings and goings here at Scuba Shack. We hope to see you in the water soon.

Sorting the Men from the Girls

Sunday was the day to sort the men from the boys and the women from the girls. Greg, Dan, Gunn, Barney, Joh, Carpo, John and Dem were doing Lakes Reef with a 400m surface swim to get there and a surgy ride to finish. We geared up in pre blistering heat and walked to the water. This was helped by the brand new boardwalk so we don’t have to scale a sand dune any more. We lost our first two divers as we went into a very small surf entry. One swallowed half the ocean while another went for a tumble and slide back up the beach. After a quick beachside consultation two opted to stay on shore.

After a nice brisk swim across a large channel , with talk of sharks, crocodiles and cries of “are we there yet” we got to the outer edge of the reef. Once under the dive is very nice with crevices, overhangs and boulders galore. We found a couple of swim throughs, some Cuttle Fish, Yellow Tail, Whiting, Bream, Sgt. Bakers and Red Morwong. After about 50 mins we reached the far end of the reef and had two people low on air So 4 of us surface swam back while 2 stayed under to ride the wild surge. Soon we were back on the beach, after a friendly visit from the surf club rubber duckie to make sure we were all OK, and walked back to the cars in the now blistering heat.

I think that next 40 degree day we do something a bit more sensible like the light house. Its only a 500m walk with a few stairs thrown in for fun.

You won’t hear it often but Cabbage Tree Bay was the best dive site on the coast this weekend.

We were supposed to dive The Coal Loader but a NE wind and E swell wiped that out. If you have ever looked inside a washing machine you would understand.

We opted for Norah Head as it was the only site that had calm water. So, without expecting too much more than a chance to get wet, we headed down to the bay.

Once in the water it was surprisingly clear. We had about 10 – 15m visibility and 19 degree water. We were instantly followed by a large Blue Grouper, saw some baby blue grouper, cuttlefish, moray eels and loads of little reef fish. We finished the dive in just over an hour with lots of smiles all round.

A big welcome to our newest club members, Barney and Jo, who got to see the bay at its best. We also had Damien and Melissa visiting from Abyss in Sydney. David, Sean, Peter and Greg finished off the group

The vis was about 8-10 meters as long as you stayed above 8m in depth, there was a soupy green layer sitting on the bottom, I introduced Greg to an interesting new hand signal while involved pointing at the yukky murk and following that with ‘the bird’ signal…..he understood perfectly !!! We enjoyed a 64 minute dive and were surrounded by schools of One Spot Pullers, old wives, yellowtail and a massive school of Kingfish! I must say that the days dive was a very very pleasant surprise!!

The weather was beautiful and sunny, and the long walk a little daunting; but sometimes that little extra effort is greatly rewarded. That is exactly what happened on Saturday when we decided to go the
extra mile (well more like another 100mtrs) and dive The Trench around to the Coal Loader.We all assembled in the Carpark (Demster, Wayne,
Jesse, Eric, David, Brandon and myself - Allen). When we reached the entry to The Trench we dicided to take a 5 minute break and have a relaxing swim after the hot walk before heading on in. I had never dived
The Trench before, but with some prior advice from Greg and Google Earth we were all set. Once in the water I was able to rely on Demster's experience at the site to help get through the dive incident free and without getting lost ;-). What a great surprise this dive site was, it is a very pretty site with quite a bit of sponge and soft coral growth. We were spoilt with about 15 mtrs vis and around 18 degree water temp.