We are now 120 days into 2007 and I'm ashamed to say that on Saturday I made my 4th dive for the year. I'm even more ashamed to say that one of those dives I wouldn't really count as a dive - Rob and I attempted a shore dive for some crays and exited the water about 5 - 10 mintues later cause the visibitly was poor and the surge was so bad it was making me sick and the other two dives were for work.  I've been trying to think up some good excuses for not diving, but in reality I don't really have any. Sure the weather this summer hasn't been the best. I may have been working some undesirable hours. And yes I have been getting out on the surf ski and (more recently) out on the (new) mountain bike alot more. But as many would agree, there really isn't an excuse for not getting out diving.

What makes things more annoying is that since December, I've spent a fair bit of money servicing the boat and dive gear (of which I have 3 sets) and haven't made the time to use them. I attempted a dive about just before Easter with Dave and Ricky, only to be towed back to the ramp before we even left the marina because the steering on the boat seized up - another $250. If I consider my dive on Saturday as being my first dive for the year, it is without a doubt the most expensive dive I've ever done.

The dive site we chose to dive was an old favourite out off Mindarie. It was the site that exactly one year ago today that my brother David caught the biggest crayfish either of us have ever caught. Surface condition were pretty much pretty much perfect. After dropping the anchor and taking a good 10 mintues or so to get ready, by the time we got in the water, the anchor rope still hadn't settled. The boat had barely moved. Conditions underneath the surface were pretty much standard for the site - visibility was the same as most days and there was a constant surge (even though the surface very calm). The lack of diving throughout the summer quickly showed. As always at this site we took a catch bag and cray loop (when in season of course). The lack of diving proved to be very bad for my skills (or lack there of) for catching crays. For the first time in a long time, there were actually quite a few decent sized crays there. But do you think I could catch one??? After spending nearly five minutes getting frustrated trying (and failing) to catch one cray, I thought I better find the other two. Just as I caught up with Dave and Ricky, we came accross a ledge with quite a few very respectable sized crays. This was actually the first time I'd ever dive dived with Ricky. It was also the first time Ricky had ever dived with a cray loop. I don't know whether Dave and I are to blame for not showing Ricky how to use a cray loop properly or not, but watching Ricky trying to catch a cray was one of the funniest things I've seen underwater. What made it even funnier was that Ricky was going for the same cray Dave was. To quote David at the end of the dive, "how can the cray be kicking up that much silt". You really had to be there to appreciate it.

As you may have already guessed, we came up empty handed. The one cray I did manage to loop had an unfortunate demise when it decided that it didn't want exit the (tiny) ledge that it inhabited. It was last seem by Dave walking out without the end of it's tail followed very closely by alot a little reef fish looking for a free feed. By this time it was time to turn around and head back to the boat. When we dive this site, I have a rule - 100bar, turn around and head back to the boat. This dive was no different, but by now Ricky was probably a little lower on air than I would have liked, as was David - they'd both overshot 100bar. As always once we turn we head straight back to the boat - no site seeing on the way. But as is usual, at least one person I dive with  tend to be very low on air by the time we get back to the anchor line. This dive was no different. Actually, there was one difference with this dive  - I had to worry about two people being low on air instead of one. Although I had plenty of air left, I only had had one occy.   As always though, we surfaced with the air-hog/s having at least one breath of air left in the tanks.

Even though we came up empty handed, all in all it was a very pleasant dive. And it was great to (finally) get back into the water again after being absent for way to long.

I am happy to say that in 2 weeks time I will be heading down south for a few days for  bit of diving on the HMAS Swan. Not having dived the Swan for nearly 3 years, I'm quite excited to see how much it has changed. And even more exciting is that come July I'm heading over to Sipadan for a week diving with David. One more place to tick off the "to do" list. I'll keep everyone updated on these two trips and any other diving I do in between (which will hopefully be alot more than what I've down over the first 4 months of 2007)