The sea looked great on Friday arvo, with the east dropping and the water still looking Nice and blue. The morning looked like it was going to be on, and the cell did not stop with calls and sms fine tuning the dive arrangements for the morning.
But when I woke about an hour before light, it was raining and I could hear the sea coming from the east ... not a good sign. Andy and Craig picked me up and we headed for Christmas Bay, the windscreen wipers working overtime did seem to dampen the spirits.
When we go to the spot the lack of light did not give us a true idea of how bad the sea was, and with Craig and Andy always keen to give it a go it was not long before we were in our suits walking down the beach.
By now it was starting to get light ... well enough to see that the swell was way bigger than we thought, there was a moment of apprehension ..... it did not look inviting!
But I have this thing some of my mates hate ......when I am in my suit and on the beach there is very little chance of me turning home. Thats like admitting defeat even before the battle!
So wealtered our plans and setteled for an easyer swim in one of the bays, like i said not often Craig or Andy back down either. The swim was not to bad and when we got out the vis was not too bad with the high tide eliminating some of the surge.
We headed out aiming for the drop off, but with the recent storm surf washing all the vegetation away my marks were non existent and we overshot the drop off by at least 50m. We were in about 18 or 19m of water were the surge had not affected the water as much as on the reef on the inside and the first 10 -15m was actually quiet good.
I was on my second or third dive to check the depth so as to see how far off the reef we were when this shape appeared beneath me on my way down. It was a bit gloomy and at first I thought it was a shark ..... but only for a smidgen of a second, the chiseled nose of a cuta was a dead give away. What a luck! To dive straight onto a fish in the gloom. I took aim with my 1.2 Freedivers Reelgun and planted the spear in its back ....... then it was the usual getting dragged around the sea.After about 10 or 15min ..... however long, its not like you time these things, the fish was in sight. Andy went down and ended the fight, my shot was good and the fish was going nowhere. But I always appreciate a mate securing the fish, had too many keepers come off or eaten by sharks.
The rest of the dive was a right off the conditions seemed to get worse with the dropping tide and and none of us saw a single fish. Like I said I hit a luck!
Anyway my luck weighed 19.98kg ...... Andy rounded it off to 20kg with "Whats 20g between mates"
I have had a couple of dives recently, where we just went out because we were there and had a real shocker of a dive ... I suppose luck will eventually find you!
Coatesman
P.S - don't hold your breath for a dive this week it is looking seriously bleak. There is a cold front down south but all the forecasts are showing that it will not reach us. And the Beasterly Easterly will cause havoc!
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