Dive Camp, April 2005

An absolute belter of a dive camp got off to a great start on Saturday morning. The tanks, divers and guests all arrived in plenty of time and we had the unusual privilege of leaving 10mins early - surely a good omen!


Boole Rock - first dive - Paul

The weather was truly generous. Warm, but not too humid. Very calm, bright, but not too much sun. We pressed out past Conic Island to be greeted by flat calm seas. Rather than continue to our regular haunts of the Cement Barge or Tai Long Wan we stopped at Boole Rock, with the aid of Dave Taylor's GPS. I was plea y santly surprised when my idea of dragging the shot onto the pinnacle actually worked and Alex managed to put the shot on the South of the pinnacle in about 10m.

The dive site was a lovely pinnacle at 6m, with sloping shelves from 12m. The silt or 'murkocline' reduced things to about 2m below 19m, but there was a lot of soft corals and small fans down there. Above 15m the viz was an excellent 8m. The colours very stunning with a huge covering of low lying hard corals. It was nudibranch city! Also some big hawkfish, a baby mantis shrimp, three puffer fish and a lot of BIG scorpionfish. Neil saw the largest moray he had ever sen in Hong Kong. The lack of nets was also a pleasant surprise!

The seasoned Hong Kong divers were extremely impressed, but others wanted to see more fish, so we set off to the cement barge wreck.

'Close' to the Cement Barge wreck - Second Dive

The low point of the dive marshalling for the weekend was my dive briefing for the cement barge. We were 50m too far north, at the wrong cleft in the wall, so everyone enjoyed a nice dive close to the cement barge wreck. Only Neil and Dave T, who obviously always go exactly the opposite direction to what I say managed to find the wreck. Still a nice dive and quite a few big Garoupas hiding in the boulders.


On the Beach

The advantage of being nicely ahead of schedule was that we lit the bbq in daylight, found lots of driftwood and pitched our tents all without needing our torches. The disadvantage of arriving ahead of schedule was that the drinking started a little earlier than usual.

Jason, Louisa and Frances had conspired to bring enough food to feed an army (even an army with Neil in it!). Vicki entertained us with the flaming juggling, but she was really only the warm-up act for our Glorious Leader. Somehow the forest of red wine bottles was thinned down to a wood, then a copse and finally all were felled; including Neil, who passed out and was carried to bed by the long-suffering Louisa. Andy, who was celebrating his birthday (on St George's Day) managed his 'Gollum' impersonation by falling asleep on the sand. We were impressed that he would so generously sacrifice himself to keep his friends safe from all the mosquitoes. Eventually all went to sleep, except Steve (guest), who was driven from his tent by the loud snoring of 'big' Steve.


Victor Rock - Sunday 24 April

Much to my relief, the forecast had been true and the winds remained calm overnight. As we headed out the seas became calmer and calmer and Dave's GPS was not needed as there were 4 fishing boats over the submerged pinnacle already. Again Alex managed to drag the shot onto the rock and place the shot in about 17m of water.

A chance to get out to Victor Rock is a rare treat and the dive was great. No circling tuna, as on my last visit and also no lobsters, but still plenty to see. The east side of the rock is particularly steep and we enjoyed a gentle drift along the wall (double rarity in HK) past some beautiful soft corals. The tide was running from the north and pushed the murkocline upto 8m on the north side (but there was still lovely fan corals down there). However, on the south side a down current on the lea-side of the rock dragged the clear surface water down and we enjoyed 10m viz and shoaling Sweetlips at 20m!

Heading back up to the pinnacle we saw the greatest number of nudibranchs I have ever seen on any dive anywhere! At one point we saw an orgy of nine nudibranchs that involved laying coils of eggs and Steve (guest diver) spotted an enormous Dendodoris. There was also the occasional hunter-killer Gymnodoris inornata nudibranch.

Other treats included a pot blenny munching on a small rockfish that it called dinner and lots of Sergeant-Majors, especially under the pinnacle and in rock fissures.

A cracking dive! Also, just when you think that things cannot get better, Vicki went snorkelling. I am unsure what she did in the water, but almost unbelievably a large Sweetlips floated up from the depths. It was in distress, so we put quickly put it out of distress by steaming it with ginger, garlic and soy sauce - delicious!!!

Summary

A tiring, but enjoyable weekend was had by all. I would like to give a big thank you to everyone for all their help, it really made dive camp a success and marshalling was not a chore because people were very well organised, on time and helpful. In particular, thanks to:

• Jason for organising the suckling piglet and Aussie style shrimps
• Louisa and Frances for generously bringing all the delicious extra food
• Dave T for his GPS and site-finding
• Winnie for being permanent dive-log-keeper
• Alex for all his enthusiasm
• Vicki for her fire juggling displays and finding a great fish to eat
• Neil for providing the evening entertainment

The weather really played a big part and, if you are new to the Club I have to stress that some of those dive sites are very rarely dived, especially Victor Rock which we are only able to safely go to once every year or couple of years.

After such a great success I am sure that the Club will be keen to return to two dive camps per year!

Thanks again

Paul