On the evening of Thursday 17 March a group of PRO DIVE staff members and customers gathered at the Manly store. They were getting together to travel to Nelsons Bay where Mick Todd, PRO DIVEs Course Director, was planning to go on his 5000th dive! The group packed up all their gear, loaded a bus, and drove up to Nelsons Bay where they spent the night. Around 7 am everyone got up and went to Fly Point, a really nice shore dive that Mick had chosen as the dive site.
Everyone reported really enjoying the dive that lasted for approximately 100 minutes. This is possible when you have an experienced group of divers all diving together. Apparently it was worth spending this much time submerged because everyone saw heaps of marine life.
The highlight of the dive was seeing a blue-ringed octopus, a rare yet dangerous creature. Its very poisonous but despite this Mick allowed the octopus to wrap a tentacle around his finger. Perhaps the octopus was congratulating him. According to Mick this was the 3rd time he had seen one of these animals at Nelsons Bay in the 400 dives he has done there.
Another crowd pleaser was a serene green turtle that swam near the group. There were also several moray eels that were curiously poking their heads out from their holes. One of the divers reported seeing Mick playfully tickling these intimidating creatures under the chin with the same manner that a normal person would give a dog a scratch. A frogfish was also seen although it retreated into its shelter rather quickly. Everyone knew it was there because of the frog-like croaking noise it made.
There were also the usual suspects: octopus, baby cuttlefish, nudibranchs, pineapplefish, blind sharks, dwarf mosaic wobbegongs, and pipefish. Fly Point was teeming with macro-life too in what was described by a staff member as a macro-playground.
On the drive back to Manly the group stopped to get fish and chips at Micks favorite shop. All in all the trip and dive was a great success. Congratulations Mick!
