This weekend was spent at Forster visiting the Grey Nurses. Whenever I dive here (not nearly often enough) I dive with Ron Hunter at Dive Forster Ron operates a good sized catamaran, is friendly and knowledgeable and also has accommodation at a lodge 10 minutes walk from the shop.
Saturday we did a couple of dives on the wall at Spot A which was excellent with visibility at 40+ metres. This is rather like diving in an aquarium. Only a couple of sharks out to play but still plenty to see.
Sunday morning was a double dive on The Barge which was Shark central. Again, excellent visibility, easily 20m and more sharks than you could shake a stick at. Best estimates are between 40 and 50 but it was hard to tell.
One thing which was sad to see was that a number of sharks were carrying stainless steel fish hooks trailing fishing line. I can certainly empathise with the discomfort this causes but more importantly, it can hinder their ability to eat and lead to them starving or getting serious infections. When Grey Nurse sharks are already an endangered species, it's just irresponsible to be fishing in the (very few) marine conservation areas which exist to protect them. For more evidence of this type of irresponsible behaviour, see Ron Hunter's site.
If you want to do something to help protect these amazing creatures, please visit the Let Lucy Live web site.
More photos are available at Whanau Mackay. Enjoy
