February 6th, 2007 - LHI
Once again, I spent my day paying my dues. I read all day long in the shed while everyone else went out diving. I have been assured that I will get out on more dives, and to be honest, I really don’t mind kicking back and talking to people on the beautiful lagoon. I guess it helps when I consider that I could be in a foot of snow back home!
I read some more of my dive master texts and had a nap in the afternoon, and headed to Palm Sugar for a shift. Later on that evening I sent some friends a few e-mails from the Pandanus’ restaurant hotspot.
February 5th, 2007 - LHI
This morning I went for a dive at Ned’s beach since the wind was still howling pretty hard from south-east. The dive was kind of strained, since the people I was diving with weren’t very cooperative. Regardless, I enjoyed it and took time to look at the details of the marvelous and unique dive site. If there is one thing that I have taken away from the last month, it is the absolute necessity to look closer at the fantastic details of marine life on the reef. On this dive, I happened upon the most interesting neon-coloured dancing shrimp.
In the afternoon I sat in the shed and finished the meat and potatoes of the Howea Divers website. I have put a lot of work into building the site, and it looks good. I hope to have it online within the next couple of months.
After work, I went for a quick swim to find an anemone for our two little anemone fish; they’re very territorial and there was only one anemone in the fish tank, leaving the other swimming around aimlessly. I then grabbed some candy from Joy’s shop and sent a package to my sister back home. On the way back to my apartment, I bumped into Ian Hutton and discussed my next project: Editing some HD clips for him and taking some underwater photos (using film) for the 25th anniversary of the LHI World Heritage listing. Although I won’t be receiving any money, I will finally become a published photographer.
I read for the rest of the evening, and I am making good headway on learning the complex physiological and anatomical complexities of scuba diving.
February 4th, 2007 - LHI
Today I turned over a new leaf. I got up extra early, went for a run down on the beach, did a workout including some Yoga, and went for a swim in the lagoon before work. It felt amazing to be up early and the rest of the day I was exhilarated. I’m going to try and do the routine at least three times per week. I’ve been working heaps lately, so we’ll see how we’ll do.
During the day I stayed in the shed and read my dive master manual. I’ve been a little disappointed about not being able to dive recently; the weather has just not been cooperating. I had a little time off in the afternoon, read some of my novel, and went to work at Palm Sugar.
February 3rd, 2007 - LHI
The weather was a little better today but still not the best. Mel and Todd took some people out to Comet’s hole for a dive while I stayed in the shed and studied my dive master material. I was feeling a little hung over so it was a relief to find out that I had the afternoon off. I did some more work on my dive master and had nice long nap.
Before work at Palm Sugar I went for a bike to Old Settlement, did some Yoga on the beach, and waded through the warm water. When I got to work it was dead - only two bookings, so we had an easy night, talked on the verandah, and drank Shiraz.
After work I went for a walk down to Middle beach to check out the full moon over the water and disturb the seabirds. I managed to get under the electric fence okay on the way through to the beach, but on the way back I misjudged (probably because of the wine) and got a mighty shock that sent me flying into the ground; it stuns you pretty good at first but once you realise what happened you can’t help but laugh!
February 2nd, 2007
The swell has been up recently because of the south-westerly wind and the low pressure system in the area, so we haven’t been able to do much in terms of diving. It rained a bit again this morning (which is always welcome to fill up the tanks), but all the dives for the day were cancelled. I spent the morning in the boatshed working on the website; it’s coming along great and I don’t have too much more to go.
In the afternoon I watched two films by Jacques Cousteau, “The Secret Society of Dolphins and Whales,” and “Warm Blooded Sea: Mammals of the Deep.” They were both pretty good, but I felt restless after a day of inactivity, and decided to do some Yoga and a workout.
At 5 o’clock I met the Howea team and some friends down at the boatshed for some drinks. We had nibbles and watched the sunset over the lagoon. After everyone left I went back up to Todd’s new place with Luke and we watched some of his surfing footage and listened to music while sipping on some rum and Coke’s. We got loose and headed to the bowling club for a boogie. It was a good night and the dance floor was on fire!
February 1st, 2007 - LHI
It was a pretty ordinary day today. It was raining in the morning so everyone who was supposed to go for a dive cancelled. Busty was still a little sick, so he gave us all the day off. I spent the morning working on the website, and in the afternoon went for a bike down to Little Island, a run and a swim at Blinky beach, and completed the first two chapters of the dive master manual.
January 31st, 2007 - LHI
Mel had the day off today and Busty was still ill with a cold, and had to stay back in the shed. Todd and I took the boat out with John, Chris and two other experienced divers, and headed off to the north head gutters. Todd stayed on the boat and I went for a dive; my first time at the gutters.
The terrain at the gutters was exceptional. There were heaps of overhangs and small caves to explore, and most of the area was covered in extremely healthy hard corals. On the dive I managed to see some pretty awesome aquatic life, including a conspicuous angelfish, brown triggerfish, crayfish, catfish and even an octopus walking over the top of the reef. I’m completely fascinated with the octopus and its amazing defense mechanism; it changes colour and body shape to match its environment nearly instantaneously when threatened. It’s a pretty amazing sight to observe.
In the afternoon I cleaned up in the shed and then got ready for my first shift at Panadanus restaurant at the top of the hill. Every Wednesday and Thursday night’s I’ll be helping out in the kitchen for some extra cash for my trip to Asia. As of now, I’m working five days and five nights a week, in addition to my video and web design work. Yeesh.
January 30th, 2007 - LHI
This morning I went on a dive to the Admiralty Island’s to explore Rupert’s reef and help Heather, the marine park manager, collect some anemone fish for some researchers in Melbourne. We went out on the boat with Todd because Busty was sick with a cold. John and Chris came on the dive too.
It took the entire dive to locate and capture the fish. The surge was pretty heavy, and we were sloshed around in our attempts to get a net over a breeding pair. I didn’t have gloves, so it was tricky for me to stay still. In the end though, we managed to capture and bag the fish we came for. It was a shorter, challenging dive, but definitely a good learning experience.
For the rest of the day I worked on the Howea Divers website. It’s almost finished, and I am eager to get it online to share diving at LHI with the world.
I was supposed to work at Palm Sugar tonight, but it wasn’t busy, so I continued to work on the site and read up on the marine park.
January 29th, 2007 - LHI
Today was my sisters 22nd birthday; however, I have to wait one more day to call her because of the time difference. I dearly miss my sister and can’t wait to see her again.
This morning I woke up an hour early and biked down to Arijilla to meet the Yoga instructor Donna for a session. I turned up and there was an older couple there for the session, but that was it. The Yoga room was extremely beautiful and peaceful; it’s a large circular wooden cabin nestled amongst the palm trees and a giant banyan. Donna was amazing and took us all through some very basic (but challenging) Yoga positions. It was a great way to start my day and I have vowed to go at least once a week.
I showed up at the boatshed ready for work but Busty was sick and told me I had the day off; my second day off in a row! Not wasting any time I got on my bike and rode down past Capella to do the Goathouse Cave walk, the second hardest hike on the island.
It took me less than an hour to hike up the steep incline, and I was sweating profusely by the time I reached the summit. I was wearing thongs and still managed to pass five people making their way up the mountain. The views today were spectacular since there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I sat down next to a nesting red-tailed tropic bird, had a piece of homemade pear and coconut cake, and read the first two chapters of my dive master manual before descending the mountain and returning home for lunch. Along the way home I stopped at Joy’s shop and picked up the new Australasia Scuba Diver magazine because it has a feature on Thailand’s top ten dive sites.
After I finished eating I headed to the boatshed, picked up some snorkel gear, and headed out to Middle beach for a swim; my intentions were to catch a crayfish for dinner, but after an hour of searching underneath the reef, I gave up. One of these days I’m going to bring home a big one!
For the rest of the evening I worked on the website, read, and chilled out. It was a super busy day and I know I’m going to be feeling it tomorrow.
January 28th, 2007 - LHI
The storm last night kicked up the surf and made for rough seas, so Busty decided to let everyone have the day off. In the morning I took my bike and iPod down to Blinky beach and walked all the way to the end, went for a swim, and took my time getting home. I stopped to look at a baby White Turn nesting on a tree branch about six feet off the ground; it had fluffy grey down all over its body compared to the brilliant white adult, who I could tell didn’t really enjoy my presence.
In the afternoon I slept for few hours, read some of my book, and took it easy. I got a little more done on the Howea Divers website, but had to leave to go to work at 6 o’clock at Palm Sugar. I worked the shift, had some dinner and wine with the owner Kathy, had an early night.
January 27th, 2007 - LHI
The days seem to be melting together. I spend most of my days in the shed, although I have been promised that February will be better for completing my dive master, since most of the people diving are regulars and there’s more time for us to get dive’s in. To be honest, I really don’t mind hanging out on the beach, talking to tourists and dragging kayaks down to the shore. I got out of the shed for the afternoon though, and joined Busty on the boat to Comet’s hole. I took my snorkel gear along and went for a dip while Busty took a couple doctors down for a dive.
I got off at 4 o’clock, took a quick nap, and headed to Palm Sugar for my evening shift. The weather forecast called for storm to pass through, and you could smell it in the air. By the time I finished my shift, the lightening was streaking across the horizon. Andrew and Shannon, my co-workers at Palm Sugar, and I decided to get a couple drinks and head down to the lagoon to watch the storm blow in. The wind was blowing from the all around us and we watched as the rain moved across the horizon and up onto the beach. We darted into the boatshed to avoid getting totally soaked, and watched the lightening until we got too cold.
I got home, worked on photoshop for a bit, and completed the staff photos for the website. I nodded off to the sound of thunder and lightening crashing through my window.
January 26th, 2007 - LHI
I spent the entire day in the shed because Todd had to teach a dive course and Mel had the day off. It was a beautiful day, and I wish I could have gone for a dive, but sitting by the lagoon reading a book for most of the day suited me just fine!
Later on in the afternoon, I jumped on another booze cruise with a bunch of the staff from Pinetrees, some locals, and other friends; it was the second booze cruise of the week, so I was stoked. There was probably 30 people stuff onto the boat. Pete took us around the lagoon and we had a few drinks while watching the sunset over the ocean. At one point everyone on the boat jumped in the water to cool off. It’s a tough life here on Lord Howe!
Friday nights there is a dance at the bowling club, and pretty much everyone who went on the cruise decided to go to the club. It was a late start, but in the dance was amazing. We grooved the dance floor until one in the morning.
January 25th, 2007 - LHI
This morning I hung out in the shed with Todd while Mel, Busty and a group of divers headed out to Malabar for a dive. I was a little disappointed considering I haven’t had a chance to dive Malabar yet, but I’m not worried because I’m sure I’ll have plenty of opportunities to head out there over the next three months.
Already I’m starting to feel as though time is flying; I can’t believe were already a whole month into 2007! Time is definitely flying.
In the afternoon we headed out to the north head gutters for a dive but once again the conditions were rough so instead we decided to dive the Favourite wreck at North Bay. In the end it turned out to be a good thing since the first-time divers we took out were really uncomfortable underwater and took some coaxing to get them to submerge. It was a short, shallow dive, but nonetheless a good one.
After work I caught up with some e-mails at Brian’s; it’s interesting to see how many people are getting onto the facebook.com bandwagon! Unfortunately I didn’t get much done because I had agreed to meet Ian Hutton, one of the Lord Howe Island experts and authors, to discuss a couple videos he wants edited and a personal website. We met at the museum, and when I arrived the Thompson sisters were singing with acoustic guitars for cultural night. They were absolutely incredible and the harmonies that came from the girls just blew me away!
When everyone cleared out, Ian and I had a meeting to discuss our game plan for the videos, and he hooked me up with some Sony editing software to play with. The two videos we’re going to put together involve the weeder’s that come to Lord Howe in the winter, and one featuring the work that Dr. Peter Harrison was working on with the coral spawning the last couple of weeks.
I was surprised to find that there’s lots going on at the museum, including the cataloguing of thousands of old images from the island into digital format. By the stacks of boxes, I could tell it’s going to be a big job. Ian was nice enough to offer me cameras to use while I was on the island, including the HD camera by Sony and a 12MB Nikon still camera. I’m definitely going to put them to good use.
Once again, I spent my day paying my dues. I read all day long in the shed while everyone else went out diving. I have been assured that I will get out on more dives, and to be honest, I really don’t mind kicking back and talking to people on the beautiful lagoon. I guess it helps when I consider that I could be in a foot of snow back home!
I read some more of my dive master texts and had a nap in the afternoon, and headed to Palm Sugar for a shift. Later on that evening I sent some friends a few e-mails from the Pandanus’ restaurant hotspot.
February 5th, 2007 - LHI
This morning I went for a dive at Ned’s beach since the wind was still howling pretty hard from south-east. The dive was kind of strained, since the people I was diving with weren’t very cooperative. Regardless, I enjoyed it and took time to look at the details of the marvelous and unique dive site. If there is one thing that I have taken away from the last month, it is the absolute necessity to look closer at the fantastic details of marine life on the reef. On this dive, I happened upon the most interesting neon-coloured dancing shrimp.
In the afternoon I sat in the shed and finished the meat and potatoes of the Howea Divers website. I have put a lot of work into building the site, and it looks good. I hope to have it online within the next couple of months.
After work, I went for a quick swim to find an anemone for our two little anemone fish; they’re very territorial and there was only one anemone in the fish tank, leaving the other swimming around aimlessly. I then grabbed some candy from Joy’s shop and sent a package to my sister back home. On the way back to my apartment, I bumped into Ian Hutton and discussed my next project: Editing some HD clips for him and taking some underwater photos (using film) for the 25th anniversary of the LHI World Heritage listing. Although I won’t be receiving any money, I will finally become a published photographer.
I read for the rest of the evening, and I am making good headway on learning the complex physiological and anatomical complexities of scuba diving.
February 4th, 2007 - LHI
Today I turned over a new leaf. I got up extra early, went for a run down on the beach, did a workout including some Yoga, and went for a swim in the lagoon before work. It felt amazing to be up early and the rest of the day I was exhilarated. I’m going to try and do the routine at least three times per week. I’ve been working heaps lately, so we’ll see how we’ll do.
During the day I stayed in the shed and read my dive master manual. I’ve been a little disappointed about not being able to dive recently; the weather has just not been cooperating. I had a little time off in the afternoon, read some of my novel, and went to work at Palm Sugar.
February 3rd, 2007 - LHI
The weather was a little better today but still not the best. Mel and Todd took some people out to Comet’s hole for a dive while I stayed in the shed and studied my dive master material. I was feeling a little hung over so it was a relief to find out that I had the afternoon off. I did some more work on my dive master and had nice long nap.
Before work at Palm Sugar I went for a bike to Old Settlement, did some Yoga on the beach, and waded through the warm water. When I got to work it was dead - only two bookings, so we had an easy night, talked on the verandah, and drank Shiraz.
After work I went for a walk down to Middle beach to check out the full moon over the water and disturb the seabirds. I managed to get under the electric fence okay on the way through to the beach, but on the way back I misjudged (probably because of the wine) and got a mighty shock that sent me flying into the ground; it stuns you pretty good at first but once you realise what happened you can’t help but laugh!
February 2nd, 2007
The swell has been up recently because of the south-westerly wind and the low pressure system in the area, so we haven’t been able to do much in terms of diving. It rained a bit again this morning (which is always welcome to fill up the tanks), but all the dives for the day were cancelled. I spent the morning in the boatshed working on the website; it’s coming along great and I don’t have too much more to go.
In the afternoon I watched two films by Jacques Cousteau, “The Secret Society of Dolphins and Whales,” and “Warm Blooded Sea: Mammals of the Deep.” They were both pretty good, but I felt restless after a day of inactivity, and decided to do some Yoga and a workout.
At 5 o’clock I met the Howea team and some friends down at the boatshed for some drinks. We had nibbles and watched the sunset over the lagoon. After everyone left I went back up to Todd’s new place with Luke and we watched some of his surfing footage and listened to music while sipping on some rum and Coke’s. We got loose and headed to the bowling club for a boogie. It was a good night and the dance floor was on fire!
February 1st, 2007 - LHI
It was a pretty ordinary day today. It was raining in the morning so everyone who was supposed to go for a dive cancelled. Busty was still a little sick, so he gave us all the day off. I spent the morning working on the website, and in the afternoon went for a bike down to Little Island, a run and a swim at Blinky beach, and completed the first two chapters of the dive master manual.
January 31st, 2007 - LHI
Mel had the day off today and Busty was still ill with a cold, and had to stay back in the shed. Todd and I took the boat out with John, Chris and two other experienced divers, and headed off to the north head gutters. Todd stayed on the boat and I went for a dive; my first time at the gutters.
The terrain at the gutters was exceptional. There were heaps of overhangs and small caves to explore, and most of the area was covered in extremely healthy hard corals. On the dive I managed to see some pretty awesome aquatic life, including a conspicuous angelfish, brown triggerfish, crayfish, catfish and even an octopus walking over the top of the reef. I’m completely fascinated with the octopus and its amazing defense mechanism; it changes colour and body shape to match its environment nearly instantaneously when threatened. It’s a pretty amazing sight to observe.
In the afternoon I cleaned up in the shed and then got ready for my first shift at Panadanus restaurant at the top of the hill. Every Wednesday and Thursday night’s I’ll be helping out in the kitchen for some extra cash for my trip to Asia. As of now, I’m working five days and five nights a week, in addition to my video and web design work. Yeesh.
January 30th, 2007 - LHI
This morning I went on a dive to the Admiralty Island’s to explore Rupert’s reef and help Heather, the marine park manager, collect some anemone fish for some researchers in Melbourne. We went out on the boat with Todd because Busty was sick with a cold. John and Chris came on the dive too.
It took the entire dive to locate and capture the fish. The surge was pretty heavy, and we were sloshed around in our attempts to get a net over a breeding pair. I didn’t have gloves, so it was tricky for me to stay still. In the end though, we managed to capture and bag the fish we came for. It was a shorter, challenging dive, but definitely a good learning experience.
For the rest of the day I worked on the Howea Divers website. It’s almost finished, and I am eager to get it online to share diving at LHI with the world.
I was supposed to work at Palm Sugar tonight, but it wasn’t busy, so I continued to work on the site and read up on the marine park.
January 29th, 2007 - LHI
Today was my sisters 22nd birthday; however, I have to wait one more day to call her because of the time difference. I dearly miss my sister and can’t wait to see her again.
This morning I woke up an hour early and biked down to Arijilla to meet the Yoga instructor Donna for a session. I turned up and there was an older couple there for the session, but that was it. The Yoga room was extremely beautiful and peaceful; it’s a large circular wooden cabin nestled amongst the palm trees and a giant banyan. Donna was amazing and took us all through some very basic (but challenging) Yoga positions. It was a great way to start my day and I have vowed to go at least once a week.
I showed up at the boatshed ready for work but Busty was sick and told me I had the day off; my second day off in a row! Not wasting any time I got on my bike and rode down past Capella to do the Goathouse Cave walk, the second hardest hike on the island.
It took me less than an hour to hike up the steep incline, and I was sweating profusely by the time I reached the summit. I was wearing thongs and still managed to pass five people making their way up the mountain. The views today were spectacular since there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I sat down next to a nesting red-tailed tropic bird, had a piece of homemade pear and coconut cake, and read the first two chapters of my dive master manual before descending the mountain and returning home for lunch. Along the way home I stopped at Joy’s shop and picked up the new Australasia Scuba Diver magazine because it has a feature on Thailand’s top ten dive sites.
After I finished eating I headed to the boatshed, picked up some snorkel gear, and headed out to Middle beach for a swim; my intentions were to catch a crayfish for dinner, but after an hour of searching underneath the reef, I gave up. One of these days I’m going to bring home a big one!
For the rest of the evening I worked on the website, read, and chilled out. It was a super busy day and I know I’m going to be feeling it tomorrow.
January 28th, 2007 - LHI
The storm last night kicked up the surf and made for rough seas, so Busty decided to let everyone have the day off. In the morning I took my bike and iPod down to Blinky beach and walked all the way to the end, went for a swim, and took my time getting home. I stopped to look at a baby White Turn nesting on a tree branch about six feet off the ground; it had fluffy grey down all over its body compared to the brilliant white adult, who I could tell didn’t really enjoy my presence.
In the afternoon I slept for few hours, read some of my book, and took it easy. I got a little more done on the Howea Divers website, but had to leave to go to work at 6 o’clock at Palm Sugar. I worked the shift, had some dinner and wine with the owner Kathy, had an early night.
January 27th, 2007 - LHI
The days seem to be melting together. I spend most of my days in the shed, although I have been promised that February will be better for completing my dive master, since most of the people diving are regulars and there’s more time for us to get dive’s in. To be honest, I really don’t mind hanging out on the beach, talking to tourists and dragging kayaks down to the shore. I got out of the shed for the afternoon though, and joined Busty on the boat to Comet’s hole. I took my snorkel gear along and went for a dip while Busty took a couple doctors down for a dive.
I got off at 4 o’clock, took a quick nap, and headed to Palm Sugar for my evening shift. The weather forecast called for storm to pass through, and you could smell it in the air. By the time I finished my shift, the lightening was streaking across the horizon. Andrew and Shannon, my co-workers at Palm Sugar, and I decided to get a couple drinks and head down to the lagoon to watch the storm blow in. The wind was blowing from the all around us and we watched as the rain moved across the horizon and up onto the beach. We darted into the boatshed to avoid getting totally soaked, and watched the lightening until we got too cold.
I got home, worked on photoshop for a bit, and completed the staff photos for the website. I nodded off to the sound of thunder and lightening crashing through my window.
January 26th, 2007 - LHI
I spent the entire day in the shed because Todd had to teach a dive course and Mel had the day off. It was a beautiful day, and I wish I could have gone for a dive, but sitting by the lagoon reading a book for most of the day suited me just fine!
Later on in the afternoon, I jumped on another booze cruise with a bunch of the staff from Pinetrees, some locals, and other friends; it was the second booze cruise of the week, so I was stoked. There was probably 30 people stuff onto the boat. Pete took us around the lagoon and we had a few drinks while watching the sunset over the ocean. At one point everyone on the boat jumped in the water to cool off. It’s a tough life here on Lord Howe!
Friday nights there is a dance at the bowling club, and pretty much everyone who went on the cruise decided to go to the club. It was a late start, but in the dance was amazing. We grooved the dance floor until one in the morning.
January 25th, 2007 - LHI
This morning I hung out in the shed with Todd while Mel, Busty and a group of divers headed out to Malabar for a dive. I was a little disappointed considering I haven’t had a chance to dive Malabar yet, but I’m not worried because I’m sure I’ll have plenty of opportunities to head out there over the next three months.
Already I’m starting to feel as though time is flying; I can’t believe were already a whole month into 2007! Time is definitely flying.
In the afternoon we headed out to the north head gutters for a dive but once again the conditions were rough so instead we decided to dive the Favourite wreck at North Bay. In the end it turned out to be a good thing since the first-time divers we took out were really uncomfortable underwater and took some coaxing to get them to submerge. It was a short, shallow dive, but nonetheless a good one.
After work I caught up with some e-mails at Brian’s; it’s interesting to see how many people are getting onto the facebook.com bandwagon! Unfortunately I didn’t get much done because I had agreed to meet Ian Hutton, one of the Lord Howe Island experts and authors, to discuss a couple videos he wants edited and a personal website. We met at the museum, and when I arrived the Thompson sisters were singing with acoustic guitars for cultural night. They were absolutely incredible and the harmonies that came from the girls just blew me away!
When everyone cleared out, Ian and I had a meeting to discuss our game plan for the videos, and he hooked me up with some Sony editing software to play with. The two videos we’re going to put together involve the weeder’s that come to Lord Howe in the winter, and one featuring the work that Dr. Peter Harrison was working on with the coral spawning the last couple of weeks.
I was surprised to find that there’s lots going on at the museum, including the cataloguing of thousands of old images from the island into digital format. By the stacks of boxes, I could tell it’s going to be a big job. Ian was nice enough to offer me cameras to use while I was on the island, including the HD camera by Sony and a 12MB Nikon still camera. I’m definitely going to put them to good use.
