Where: Lord Howe Island a world heritage listed island off the NSW coast.
http://SportToday.org/; Home to the most southern
tropical c***reef due to a diversion of the Eastern Australian Current (
made famous by the film Nemo). Only 300 residents and only 400 visitors are
allowed. Transport is mainly by bike with cars limited to 25km/hr
Transport: QANTAS link Dash 8 from Sydney. A couple of hours trip which was
extremely comfortable
Stayed: Arajilla. Great accommodation. 3 meals a day included. The food was
excellent and varied for lunch and dinner each day
Diving: Dived with Howea Diving. http://SportToday.org/;Brian and
Peter are nice blokes and run a good operation. All gear is available and
was in good condition. Pro Dive also runs an operation next door.
Water temp 21-22 degrees C
The diving was great all boat diving but the longest trip was about 30
minutes ( didn't dive Ball's pyramid). Started off with a shallow dive in
the lagoon at Comet's Hole which really wet the appetite, great Coral, fish
life and the Galapagos Whalers were very interesting ( I know seem a long
way from home but apparently are also found at Norfolk Is.). The other dives
were outside the lagoon up to about 20m depth but dives up to 40 are done.
The beauty of the island was that it was possible to get out of swell and
chop. Dives varied from caves, to reefs, to the island wall but on all the
fish, shark, turtle ( green and hawksbill), nudibranchs and c***both soft
and hard were great.
Only problem is that if it is really blowing than the boat can't get out of
the lagoon.
Other things to do: Great walking around the Island with good bird like
including the once endangered LHI wood hen. Snorkeling is great at Ned's or
Middle beach. They also do all the normal turtle watching, glass bottom
boats etc.
If you have a spare couple of days in Sydney I'd recommend a trip out