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site. I encounter one nudibranch and a handful of lobsters hiding in rock crevices. It's pretty, but as always nowadays, I'd love to be seeing more fish in the water. We dive beyond the wall at the same site for our second dive, searching without success for weedy seadragons. Instead we see a couple of draughtboard sharks and a small stingaree. The next morning, I locate two dragons amongst the kelpy substrate. Tasmanian dragons are larger and darker than those commonly seen in Victoria. The second dive features a gorgeous underwater swim through. Yellow sea spiders and boarfish are the critter highlights of this dive. On my final dive day of the trip, I'm in awe of the natural topside beauty as we to head past Cape Hauy's spectacular rock formations, The Lanterns and the Candlestick. I'm allocated a buddy and we head down to 40 metres where tonnes of butterfly perch school over a garden of sponges and whips. Bull kelp waving wildly in the surge ten metres from the surface guarantees I'm 'feeding the fish' when I reach the surface. Before my trip ends, I'm keen to see more of Tasmania's famous kelp. Alas on my final dive, visiting a kelp

restoration project on Fortsecue Bay, only six or eight strands of kelp well past their prime remain from the much larger number that had been planted months ago. My friend Cheri is luckier when she dives with another dive shop later that week, visiting a more distant site with a small but lush 'kelp forest'. Here, several hundred kelp plants stretch through bright sunlight from the substrate to the surface. Sadly, news reports at the end of 2023 predict that these too may fall victim soon to rising sea temperatures. Many thanks to Matt Testoni for introducing me to spotted handfish in the wild to celebrate my Dive 1800. Thanks also to Eaglehawk Neck Dive Centre for making my broader underwater exploration of Tasmania possible. Love and bubbles, PT (Pink Tank) Hirschfield xxx Please feel free to follow my dive adventures on Pink Tank Scuba Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

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DIVE LOG Australasia #405 - April ‘24

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