Divers: Richard, Natalie & Mark

Above all else the one job I had today was to find a Sea Horse for Natalie, because we’re not getting out of the water until she sees one! These are the best conditions I have every dived Rye Pier, 22 Degrees at the surface and not a cloud in the sky, 15 Degrees under the water, oily flat water and 15 metre viz!!!! This was the first time Richard & Natalie have dived Rye, so our dive plan was to cover as much as possible within reason, which, with us doing 2 dives should be very achievable. We descended on the non boating side of the low water & immediately I notice that there have been some changes to growth under the pier. It has really kicked on, and although the fish life is yet to come come back in any real numbers, there is plenty to look at, in & around. Once we get to to the end of the pier with the great viz finding the star pickets leading out to Elser’s Reef is easy, and after spending some time swimming around here we head back to the pier swimming to the eastern end of the pier, finding plenty to look at as we go. Making our way back to the low water ladder there seems to be more divers here than grains of sand and just about everyone of them with some sort of camera. Climbing the ladder there is a real buzz about this amazing dive and if perfect dive conditions like these don’t get divers hooked on local shore dives I don’t know what will. In the coming months when the water temperature rises slightly the fish life will return making Rye Pier the perfect dive site to blow the cobwebs off that dive gear that’s been sitting in the spare room all winter. And yes I did find a Seahorse, just the one & it was a Pygmy Seahorse, but it was enough to make this dive something special for Natalie and I think to whet her appetite for diving with Seahorses.

Mark