The weather was ace, and the diving was good too. The sea was pretty much flat calm and the sun was out in force. I was a bit disappointed by the Yongala though. Our first dive on it was good, then 5 other boats appeared and dropped in a load of divers so it was bubble city down there! There were also divers down there that patently shouldn't have been, with what looked like a situation verging on panic, though I've since seen brochures that advertise O/W courses with dives on the Yongala as part of the course. I'm not an authority on diver training, but IMHO with the currents and possible depth, it's not a place I would take a brand new diver.
Aside from that though, I think the best part of it had to be hearing whale song , as it's not something I'm ever going to hear in the sea lochs of Scotland. The only problem was trying not to breath so I could hear it! There was tons of life around on the first dive...bull rays, sea snakes, fish species that I can't even begin to name, though the thrill of seeing huge batfish quickly waned!!
My one gripe was a couple of dives that weren't made overly enjoyable by the horrible tasting air, unitl they were convinced to change the filter on the compressor.
Who did you know who was on the course, Jude? I'm in Brisbane now, killing some time until I fly home tomorrow, but I spent some time in Airlie Beach sailing, and in Hervey Bay whale watching, which was fantastic, with two sub-adult humpbacks cavroting around the boat.
Catch ya all later (boo, have to go back to drysuits and faff now!)
Linda