Things might be cooling down a little but that didn't stop 16 brave souls setting off on yet another HKUC dive trip. Unfortunately, Caroline could not join us as she had just arrived back from a week in Canada and walked in just as I was about to leave for Tso Wo Hang. The forecast was for strong winds over the weekend and unfortunately they got it right with 15 ft swells reported around Tai Long Wan, so we weren't going there!

Limited to staying around the more sheltered sites the good ship "Lee" headed for Tiu Chung Chau better known as Gin Island. A new site for most onboard so no one knew what to expect. Unfortunately, strong winds often mean poor vis which is exactly what we found (around 1-3m). Quite a deep site reaching 20m in places with a rocky bottom covered in fine sediment, there didn't appear to be a great deal to see. I spotted the odd anemone and resident clownfish but not much else as I was busy assisting Vince with open water training. Gilbert spotted a Finger Dragonet which apparently is rare for Hong Kong, shame he didn't take his camera! (The photo is of a Finger Dragonet taken on a later dive at Trio Island, Ed.) There were also reports of some reasonable hard coral and an Octopus spotted in the shallows, so not all bad.

After lunch we decided to move site and headed towards the southern tip of Kiu Tsiu Chau (Sharp Island). By now the sun which had kept the wind chill at bay had gone in, so I wasn't particularly encouraged when I heard comments like good night dive and glad I brought my buddy line from the first wave. Very similar to Gin Island although shallower around 8-12m, vis was slightly worse and I was glad I brought my torch. Still busy with open water training, I didn't have a chance to see much and reports from others didn't sound particularly exciting, although Carolyn did manage to find the remains of a mortar shell.

So there you have it. A bit of dead loss really; but you have to try these things. Well, that's my excuse anyway. A good training site if you want to get really good at using a compass. Speaking of training I must congratulate David Simmons, Daniella Berthord soon to join, and Eleanor Swain on successfully completing their PADI Open/Advanced Open Water.

Thanks very much to all who came, hope I haven't put you off diving in Hong Kong permanently.

Happy New Year
Jason Claricoates (& Caroline James)
28 November ...