Diving the tides at Port Stephens on the NSW Mid North Coast is a great way to spend a long weekend. Port Stephens is located just three hours north of Sydney and under two hours from our home port of Terrigal.

This weekend we shared accommodation in a two bedroom apartment with friends Neil and Lyn Vincent. Lyn chose our Little Beach apartment based on its proximity to the dive sites and mostly because of a conveniently placed lock-up garage where we could store our dive gear and push bikes.

All our diving coincided with the afternoon high tides which allowed us to enjoy the mornings cycling and bush walking.

Over three days we dived The Pipe Line, Fly Point and Halifax. It had been some time since we dived “The Bay” itself, usually venturing to nearby Broughton Island on recent trips to the area.

I had forgotten how pretty the sponge gardens at Fly Point could be. The colours were vibrant and there were tons of little and somewhat larger critters to be found in every nook and cranny. Several stingrays and a very large flathead were buried in the sandy patches adjacent to spongy outcrops.

The pipe line is one of those places that I am never really sure where to go for the best photographic experience. Neil and Lyn showed us their favourite spot - in amongst the cauliflower patch. Although the visibility was down to just three metres, there were several great opportunities for macro photography.

As usual, I was shooting with a 7 to 14 mm lens - certainly not for macro work. For great macro photography of this area take a look at the work of Neil and Lyn Vincent. For my wide angle shots click here.

By the third day of diving, the slack high tide was late afternoon and the underwater ambient light was reduced further by a very gloomy and stormy sky. Regardless, we were all keen to investigate the Halifax Marine Park dive site.

Recently, a very large amount of sand had accumulated around the water entry site which extends northward and almost reaches the harbour port marker. Local divers informed us that the sand extended to a depth of eighteen to twenty meters. When we first entered the water and swam east we wondered what other divers were talking about. As far as we could see, there was little sand to talk about. However, when we swam west we discovered a desert - sand as far as the eye could see. The once quite tall sea tulips were just poking above the sand line.