Warren Prior, Author at Baha Adventures

02Jun 2023 by Warren Prior No Comments

Underwater Statues at Chowder Bay

Diving

Clifton Gardens (also known as Chowder Bay) is a polarising dive site located in Sydney Harbour. Talking to divers, they tend to either love it, or hate it. Regardless, all Sydney-based divers have dived it at least one (well, almost all). So why is it so polarising? Well, for a variety of reasons. To get the negatives out of the way first: visibility is generally poor (especially if your buoyancy is poor and you kick up the bottom), there's definite friction between the fishermen and divers, and it can be dirty due to people throwing all sorts of objects off the wharf. Another reason people may not enjoy it is that you don't see much if you move too quickly. On the plus side, if you have good buoyancy and…

16Apr 2023 by Warren Prior No Comments

Exploring Fairlight Underwater…

Diving

Not every day goes according to plan...but generally it all works out in the end... Early on Sunday morning, Sharon and I snuck off for a quick dive at Fairlight. It's not the most popular dive site in Sydney, but it's definitely worth a visit every now and then. Our day got off to a bad start when we discovered a leak in Sharon's regulator's first stage. While I was trying to repair it, a lady walked by with a King Charles Cavalier puppy. Sharon got talking to her, told her we also had a King Charles Cavalier puppy, and explained our situation. Eventually, the lady continued on her walk, and we started packing the dive gear back into the car to go and try hire a regulator from Dive…

01Apr 2023 by Warren Prior No Comments

Taking New Divers Out at Clifton

Diving

A military ship silhouetted by a glorious Clifton Gardens sunrise One of the most common questions I get during Open Water courses is how they can get back into the water. And in my opinion, the best and easiest way is to join one of Frog Dive's free weekend shore dives. They're led by qualified divemasters, cost nothing other than equipment hire, and take place in stunning locations like Shelly Beach. And not only that, there's always a great group of divers, and great conversation afterwards around soup and other snacks. The only problem is that they're often booked out well in advanced. So to try and solve that, we decided to start hosting beginner only shore dives, with the first one taking place at Clifton Gardens. I arrived at…

26Feb 2023 by Warren Prior No Comments

A Blooming Good Adventure

Diving

This weekend I had the pleasure of taking a few out of town workmates for a quick dive at Shelly Beach. Sharon also got to join thanks to granny having finally arrived from South Africa, meaning we now have a free babysitting service. Sharon and I picked up my colleagues from the ferry terminal bright and early, knowing that parking at Shelly is always an issue. Early starts are rarely wasted, and we got to enjoy a cracker of a sunset which set the tone for the dive. We waded into the water at 8am, and did a quick weight check for those who were renting gear and hadn't been out in a while. And then we descended and headed off on our dive. The visibility was descent at first,…

15Jan 2023 by Warren Prior No Comments

A Dive Duathlon

Diving

After Mike's first dive at Clifton Gardens he was itching to get back into the water. And so, early on Sunday morning,I picked him up at the Manly Ferry terminal and we headed down to Shelly Beach. Much to our dismay, they were setting up for some form of event, and we were unable to find parking. Finally giving up, I left Mike at the benches with our dive gear, and drove into Manly hoping to find parking. This left me with a 1km run, in thongs, to get back to the dive site. When I finally got back, huffing, red faced and ready to jump into the water, Mike was waiting patiently, partially kitted up. We finished setting up the gear, and headed out on the right hand side,…

05Jan 2023 by Warren Prior No Comments

Diving Manta Bommie and Shag Rock with Manta Lodge – A Video

Diving, Video

https://youtu.be/HjwFnvunkZE Check out some of the underwater fun we had exploring the incredible dive sites of North Stradbroke Island with the amazing Manta Lodge team. On the day we dived Manta Bommie and Shag Rock. Manta Bommie is a renowned hotspot for marine life, and it lived up to its name as we were greeted by the majestic sight of gliding manta rays (and a little current). Shag Rock was equally as amazing, and we got to enjoy a more relaxed dive with some of the smaller critters. Between the two dive sites we saw everything from graceful manta rays and lazy leopard sharks to vibrant mantis shrimp and imposing moray eels. There were sneaky octopus, friendly clownfish, guitarfish, bull rays, wobbegongs, and the ever humorous prickly porcupinefish.

17Dec 2022 by Warren Prior No Comments

Taking Someone For Their First Dive

Diving

The other day I had the privilege of taking someone on their first ever dive after completing their open water training. We opted to head down to Clifton Gardens as they'd done one of their training dives there, and had absolutely loved the site. We arrived arrived at Clifton Gardens just after 3pm and got straight down to kitting up. It was surprisingly quiet for a warm summer's afternoon, but I certainly wasn't complaining. Walking along the wharf, the water looked decently clear from the surface, which was more good news for us. We did a giant stride off the wharf, and did a quick buoyancy check before descending to the bottom. Being with a first timer, we spent the first couple of minutes getting comfortable, and then headed off…

01Jul 2022 by Warren Prior No Comments

Shelley Beach Showing Off (Diving as Minnie Mouse)

Diving

Seeing as we had the day off, and the kids were at school, Sharon and I decided to head down to Shelly Beach for a quick dive and to test out some new gear. On route, we stopped in at Frog Dive to fill our tanks and pick up Sharon's "new" regs. And somehow, while I was loading the tanks into the car, Sharon ended up borrowing a Minnie Mouse hood in case the water was chilly. Sydney was expecting a huge rain bomb to pass through in the upcoming days, and some of that rain was already starting to hit us, so we wanted to make hay while the sun shines. We parked near the Fairy Bower pool and kitted up on the side of the road. The air…

05Jun 2022 by Warren Prior No Comments

Underwater Cleanup at Clifton Gardens

Diving, Event

One of the things I've learned (or finally got to witness) as a diver is that a large percentage of our waste ends up in our oceans, which damages both the fauna and flora. However, despite how large this problem is, even the smallest of gestures can help. If not us, then who? So on Sunday morning I headed down to Chowder Bay where I met up with the Frog Dive crew to clean up the area under the Clifton Gardens wharf. Clifton Gardens is one of New South Wales premiere muck diving sites, with incredible macro photography on offer for those willing to put their eyes to the test. We split up into buddy pairs, and allocated areas to clean. My buddy and I focused on the area inside…

24Apr 2022 by Warren Prior No Comments

A Sneaky Dive at Shelly Beach

Diving

With Kerry out from Perth, what else would we do other than go for a sneaky dive. The initial plan was to dive with Kerry, but sadly she wasn't able to do her refresher in time so Sharon stepped in to fill her shoes (fins). We packed up the family early on Sunday morning and headed down to Bare Island to join Frog Dive for a shore dive. Despite it being a beautiful day, water conditions were still far from ideal. In fact, a quick chat with the dive master confirmed that we shouldn't expect more than 3 meters of vis. We therefore made a last minute decision to change venues and headed north to Shelly Beach, where we knew visibility was likely between 5 and 10 meters. Bare Island…

Author: Warren Prior