Amanda Batchelor

FAVOURITE LOCAL SHORE DIVE: POINT PERON

Any chance to go and I am there! While at first glance it seems like it' s only a mass of kelp, there are treasures within, with valley's and swim thru's and reef cave systems which are like another world. Off of the reef which is a sandy bottom there is not much fish life but at the reef and in the swim thru's and caves you will find oldwives, bullseyes, southern coral fish, wrasse and in one of the bigger caves you will find a school of silver drummer.

Cray's are usually peeking out at you from their little crevices with an abundance of colourful soft corals and gorgonian fans, colorful sea stars and nudibranchs, my favorite being the weedy seadragon, if you want to see one then this is the place you want to be, but keep your eyes open because they are hard to spot and even though it's a 200m swim to the reef, luck may be with you and a dolphin or two may come and say hello.

Dive Instructor Qualifications:

• Master Instructor
• Emergency First Response Instructor
• Specialties -
  • Deep Diver
  • Wreck Diver
  • Night Diver
  • Underwater Navigator
  • Enriched Air Diver
  • Search and Recovery Diver
  • Underwater Naturalist
  • Peak Performance Buoyancy
  • Dry Suit Diver
  • Underwater Digital Photography

MOST MEMORABLE DIVE: COCOS KEELING ISLANDS

Hanging around on the safety stop, below was a bottom of about 50 metres. Dieter the dive shop owner used an empty water bottle to bring up the sharks. Only black tips and grey reef sharks but when there are about 20 of them it became really awesome. Some came in for a closer look but thankfully changed their minds at the last second. Most everybody had already gotten out so there as only four of us left in the water which made it really special, hanging around in the blue with no-one near you except sharks.