Northwind / reef

Field notes

Temperature, visibility and what turns up on the reef.

A shore-diving log kept since 2023. Notes taken after each dive, weather permitting, from the same stretch of reef past the second marker buoy.

Latest entry: 21 °C at the surface, 19 °C at eight metres. Visibility close to ten metres — the best it has been since the spring swell. Barely any current.

Recent conditions

DateTempVisibilityNote
3 Aug21 °C~10 mcalm
27 Jul20 °C~6 mslight swell
19 Jul19 °C~4 mafter storm
11 Jul20 °C~8 m
4 Jul18 °C~9 mcold snap

Log

Best visibility in months

Ten metres, maybe a little more near the drop-off. No sign of the swell that stirred everything up in June. Worth going back before it changes again.

The storm rearranged the sand

A shallow gully that has been there for two seasons is gone, filled in overnight. Visibility took nearly a week to settle afterward.

On writing this down at all

Memory is unreliable about water temperature within a couple of degrees, so the number on the page is worth more than the one recalled later.

Seasons

Water is warmest in late August, usually a degree or two above what the calendar would suggest. Visibility is least predictable in spring, after winter swells have moved the sand around. Calmest conditions tend to come in short windows between weather systems, rarely announced more than a day ahead.