1st Training dive

2ND Training dive

1st open water dive.

4th Training dive

1st Cave and wall dive. Shore entry, walk to reef edge and navigate incoming swell. Descend down wall to 24m and enter cave.

Dived the remaining superstructure of a collapsed jetty, used in the early periods of Nauru's phosphate industry.

First time to enter through large surf and jump into a gully and get sucked out to the reef edge. A lot of fun.

Nauru's boat harbor, close to the Phosphate cantilevers. A ship was loading and phosphate dust had made the visibility poor. Maybe the reason for the poor coral growth at this site.

Entered at Gabab channel and swan to 'The Cave' and back.

Very Big surf at high tide(2 to 3 meter surf). First time to get dumped by a wave on entry. On exit I was separated from my Buddy due to rough conditions caused by an incoming tropic storm. I relied upon training and my experience. 1st time to swim underneath surf line, great experience.

4 Dolphins, 4 big trigger fish and a shark

Current went to directions. Current below 10 meters changed direction. This made for an easy dive when we turned around and began our ascent.

Saw a baby whale shark and found a nice big dive knife.

White tip sharks were resting on the sandy floor of the cave.

really strong current which made a great drift dive. This location is known for its difficult entry through large surf and water being sucked back over the reef.

Jelly fish everywhere

Naui Certification course, dive 1. Instructor: Chris Cawley

Naui Certification course, dive 2. Instructor: Chris Cawley

Naui Certification course, dive 3. Instructor: Chris Cawley

Naui Certification course, dive 4. Instructor: Chris Cawley

Naui Certification course, dive 5. Instructor: Chris Cawley

Great dive. Beautiful and clear calm water. Saw my first hammered shark about 10ft long. Plus 6 other sharks and a huge School of Trevally.

2nd Cantilevers. Diving around the base and old fallen or discarded parts of the cantilever.

Found a Hawaiian sling hand spear.

Many schools of large pelagic fish, eg: King Trevally, Rainbow runner and Mackeral.

Assisted My instructor by leading a group of new divers doing one of their first open water dives. A good experience learning the skills and awareness need to lead and supervise diving groups.

Another lead dive role. Leading and buddying up with a novice diver.

This day was a special dive. I was buddied with a member (at the time)of the Cousteau Society, Ian Chapman. Ian Chapman was the one of the scouting frontmen and for the Cousteau Society in the late 80's and early 90's. His job entailed going to potential filming locations and scouting out the diving along with the interesting aspects of the local communities and society. A documentary was produced on Nauru but the Nauru Government did not allow it to be screened as it portrayed the truth about Nauru. An Island that was in a downward spiral economically and environmentally as a result of the demise of the phosphate mining industry and the countries wealth. However, this dive was just awesome. The visibility was easily +60 meters. Amazing amounts of fish and a lot of Sharks. This was the first time I encountered Grey Reef Sharks. These are small but powerful looking shark that displayed their threat posture frequently with a few barrel rolls here and there(just intimidation display). I counted 16 Grey reef sharks and I lost count how many White and Black tip reef sharks I saw. Ijuw in Nauru is very often the point of the Island that the local ocean currents impact its coast. As a result there appears to be more fish and shark activity in this area. Great dive

Spotted a large crown of thorns Starfish. It was about 60cm across. Another Diver, Rob, touched one of the thorns and didn't feel the spine go into his finger. When he pulled it off the thorn, he didn't relies it had pierced his finger. We only noticed when we both saw the greenish blood. It pierced his finger by almost a 1cm.

Need to fill in good dive.

On this dive we ran into the Cousteau Society divers, from the Alcyone, Diving and filming around the Cave mouth. Cousteau Society had been filming in Nauru for about 2 weeks and I had met many of members of the crew of the Alcyone. When we ran into them there was a friendly exchange of waves. We didn't want to get in the way but we sat for awhile behind them, watching them film. Later that day we caught up with them and talked about the dive. Documentary was not released to the public (refer to dive 61 notes).

Had a chance to be the dive leader again (supervised of course). Leading a group of novice divers. It was interesting to lead the dive but the dive was easy and got a little boring towards the end. It got boring because I let the newbie get up there time at the end of the dive, sitting at 3m for 15 minutes. While they investigated the area, I sat back and watched.

Dived at the center of Anibare bay, this location is consistently rough. Entering over the reef and passing through the surf line here is always a challenge. The surf line is mix of sea urchin holes (like a mine field), which lies in the white water zone of the surf line. You need to be extremely cautious as the these urchins spines can easily pass through any booties. You need to wait for the white water to clear before you move forward. Once passed the urchin field you need to time the wave sets to get the small waves in the set and them put your fins on and get into one of the many gullies and get sucked out to the edge of the reef by the water being suck back over the reef edge. It can be difficult but this kind of entry can be a lot of fun. Nauru diving tip: When diving in Nauru, most dives are shore dives, where you must walk out over the reef and through the surf to enter, it can be quite challenging. One safety tip is to put an inner lining of think durable rubber inside the boot to prevent urchin spines penetrating the boots sole.

Rare calm day in Anibare bay.

Very rough and challenging entry and exit. one of the hardest I've had. Strong surge moving back and forth off the reef, could be felt at 10 meters. Made for an interesting dive.

Calm entry but the swell changed making the exit difficult but fun at the same time. Exiting using the gullies was a real challenge. I had to wedge my body between the walls of a gully to maintain position due to the wave surge sucking the water back off the reef top. I watched my buddy Rob lose grip and be sucked out. he was soon back behind me because he got the in coming wave surge back up the gully.

My first cave dive. Nauru's Maqua well is a limestone cave system that is about 50 to 60 meters long. It has a lot of off shoot passages, some submerged. The cave is influenced by the ocean tides as it is part of the Islands water table. It is above sea level due to the water tables fresh water lens effect. There are stories from the local people that in the past people had gone swimming in the well and disappeared. Later their bodies had washed up on the reef. It suggests a connection between the well and the ocean but the connect has not been found or looked for(maybe just stories). Crystal clear and cold water. In Nauru you never need a wet suit but on this dive it was required.

1st dive of the year after the wet season.

Strong Current turned this into a drift dive.

On this dive my Dad made me study a sea anemone and its anemone fish residents. I had to record its locations, take notes about the anemone colour, shape and resident anemone fish to identify the species later. I had to identify other species of marine organisms that shared a relationship with the anemone by their interrelation or proximity to the anemone. I also had to determine the sex of the Anemone fish and check if they had laid eggs beneath the anemone. An interesting dive. After the dive my dad made me research and review the information I recorded.

Found a dead large spider conch shell in good condition.

Great place for shell collecting. Spent a lot of time looking in shallow gullies for shells(no line shells take). Encountered my 1st sea turtle.

Saw a large groper(1.5m long) with many hooks and lines hang from its mouth. Plus a small turtle (40cm long) just sitting as still as a rock on the reef. I managed to get within a meter of it and it still didn't move. I backed away and didn't disturb it.

I found my first Triton shell about 30cm long. Also watched a white tip reef shark for about 10minutes trying to hunt or find something in one specific part of the reef. I didn't see it find what it was looking for but it was persistent.

Chappelle's beach is know for the largest waves on the Island. The reef has a gentle incline, unlike the rest of the island where the reef drops off rapidly. The waves here can be impressive and can be difficult to navigate when entering. However due to the gentle incline of the reef the gully systems start much shallower and earlier than other locations making it easy to enter and swim under the waves. Its is the longest walk to the reef edge on Nauru. Once you make the walk and get past the surf this part of the reef is the most beautiful and healthy part of Nauru's reef, nicknamed the 'Coral Garden'. Lots of coral bommies to swim around and investigate. Not a common dive site unfortunately because of the large surf and usual strong current but worth it if you can make it.

My first night dive. Again buddied with Ian Chapman (Cousteau Society). Very cool dive but a bit nerve racking. I road on the back of a turtle encountered. Only for about thirty seconds and it didn't seem to be bothered.It was probably a bit dazed by all the flashlights lighting up the water. I got close to a few white tip reef sharks. I saw one of the other divers that night get hit in the back by a sleeping or dazed shark straight after it passed between the legs of another diver. There was no danger and it looked funny(I used up a lot of air laughing and I don't think I was the only one). Great dive and great first night diving experience.

This dive was an introduction to part of my future that had an influence on my choice to study Maritime Archaeology at University. One of my dive friends, Judy Dunlop, whilst diving had found a small swivel cannon on a previous dive. On this dive we raised and retrieved the cannon using home made inflatable flotation devises. Our plan was not for a long dive but an efficient and safe retrieval of the cannon. It took 15 minutes to secure and lift the cannon and raise it to the surface. The real challenge was transporting it through the surf line and across the reef at half tide. The hardest test was moving it from the shore, up the beach to the car. For a small cannon they are very heavy(durr). This was hard enough to move but what made it most difficult was that we had to treat the cannon very carefully due to the delicate and soft state of the metal. Once we managed to move it to Judy's home, we placed it in a 44 gallon drum of fresh water, hooked up to a car battery, in which it stayed for 3 month. The 3 month electrolysis process stabilized the metal making hard again. This also then allows coral growth and other residual build up to be removed easily with out damaging the cannon itself. I believe the cannon was eventually given to and is located at the Australian High Commission residents on Nauru. We spent several dives trying to find more artifacts in the area but found none. Its a difficult location to find unnatural objects in the what because this area is littered by waste and other object resulting for the phosphate industry.

Did a grid search on the area in which we raised the cannon. Just searched for objects that maybe related to the cannon retrieved.

More searching for cannons and or wreck evidence but just more nothing. Still had fun.

One of the rare times there was now swell or big surf at Chappelle's (Coral Gardens). We just walked in with no trouble or problems. Awesome as always.

Better day than the previous day at Chappelle's (Coral Gardens). It was low tide so walking out to the reef edge was to easy. Another awesome dive.

Great dive, according to my logbook. I 2 meter groper, a few sharks and a turtle but just school after school of rainbow runner.

Not good visibility but a new spot to dive. Lots of healthy coral, nice spot.

This day the ocean was nasty, big swells and a decent suction coming off the reef. It was quite hard to judge . My dad, myself and our friend Judy Dunlop, really wanted to go for a dive. The water looked rough but very do-able. We were all WRONG.... We swam to just over the half way point of the Channel and sat there(holding on to the bottom) for a few minutes testing the current. Eventually we decided to turn back and head in and that's when we realized it was not going to be easy to get back. The current was to strong and it was really hard to maintain a grip of the bottom. I made it in first and my Dad and Judy followed. However Judy lost grip and got sucked straight out of the Channel. My Dad and I got to the boat ramp of the channel and immediately started to scope the area for signs of Judy. After about 5 minutes later we spotted her coming over the reef well away from the channel to the left (at least 200 meters away. She was struggling but made it. There was noway anyone could help her it was just to dangerous. When she reached the shore we helped her out of the water and took her gear. She said there was nothing she or anyone could do but let the current take her and work her way back the reef to the edge of the channel. She said a one stage she grabbed a large rock more than a meter wide and the surge sucking back off the reef moved it. Judy's long experience of diving in Nauru definitely saved her. Nauru's shore/reef entry dives are challenging at the best of time but this day became very scary and gave us all a clear and understandable respect of the power of the Pacific ocean.

Lots of reef sharks, I lost count at 19. Towards the end of the dive the air in my tank tasted and felt oily to breath. This cut the dive short as all divers this day experienced it. We found out later the new guy running the compress hadn't changed the charcoal filters.

Always alot of sharks at this location. I stopped counting at 15. Always a good dive at Ijuw point.

Great dive. Nice and long. Stopped counting sharks again after 11. The fish at Ijuw are less afraid of people than other parts of the Island, probably due to being dived less because the usual large surf. Woohoo 100.

My last Dive in Nauru. Unfortunatley not a good dive. Air was really bad and oily. All divers experienced the same air problem. Dive was cut short. We did drift quite a distance in 20 minutes.