Clifton Gardens has always rated as one of my favourite Sydney night dives. I know - a maximum depth of 4m under the jetty means you could snorkel it with short length of garden hose, but it never fails to deliver a unique and unexpected encounter with interesting critters.
Around 7:00am on Thursday, April 2, 1931, a dense fog suddenly rolled into Long Bay, obscuring the northern headland. On the bridge of MV Malabar, en-route from Melbourne to Sydney, Captain George Leslie recognised the danger and ordered 5 degrees rudder to steer the ship seaward to pass further offshore than his original plan of half a mile.
The seas were angry on Saturday, my friends! Big seas rolling in from the south ruled out diving Freshwater Beach (one of my favourite Northern Beaches dives), so we opted for the old faithful of Shelly Beach instead.