By Jo Roberts, photos by Ryan Slattery

It's easy getting up at 6am on a day like today. Preparing gear and tanks the night before heightens excitement as today we are going AUUC diving!

Make sure you get a coffee on the way to the boat and have your wetsuit ready as you could be in for a bumpy ride!

This weekend AUUC headed for a Sunday dive to Anchorite Rock. A small twin pinnacle 20m below the surface. As you descend into the blue, the orange encrusted rock towers up from a depth of about 40m. There are slow moving red moki hiding in the rocks, pouting at you as you swim past. Kingfish dart past the schools of travelley.

As you come around the rock families of triggerfish happily carry on feeding, looking at you sideways.

Swim north and the adjacent pinnacle will begin to appear. This rock formation is much more jagged. Here you will find baby scorpionfish dotted around and colourful nidibranches on the rock.

Make a quick circle and head back to the main pinnacle as your deco time will be running low. The main pinnacle is at about 18m at the top where you can spend the rest of your dive watching schooling eagle rays gliding by.

Remember to bring a wind breaker and a fleece to put on after the dive. Although it's sunny the wind can make you chilly in a wet wetsuit.
 
What a fantastic day!
See you next time