For those who don’t know about Lord Howe Island – it lies approximately 600 km northeast of Sydney and southeast of Brisbane, and is widely regarded as the most beautiful island in the Pacific. It is one of just four island groups to be inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage list for the global significance of its natural beauty and heritage. Surrounded by a multiple use Marine Park, the island is home to over 500 species of fish and 90 different corals.

So here I am in paradise… well it could be better if the weather would let us out to do some diving! Nonetheless I am having a great time and done some great snorkelling and a few dives in the past week I have been here. I am staying with Tas and Lauren from Prodive LHI (www.prodivelordhowe.com – website to be updated soon!) They have kindly put me up at their lovely house and we are having a great time getting to know each other and they are teaching me the island way of life!

I have been doing a fair bit of theory for my Divemaster, and Tas and I have been able to sneak in few good surfs while the swell has been up and wind offshore. This is truly paradise for me with awesome diving and very nice people.

I have been helping out at the Prodive shed, learning how a dive store runs. The majority of the diving has been with new divers (both children as young as 12 and their older parents) doing discover scuba diving. It is great to see the enthusiasm they have and how happy they are to breath underwater and swim with the ‘fishies’.

Neds beach on the eastern side of the island is my favourite spot, where you can snorkel just off the beach in clear blue water and dive with dozens of massive kingfish (my favourite fish) and Galapagos whaler sharks. Throw in some other big fish such as trevally, silver drummer, Australian salmon, spangled emperor, bluefish and double header wrasse, this makes a very entertaining dive. The fish aggregate here because the fish have been fed at the same spot every afternoon for 30 odd years and are not at all worried about divers or people wading out to feed them.

I will keep you updated on what is happening here, as I will be here for at least another 3 weeks… and loving every minute!