This was supposed to by my first dive on January 1, 2022 but … It is true that no plan survives long into its enactment and on this occasion technical issues delayed things and I finally got into the water 6 minutes after midnight.

I had two objectives for last night’s dive. Find an Apple watch rumoured to have been lost off the jetty during the day and find some interesting things to photograph.

After about 20 minutes of serious watch hunting I gave up and reverted to critters. The first really interesting encounter was a common octopus about the size of the two of my hands together. We entertained each other for about 5 minutes before she invited me back to her lair. Unfortunately without a bite from Wonderland Alice’s cake I was never going to fit through the tiny entrance.

Then I noticed a baby Port Jackson shark resting on the sand and the photo session was on. For the next while I discovered 3 more baby sharks, flounder, flathead and numerous crabs of all shapes and sizes.

Later I found myself enamoured by a massive school of small bait-fish which shimmered and flashed in my torchlight as they moved like a murmuration of silver starlings in the dark and led me to … an Apple watch lying quietly in the sea-grass. Imagine my surprised when I picked it up to be greeted with its wallpaper image, the time and battery remaining!

Post dive, Apple watch and owner have been reunited and I got my ‘Baby Shark’ photograph.