A few months ago, I spent a weekend away in lovely Narooma on the South Coast to get some quality cycling in and to go diving with Australian fur seals and grey nurse sharks off Montague Island Nature Reserve. The seals were fat, curious, and polite enough to swim directly at your face before turning away at the last possible moment before colliding with your face mask.

The trip was organized by the great folks at Indepth Scuba in Canberra, the same great team that taught me to dive. As this was my first dive since getting my PADI dive card, I was a bit of a disorganized mess but my dive buddy was patient and ensured I didn’t do anything stupid. Needless to say, she was successful and I wasn’t eaten by any sharks despite getting a nosebleed from not equalizing and not being able to submerge. Lessons learned: don’t forget Go-Pro, use Spray-Tish to help open up the sinuses, and fishing sinkers make great substitutes for dive weights. The more you know.

Accommodations were at the Top of the Town Motel, which had great rooms for a variety of family sizes, an on-premise swimming pool, and plenty of parking. Oh, and it was affordable. For brekkie, you’ll want to go to Casey’s Coffee for a gorgeous view of the ocean and inlet while eating a damn good breakfast and obviously a perfect cuppa.