September on the water: new scales

August had eight golden days. September had none. Not one.

The water didn't get worse. The sea off Newcastle averaged 18.2 degrees in August and 19.1 in September, and closed the month at 19.7, the warmest reading since the log started.

The short version:

• The sea warmed. 18.2 average in August, 19.1 in September.
• Golden days went from eight to zero.
• Between 1 and 6 September I changed how the site reads the water four times.

Mostly me

You can guess which of those did it. It's like buying new bathroom scales and calling it a diet. Some of the drop might be the water. I can't pull the two apart, and I'm not going to try with one month of numbers.

The best day of September was Friday the 4th, Pulbah Island Reef Edges, snapper. It came in one point under what a golden day takes today. So even under the friendlier bar, still nothing. I doubt the snapper minded.

I was going to say I'm watching whether a full month on one set of scales brings golden days back. I'm posting this late, so I can tell you. October didn't bring any either.