Dive Number: 6 20/02/2010 11.00 Cottage by the Sea, Queenscliffe
Wind: 25-30knot northerlies
Tide: 0.26 low tide at heads
Conditions: Northelies kept swell flat, only pushing surface water towards south west shoreline. Minimal current, only starting to develop at end of the dive. Near perfect conditions!
N.B. St Leonards earlier in the morning (10am ) was absolutley atrocious… 1m shore breaks!
Bottom Type: Sand and Rocky Reef
Visibilty: 8-10m
Water Temp: 20c
Bottom Time: 91 minutes
Max Depth: 6.8m
Air usage: 140bar/2000psi
SAC: 11.1 litres/min
Details: First dive with new gear and camera. Awesome vis, beautiful gorgonian fans, 3 cuttlefish and a crayfish.
Camera Details: 10-17mm fisheye, single SS200 strobe.
I’ve only snorkelled a couple of times at Cottage by the Sea, and haven’t seen a hell of a lot at the 3-4 metre depth and haven’t been overly impressed. On scuba it was fantastic and i couldn’t have scored a better day. Scuba gave me he ability to check under the legdes and i was very impressed by the colours and structures of the Gorgonians which i’d never seen on snorkel.
The reef vegetation is a good example of temperate kelp and brown algae gardens, and the good vis inspired me to get some blue water surface shots.
Another critter found tucked under the legdes which i’d never seen on snorkel is the Southern Rock Lobster – Jasus edwardsii. Some people will be licking their lips at this shot, but i left this guy to seen by other divers and breed up the populations (and hopefully not snaffled by anyone else!)
I saw three different cuttlefish on this dive. The first opportunity i’ve had to photograph one, with my fist ever seen on an OW training dive without a camera. They’re very curious!
This one decided to come out from under the ledge to see what i was up to.
I saw a doco on this awesome cephlapods the other day, and it was explaining how they are very visually oriented creatures. So once i toook this photo i decided to turn my rig around and show it a picture of itself to see how i would react. It gave a bit of a wiggle of the tentacles but didn’t approach any closer.
This is the second cuttlefish i saw which was a bit bigger and displaying in a more greyish colour to blend into the paler substrate. I think its partners was further back in the cave, not so inquisitive.
After a great 1hr 1/2 dive, my air was in the red, so it was time to head back. I took one more reefscape on my way back to shore. Great dive…it going to be a local haunt from now on, no doubt.
