Dive Number: 49 19/06/2010 10.37 Beach 10B
Wind: 15-20 knot NW
Tide: 20mins after 0.44 low tide at the heads
Conditions: A pretty ordinary day…overcast, windy with touches of rain around as well. Swell was up, and the ocean fairly choppy.
Bottom Type: Sea grass beds on flat rock bed reef.
Visibilty: 3m
Water Temp: 13c
Bottom Time: 34 minutes
Max Depth: 9.0m
Air usage: 80bar/1100psi
SAC: 13.7 litres/min
Details: Conditions weren’t ideal for diving and i didn’t have a full tank, so i (possibly stupidly) decided to check out somewhere new. I headed to the next carpark East of the cottage carpark and decided to see what the reef was like there. (Marked with the yellow sign marking Beach 10B.) This was possibly more stupid due to sighting of a Great White over at Rosebud on Thursday. Anyway, i decided to swim out for 10 minutes and see what i could find. I had to descend early because visibility was atrocious and i couldn’t see what was beneath me. After ten minutes i was in 9 metres of water but still hadn’t come across any decent reef structures. At about 8 metres though, the terrain changed from seagrass beds, to open sand and rubble, and i sensed i wasn’t too far from some legdes. However i decided to stick to my 10 minute plan and started to head back in.
Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm fisheye , single SS200 strobe.
Dive Report: There were very little fish life on the way out, apart from a school of old wives over the seagrass bed. On my way back in, i came across the same school of fish and decided to sit on the sea grass bed and have them gather around me. Some leatherjackets were very curious about my presence and approached very closely.
A number of leatherjackets decided to join in on the action and a slightly larger leatherjacket came in to check me out. I’ve never seen this type of LJ before… it had a strange protrusion just before the tail. I’m guessing this is a juvenile Six-Spined Leatherjacket, but i’m really not sure.
Here’s shot from behind showing the ‘fin protrusion’:
If anyone know what species this is, and what the protusion is, i’d love to know. Adult Six-Spines dont seem to have this.