Dive Number: 133 10/02/11 13.28 , Beach 10B
Wind: 10-15knot NE’s
Tide: 1hr before ebb slack
Conditions: Surface looked great..no swell or chop. The water however was full of sediment and vis was bad. The current was fairly strong, and towards the end of the dive was really moving fast towards Shortlands Bluff.
Visibilty: 2-4m
Water Temp: 20c
Bottom Time: 86 minutes
Max Depth: 10.3m
Air usage: 170bar/2500psi
SAC: ???? litres/min
Details: I wanted to find Friendly Bommie again, but after entering the water and seeing the limited vis, i wasn’t hopeful. The current was also limiting to cover enough ground to stumble onto it. So after swimming out about 200m, we dropped into 10m, and started heading SW. The terrain was small scattered rocks with a lot of weed debris sitting in clumps on the ground. Any fish we came across took off quickly, as we emerged from the bad vis. Chris came across a cuttlefish trying to blend into the weedy flotsam. It was a very dark maroon colouration, trying to camoflague itself, and chris did well to spot it. We continued on in search of some good reef, and finally came across a massive ledge. After strenuous swimming into current i was pretty happy we eventually found something. I’m not sure if this was the same bommie i found last time or not…they’re seems to be a lot of sand movement in this area and i think the bommie isvery changeable in whats is and isn’t exposed. Anyway, so good fish around. First fish i saw was a cowfish which are always good to see. Some massive Morwongs sat into the current under an overhead ledge for protection. Under the ledges some nice big hydriods swaying in the current, and the usual assortment of sponges, gorgonians and reef fish hung under the ledges. Down a little gutter a boarfish came to check me out…a fish i’ve been hoping to see on a shoredive…unfortunately the vis was bad for photography. Another cowfish hung out in the gutter but quickly took off. The current was really nasty by this stage, and we surfaced with a fair bit of air for safety. The current was ripping at the surface towards Shortlands bluff, so by the time we got back to shore we had a fair walk back to the carpark. great adventure diving…but a tough photography dive. I cant recommend the best tide to do this area on, because i really dont understand how the currents work in this area. I just recommend times of low streams around 2-3knots, and possibly on slack..but i dont know really know what slack means here with the eddies created off shortlands bluff.
Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , dual SS200 strobes.
Dive Report:
