Dive Number: 157 30/04/11 14.10, Beach 10B and Friendly Bommie
Wind: 10 knot variable to Ns
Tide: 0.5hrs before 0.78 low tide at the Heads.
Conditions: A high low tide(above about .60) always seems to create a east-west current around lonsdale bight, and although it was noticeble from the surface at this site (coming off shortlands bluff) it wasn’t unbearable. Vis was nice.
Visibilty: 10m
Water Temp: 16c
Bottom Time: 73minutes
Max Depth: 10.0m
Air usage: 140bar/2000psi
SAC: ???? litres/min
Details: I hoped to find Friendly Bommie again on this dive, but from my entry point at 10B it was a bit of a swim. I decided to swim out and use the current to hopefully stumble onto the ellusive bommie. Its not everyones cup of tea this entry point, but this is a really interesting drift dive. The terrain is fairly barren, and then you come across big sand dunes and dune valleys that are really different to anything else i’ve seen in the area. Almost like a flooded desert (hence the title to this post). It even had little gibber plain outcrops of rocks on the sand dune ridges, with kelp growing on them and plenty of fishlife. After a long drift, i was giving up hope of finding friendly bommie, but typically, with little air left, i found it! Its such a great little area…a large bommie split with gullies lined with sand, small and large overhangs, and a “roof” covered in kelp that fish just go nuts around. Herring Cale shimmer in the sunlight rising above the kelp, sweep, zebrafish and morwong work the midwaters, and leatherjackets down below. A mid-sized Smooth ray passed up over the top of the bommie also, giving the whole place an ‘untouched, way it should be’ feel. A cuttle even hung out admist the kelp. Under the ledges all the usual suspects and some great soft corals and sponges on smaller outlying bommies. I love this area…my favorite shore dive! If only i could find it reliably.
Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , dual SS200 strobes
Dive Report:
