Dive Number: 158 07/05/11 11.27, Beach 10B to Shortlands Bluff
Wind: ???
Tide: 0.5hrs after flood slack – 7knot streams peaking at 3pm!!!
Conditions: Strong East to West current as the bay flooded.
Visibilty: 4m
Water Temp: 14c
Bottom Time: 43minutes
Max Depth: 5.9m
Air usage: 105bar/1500psi
SAC: ???? litres/min
Details: I wanted to visit Friendly bommie again. I knew flood wasn’t the time, and to make matters worse, i’d missed slack. Anyway, I thought i’d give it a go just to see just how the area behaves around flood. After getting in up to my waist i considered calling off the dive as the current was just too strong, but i thought i’d use it too my advantage and do a drift to cover the area between 10B and Shortlands bluff. I stayed relatively close to shore because the current was running strongly out to the centre of the bay, and i knew it would be difficult getting back in if i went too far out. I played it conservatively and scrambled my way along the bottom, finding another old “geelong aerated water” bottle from 1919 in immaculate condition. I kicked my way towards shore as the current pushed me out so i maintained a nice safe distance to shore. In no time i was approaching Shortlands Bluff and the currents started getting really intense. I had to grab onto the reef and wrench my way towards shore, since swimming against the current was not an option. I got out at the “Danger: Strong Currents” sign, that really held true today. A nice long walk back to the car used all the the energy i saved on the drift. Crazy dive….but exciting and nice to experience what flood was all about. I only reliased after the dive that peak streams reached 7.oknots!!! Thats pretty much as fast as you’ll get.
Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , dual SS200 strobes
Dive Report:
NO PHOTOS