Jan
6
Dive Number: 247 06/01/12 13.45, Popes Eye
Wind: ???
Tide: Ebbing
Conditions: Strong Current
Visibilty: 10m+
Water Temp: 20.0c
Bottom Time: 42minutes
Max Depth: 10.7m
Air usage: 170bar/2500psi
SAC: ???? litres/min
Details: Second dive at Popes Eye. A nice day to get some shots of the Admiralty anchor.
Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS400/SS200 Strobes
Photos:
Dec
27
Dive Number: 239 27/12/11 16.00, Curlewis
Wind: ???
Tide: ???
Conditions: ???
Visibilty:
Water Temp: 20.8c
Bottom Time: 59minutes
Max Depth: 2.8m
Air usage: 170bar/2500psi
SAC: ???? litres/min
Details: A dive from the boat at Curlewis. Not much around.
Camera Details: Canon 60mm SS200 Strobe
Photos:
Dec
27
Dive Number: 237 27/12/11 14.35, Clifton Springs – Boat
Wind: ???
Tide: ???
Conditions: ???
Visibilty: ???
Water Temp: 20.4c
Bottom Time: 33minutes
Max Depth: 2.6m
Air usage: 170bar/2500psi
SAC: ???? litres/min
Details: Took the boat out with mick and dropped in on a small reef jusat west of the boat ramp. Not much of a dive.
Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS400/SS200 Strobes
Photos:
Dec
27
Dive Number: 238 27/12/11 15.30, Clifton Springs
Wind: ???
Tide: ???
Conditions: Choppy, murky, shitty
Visibilty: 1m
Water Temp: 19.6c
Bottom Time: 10minutes
Max Depth: 10.0m
Air usage: 170bar/2500psi
SAC: ???? litres/min
Details: A scary dive with zero vis and a gluggy clay bottom with no life. Straight down and straight back up again. Just a random spot off clifton springs near the channel edge.
Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS400/SS200 Strobes
Photos:
NO PHOTOS
Dec
23
Dive Number: 234 23/12/11 16.57, Prince George Bank
Wind: ???
Tide: ???
Conditions:
Visibilty: ???
Water Temp: 19.6c
Bottom Time: 28minutes
Max Depth: 11.5m
Air usage: 170bar/2500psi
SAC: ???? litres/min
Details: A random dive to see if there were many scallops around over the Bellarine side. There were a couple, but nothing like Rye. Some interesting anemones out there.
Camera Details:
Photos:
NO PHOTOS
Dec
11
Dive Number: 226 11/12/11 14.34, Castle Rock
Wind: ???
Tide: ???
Conditions: More great vis.
Visibilty: 15m
Water Temp: ???
Bottom Time: 45minutes
Max Depth: 20m ???
Air usage: 170bar/2500psi
SAC: ???? litres/min
Details: Fish Count with Bay City Scuba. Buddied with Jason who decided to have a bit of fun posing for photos on the stop.
Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS400/SS200 Strobes
Photos:
Nov
27
Dive Number: 219 27/11/11 ????, Chinaman’s Hat – Seals
Wind: 10knot northerly
Tide: ???
Conditions: Perfect…low wind, blue skies and crystal clear water.
Visibilty: 20m+
Water Temp: 18.4c
Bottom Time: not logged
Max Depth: 5m
Details: I headed over to South Channel fort with Mick, but the tide was ripping through the area. We cruised back past Chinamans Hat so i thought i’d have another go at the Australia Fur Seals. The vis was just fantastic and the seals were very playful. I was having fun trying to photograph the swimmer crabs and the younger seals decided they looked like fun to play with too.
Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS400/SS200 Strobes
Photos:
Nov
25
Dive Number: 220 25/11/11 14.34, Popes Eye
Wind: 10knot northerly
Tide: Ebbing
Conditions: Great day at the surface but strong currents.
Visibilty: 10m+
Water Temp: 18.4c
Bottom Time: 60minutes
Max Depth: 14m
Details: I decided to check out the western side of the annulus and came across the admiralty anchor. Trying to get back around the front of the wall after finishing the dive was near impossible. I felt like a cartoon character clinging to the rocks face first into the current with my legs trailing behind me. The currents got to be respected here, and always a good idea to have boat pickups available.
Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS400/SS200 Strobes
Photos:
Nov
16
Dive Number: 218 16/11/11 18.57, Rye Scallop Dive – Whitecliffs
Wind: 20knot northerlies
Tide: ???
Conditions: Choppy as hell..a bad day to be travelling across the bay, but a good test for the boat.
Visibilty: 8m
Water Temp: 18.4c
Bottom Time: 34minutes
Max Depth: 9.2m
Air usage: 170bar/2500psi
SAC: ???? litres/min
Details: Headed over with Chris, Kerry, and Harry in the boat to get a feed of scallops. Chris did an intial scouting dive and on the second dive we hit the scallop fields. We had a great cookup with fried garlic scallops, cajun crumbed scallops, and a scallop pasta.
Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS400/SS200 Strobes
Photos: No photos
Nov
5
Dive Number: 208 05/11/11 12.42, Chinamans Hat – Seals
Wind: 5-10knot south easterlies??
Tide: Must have been slack..zero current??
Conditions: Picture perfect day on the bay. Light winds, blue sky, great vis.
Visibilty: 10m
Water Temp: 16.0c
Bottom Time: 49minutes
Max Depth: 15.3m
Air usage: 70bar/1000psi
SAC: ???? litres/min
Details: After playing with the seals at Chinamans Hat, we swung past South Channel Fort. Lots of people around, and the water was clear with no current. Had a great little dive and was suprised to get to 15m here. There seemed to be sometype of Globefish party going on here…at least 50 all hovering around the pylons together.
Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS400/SS200 Strobes
Photos:
Nov
5
Dive Number: 208 05/11/11 12.42, Chinamans Hat – Seals
Wind: 5-10knot south easterlies??
Tide: High tide at Heads??
Conditions: Picture perfect day on the bay. Light winds, blue sky, great vis.
Visibilty: 10m
Water Temp: 16.4c
Bottom Time: 36minutes
Max Depth: 6.4m
Air usage: 70bar/1000psi
SAC: ???? litres/min
Details: I’ve been playing around with the idea of buying a boat for a few months, and a opportunity raised its head that was too good to miss. This was a dive to “test drive” a potential boat..you gotta try before you buy! So we took it out to the seals, and had a bit of a play with them.
Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS400/SS200 Strobes
Photos:
Jan
14
Dive Number:Â 121Â 30/12/10 9.18Â Portsea Hole
Wind:  15knot  SE’s???
Tide:Â Slack Water Flood
Conditions:Â Â Reasonable.. current was ok, but water was pretty dirty.
Visibilty: 10m
Water Temp: 16c
Bottom Time:Â 56 minutes
Max Depth: 20.1m
Air usage: 180bar/2500psi ????
SAC: ???? litres/min
Details: Its been a while between boat dives and Chris was pretty keen to do a dive on the wall…and so was i. But unfortunately the only option was Portsea Hole…which is suppose to be good enough in its own right, but its reputation as a training dive area had me  cringing a bit. It ended up being an OK dive, but nothing that blew me away. I’m still not use to diving and photographing under 10m, and all my photos just seems to be stark, horrible lighting. I think diffusers are important with less ambient light. Anyway, the most impressive sight was some cream/white sponge gardens that sat in about 18metres and covered the top of a large flat bommie giving a sponge desert like appearance.  We also saw a draughtboard shark, large smooth ray and a couple fo cool nudibranchs. naother highlight was when we headed back to Portsea and there was a pod of about 10 dolphins feeding not far from the boat.  Â
Camera Details: Tokina  10-17mm , dual SS200 strobes
Dive Report:
Aug
26
Dive Number: 75 22/08/2010 13.21 The Grotto
Wind: 10-15 knot N.
Tide: 3.5hr after 1.31 high tide at the Heads (12.50 slack)
Conditions: The last couple of weeks has been blowing ave. 30 knot, and lots of rain, and today was the first light wind. The sky was blue and it was generally a nice day, but still a lot of surface chop. Visibility in the water was atrocious! as expected.
Bottom Type: Rocky reef ledges over sand.
Visibilty: 1-2m
Water Temp: 12c
Bottom Time: 44 minutes
Max Depth: 20.6m
Air usage: 185bar/2500psi
SAC: ???? litres/min
Details: There was a break in the windy weather we’ve been having so i thought i’d jump on a boat with dive vic. The two options were Foggy Reef or The Grotto. I’d already dived The Grotto so i jumped on the Foggy Reef boat. On the way out i got told that i’d have to switch boats, because one group was going to 30m and the other was OW training so i had to buddy up with someone of the Grotto boat. So a boat change in the middle of PPB made things a bit more interesting.
Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , single SS200 strobe
Dive Report: I ended up being buddied up with Cheri (a fellow photographer) and one of the dive vic instructors, so it was good to have a group that would take it nice and slow…especially in 1-2m vis. On descent, we dropped into about 20m straight off. I couldn’t see the bottom until we hit it, and we spooked a baby port jackson shark who took off pretty quick. Not long after working our way along a ledge, our ‘guide’ spotted a Draughtboard shark under a ledge. Excellent spotting in the crap vis! I moved in closer for a shot, and it didn’t like me so close, so i backed off to give it a bit of space. It decided to take off and left the only was it could…in between me and Cheri.
The rest of the dive was fairly uninspiring critter wise. The bad vis made fish spook easily, and the colours weren’t all that vivid in the low light murkiness, so i didn’t take a lot of photos. They probably came out better than i expected though cosidering how milky the water was. Here’s a few from the dive.
Jul
20
Dive Number: 56 08/07/2010 11.33 The Grotto
Wind: 10 knot Westerlies???
Tide: SWF – 3.5hrs after 1.37 high tide at heads
Conditions: Overcast day, with the sun promising to peak out but it never really happened. The heads were fairly calm, but some big swell outside the heads on the horizon.
Bottom Type: Reef ledges and overhangs with some scattered bommies.
Visibilty: 6m
Water Temp: 13c
Bottom Time: 48 minutes
Max Depth: 18.8m
Air usage: 140bar/2000psi
SAC: ???? litres/min
Details: My first boat dive in the heads, and i was very impressed. Heaps of colour and fishlife. Not the best vis, but not too shabby. I was just happy to finally be experiencing the quality of temperate diving thats found in Port Phillip Bay that i’ve heard so much about.
Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm fisheye , single SS200 strobe
Dive Report: No crap…just photos..and Tony the Prawn:
Jun
1
Dive Number: 44 29/05/2010 14.20 18m Reef
Wind: 15knot SE
Tide: 1hr after 1.69 high tide at Heads
Conditions: Overcast all day with storm clouds looming. Choppy getting out through the heads, and also pretty choppy outside.
Bottom Type: Scattered reef structures. Mostly bommies with some small overhangs, but we didn’t find any large deep ledges.
Visibilty: 5-7m
Water Temp: 16c
Bottom Time: 43 minutes
Max Depth: 16.6m
Air usage: 125bar/1900psi
SAC: 12.5 litres/min
Details: My very first independent boat dive (except open water course – and taka on snorkel) with Dive Victoria. It was blowing NE’s in the morning, so i thought it was a good opportunity to get out of the heads and dive a site i hadn’t heard anything about. The winds swung around to the SE, so the surface was pretty choppy. I wasn’t overly impressed with the site, there were some nice scattering of reef, but very few overhangs, and very little fish life around. We saw a cray, a bull devil, and a nice big horseshoe leatherjacket, but nothing out of the ordinary. Some nice starfish around and a fish i’ve seen before but cant ID at the moment.
Camera Details: Sigma17-70mm , single SS200 strobe.
Dive Report: This was my first deep water dive off a dive off a boat, so i was a little bit (just a touch) apprehensive when i first jumped off the boat into the open ocean. Once i was down though, it was familiar terrain so i felt comfortable, despite the moderate current flowing. I was buddied up with a Kiwi and a bloke from Melbourne; none of which had dived this reef and both fairly new to diving. We explored the reef and came across this fish as soon as we headed into our first gully. I’m not too sure what species this is:
I was expecting to find a lot of growth under ledges, but legdes were few and far between. This ascidian-like thing was growing out in the open.
Again, not as much sponge as i was expecting either, but i decided to snap this starfish sitting next to a patch of yellow sponge that was again out in the open. I think i’ve been hearing too much about Lonsdale Wall. ;)
The thing i found with boat diving is that you get very little bottom time, especially with air slurping buddies. I was a little surpised when my buddies signalled to start ascending, but i realised that with the 5 minute safety stop, that you really have to start your ascent a lot earlier than i’ve been use to. I can see myself going twins in the not too distant future!
