Dive 533 – Grassy Point – Indented Heads

Dec

Dive Number: 533 26/12/2013 Grassy Point, Indented Heads

Conditions: Strong Southerlies

Visibilty: 7m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 60minutes

Max Depth: 4m

Details: About 2km off Grassy Point at Indented Heads is a couple of sticks marking shallow reef. This area had some nice sponge life but not a lot of fish life..a couple of rays and a flathead. Southerlies had picked up to about 25-30knots after i finished my dive making a very bumpy return to shore.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 532 – Whites Beach

By pfuller

Dec

Dive Number: 532 23/12/2013 Whites Beach

Conditions:

Visibilty: 2m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 60minutes

Max Depth: 9m

Details: Ewwww…2m of dirty water, surge and 2-3m long camouflaged sharks lying in every crevice. A good lesson in bouyancy control! Luckily no Wobbegongs were mistaken as a camera rest on this dive.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 531 – The Vortex

By pfuller

Dec

Dive Number: 531 22/12/2013 The Vortex

Conditions:

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 35minutes

Max Depth: 20m

Details: Sometimes the ocean scares me…probably a healthy thing, but this was one of those dives. I sounded up a new site off 13th Beach on a day where the swell was slightly up. It seemed reasonably innocent and well-behaved on the surface but under the water was a different story. There seemed to be an even mixture of steady south-westerly and south-easterly swells moving through the area which, as a result, created surge that wasn’t just in one direction, but two. As that interacted with the reef rising from 20m to 15m, it created a truly bizaar dive experience. A washing machine at 20m!!! It was actually a pretty cool site, so perhaps i’ll try this again when conditions are better and hope it doesn’t live up to its name (The Vortex).

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 530 – Barwon Bluff Caves

By pfuller

Dec

Dive Number: 530 19/12/2013 Barwon Bluff Caves

Conditions:

Visibilty: 10m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 60minutes

Max Depth: 10m

Details: This was a dive on dusk from the boat out off Barwon Bluff. The area was scatter with caves and swimthroughs and the light underwater was just magic. It was one of those days where the sea was flat with no wind only the sunset skimming across the surface.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 529 – Chimney Rock

By pfuller

Dec

Dive Number: 529 19/12/2013 Chimney Rock

Conditions:

Visibilty: 7m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 45minutes

Max Depth: 23m

Details: A fairly dark and gloomy dive at Chimney Rock with Chris and Jarrod.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 528 – Seals at Chinamans Hat

By pfuller

Dec

Dive Number: 525 08/12/2013 Chinamans Hat, Port Phillip Bay

Conditions:

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 30minutes

Max Depth: 6m

Details: After diving Blairgowrie for a macro dive, i switched to wide angle and dropped in on the Seals at Chinamans Hat. They just weren’t that playful today, and vis was ordinary, so i kept the dive short.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 527 – Blairgowrie Pier

By pfuller

Dec

Dive Number: 527 15/12/2013 Blairgowrie Pier

Conditions:

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 70minutes

Max Depth: 6m

Details:

Camera Details: Canon 60mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos: A nice dive as always at Blairgowrie. On the way over i stopped at Popes Eye to photograph some Gannets in flight.

Dive 526 – St Leonards Pier

By pfuller

Dec

Dive Number: 526 12/12/2013 St Leonards Pier

Conditions:

Visibilty: 4m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 50minutes

Max Depth: 3m

Details: Just a quick dive at St Leonards to test some of Sophies new gear. A brittle star was the only subject i managed to photograph.

Camera Details: Canon 60mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 525 – The Ampitheatre

By pfuller

Dec

Dive Number: 525 08/12/2013 The Ampitheatre

Conditions:

Visibilty: 7m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 50minutes

Max Depth: 6m

Details: After a free dive at the Bluff with Chris, Kerry and Sophie, i went to check out the Ampitheatre. A catshark was the best subject and an interesting sighting of the uncommmon Banded Morwong.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 524 – The Labyrinth

By pfuller

Dec

Dive Number: 524 08/12/2013 The Labyrinth

Conditions:

Visibilty: 10m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 50minutes

Max Depth: 23m

Details: Went out to the Labyrinth with Chris where he had a close encounter with a large Smooth Ray that passed inches above his head. A great photo opp for Chris!

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Snorkel at Curlewis

By pfuller

Dec

Snorkel at Curlewis 07/12/2013

Conditions:

Visibilty: 7m

Water Temp: ??c

Details: Fairly quiet around Curlewis today…just photographed some of the usual suspects.

Camera Details: Canon 60mmm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 523 – Point Lonsdale Pier

By pfuller

Nov

Dive Number: 523 30/11/2013 Point Lonsdale Pier

Conditions:

Visibilty: 7m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 50minutes

Max Depth: 6m

Details: A splash around in the Kelp at Point Lonsdale Pier, reef, and rockpools.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 522 – Perpendicular Reef

By pfuller

Nov

Dive Number: 522 30/11/2013 Perpendicular Reef

Conditions:

Visibilty: 5m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 50minutes

Max Depth: 9m

Details: The big suprise at Perpies was a heap of Sea Hares out in a sand barren section.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 521 – Head and Tail Reef

By pfuller

Nov

Dive Number: 521 29/11/2013 Head and Tail Reef

Conditions:

Visibilty: 5m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 45minutes

Max Depth: 20m

Details:

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 520 – Ocean Grove Reef

By pfuller

Nov

Dive Number: 520 29/11/2013 Ocean Grove Reef

Conditions:

Visibilty: 5m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 30minutes

Max Depth: 8m

Details: This was a quick splash to see if there were any Wobbegongs in the shallower reef off Ocean Grove. The vis was ordinary and it was very surgey. The highlight was an unidentified eel with a yellow stripe along its back. Unfortunately i didn’t manage any photos of it.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 519 – The Labyrinth

By pfuller

Nov

Dive Number: 519 29/11/2013 The Labyrinth

Conditions:

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 45minutes

Max Depth: 22m

Details: Chris had recently bought a new DSLR setup, so we went out off Ocean Grove to check out a few sites. Not much around at the Labyrnth today, but great structure as always.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 518 – Tunnel Reef

By pfuller

Nov

Dive Number: 518 27/11/2013 Tunnel Reef, Point Addis Marine Reserve, Anglesea

Conditions:

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 45minutes

Max Depth: 20m

Details: Despite a great dive off Ingoldsby reef earlier in the day, i really want to sound out some deeper sites. One area looked great on the sounder sitting in about 20m and coming up to 14-15m. I wasn’t disappointed with this site, with lots of swim throughs and overhangs, and some great sponge life.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 517 – Ingoldsby Reef, Anglesea

By pfuller

Nov

Dive Number: 517 27/11/2013 Ingoldsby Reef, Point Addis Marine Reserve, Anglesea

Conditions:

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 50minutes

Max Depth: 10m

Details: I’ve been itching to get back to the Point Addis Marine Reserve…its got so much potential. The first dive was on the outer edge of Ingoldsby Reef. A lush shallow reef system that has a great diversity of algae. I encountered a crayfish just wandering around unprotected along the ground…only in a marine reserve! Towards the end of the dive i came across a piece of wreckage, presumably off the Inverlochy, although that is suppose to be on the shoreward side of the reef.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 516 – Blairgowrie Marina

By pfuller

Nov

Dive Number: 516 23/11/2013 Blairgowrie Marina

Conditions:

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 80minutes

Max Depth: 5m

Details: A great dive at blairgowrie. Loads of nudi’s around (inc two different species riding on a hermit crab) and my first ever sighting of a Common Shore Eel.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 511 – Portarlington Pier

By pfuller

Nov

Dive Number: 511 09/11/2013 Portarlington Pier

Conditions: ?

Visibilty: 4m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time:50minutes

Max Depth: 4m

Details: A PhD student from Melbourne University contacted me about sites containing artifical reefs structures near natural reefs. She asked if i had dived the reef balls off the end of Portarlington Pier…this was the first i’d heard of them! So i decided to check them out. The vis was miserable, and the reef balls were fairly uninteresting. Not much seemed to be inhabiting them bar a few small crabs, a couple of blennies and small biscuit stars. I may have to check these out one day when the vis is better.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 510 – Dannevig Island, The Glennies

By pfuller

Nov

Dive Number: 510 02/11/2013 Dannevig Island, The Glennies, Wilsons Promontory

Conditions: ?

Visibilty: 15m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time:50minutes

Max Depth: 24m

Details: This was the last dive of the trip as the weather turned nasty for the next couple of days. It was a great dive though. Lots of big swim throughs and caves. Unfortunately i had camera issues on this dive so no photos.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 509 – Seal Colony at Andersen Inlet

By pfuller

Nov

Dive Number: 509 02/11/2013 Seal Colony, Andersen Inlet, Wilsons Promontory

Conditions: ?

Visibilty: 15m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time:30minutes

Max Depth: 8m

Details: After the dive at Suicide Point (and giving up on the chase of a humpback and calf that disappeared off the horizon), we popped over to Andersen Inlet to view the Seal Colony. In the distance you could see the massive granite boulder island covered in black specks. As we got closer the black specks started turning into a landslide of movement as the seals spotted out boat and tumbled down the granite slopes into the water. They were so excited to have company and within minutes the boat was surrounded by hundreds of playful seals leaping and and peaking up out of the water at us. The numbers were truly astounding and the behaviour was priceless to watch. Diving with them was just as fun!

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 507 – Suicide Point – Anser Island- Wilsons Promontory

By pfuller

Nov

Dive Number: 507 02/11/2013 Suicide Point, Anser Island, Wilsons Promontory

Conditions: ?

Visibilty: 12m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time:45minutes

Max Depth: 24m

Details: Day two at the Prom and the dive clubs got the big boys out. What a mission beach launching these behemoths compared to the inflatable! We headed down to the south tip of the prom and into the Anser Group of Island on Alan’s boat “Freediver”, and dived a usually current prone area called Suicide point. We had dolphin, seal and humpback whale activity on the surface, and beautiful granite swim throughs and underwater vistas below. So this is what Prom diving is all about…fantastic! A big thanks to Alan for having me aboard and providing a great skipper, historical guide, and dive buddy.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 506 – Norman Island Wilsons Promontory

By pfuller

Nov

Dive Number: 506 01/11/2013 Norman Island Wilsons Promontory

Conditions: ?

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time:50minutes

Max Depth: 20m

Details: The Melbourne Cup weekend sees a number of Victorian dive clubs head to the prom to dive the granite islands. It seemed like a good time to get down to this mythical spot so i ventured down with the inflatable the day before the majority of people arrived. Not knowing much about the dive sites, we just headed out to the nearest island to Tidal River, which is Norman Island and picked a random spot to dive. It was OK, but not up to the world class sites the prom is rumoured to offer. The day turned into an adventure when we realised we headed back to the wrong beach, after a bit of second guessing we eventually found our way back to the campground.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos: