Mar

23

Dive Number: 569 23/03/2014 Cottage by the Sea

Conditions:

Visibilty: 6m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 50minutes

Max Depth: 8m

Details: A dirty dive at cottage with surgey conditions. A Weedy Seadragon gained confidence in my presence enough to start feeding in the seagrass while i hovered above…good to watch.

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

Photos:

Jan

5

Dive Number: 540 05/01/2014 Cottage by the Sea, Queenscliff

Conditions:

Visibilty: 6m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 50minutes

Max Depth: 9m

Details: Ordinary conditions at Cottage today. A gorgonian and seastar where the only subjects of interest.

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

Photos:

Apr

20

Dive Number: 465 20/04/2013 Cottage by the Sea

Conditions: ?

Visibilty: 6m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 60minutes

Max Depth: 8m

Details: While my strobe was away being fixed, I decided to try my hand at video which I may upload in the future. Most dives in April and May will be video with the occasional ambient light/torch light photo. Dive 479 is my first dive back with the camera.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm I-Torch 4

Photos:

Mar

3

Dive Number: 445 03/03/2013 Cottage by the Sea

Conditions: ?

Visibilty: 4m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 50minutes

Max Depth: 8m

Details: Ordinary conditions at Cottage by the Sea. A big school of salmon was a highlight, but just the usual gorgonian shots on the ledges.

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

Photos:

Jan

20

Dive Number: 431 01/20/2013 Cottage by the Sea

Conditions: ??

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 45minutes

Max Depth: 8m

Details: Out back of cottage.

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

Photos:

Nov

4

Dive Number: 397 04/11/2012 Cottage by the Sea

Conditions:

Visibilty: 6m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 60minutes

Max Depth: 9m

Details: A surgey dive at cottage

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

Photos:

Jul

27

Dive Number: 334 27/07/12 12.18, Cottage by the Sea

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: Average to OK

Visibilty: 6m

Water Temp: 12.0c

Bottom Time: 68minutes

Max Depth: 7.3m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Its been aaaages since i’d dived cottage and it was glad to revisit it, despite the less than perfect conditions. Heaps of starfish around, and always good to see a Weedy Seadragon.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:

Feb

17

Dive Number: 269 17/02/12 11.14, Cottage by the Sea

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: ???

Visibilty: ???m

Water Temp: 20c

Bottom Time: ???minutes

Max Depth: 8m

Details: An explore dive out the back of cottage.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm, SS200 Strobes

Photos:

Jan

2

Dive Number: 241 02/01/12 14.25, Cottage by the Sea

Wind: ???

Tide: Flood

Conditions: Current

Visibilty: ???

Water Temp: 20.8c

Bottom Time: 91minutes

Max Depth: 7.3m

Air usage: 170bar/2500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: After calling a dive at collendina, i headed to cottage. The bay was flooding, but i thought i’d give it a run anyway. It made for an exciting dive with a strong current running.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS400/SS200 Strobes

Photos:

Oct

8

Dive Number: 194  08/10/11  13.58,  Cottage by the Sea

Wind:   10-15knot north/north-easterlies

Tide:  Low tide at the Heads

Conditions:  Not the best..surgey and cloudy

Visibilty:   6m.

Water Temp: ?c

Bottom Time: 60 oddminutes

Max Depth: 8-10m

Air usage: 70bar/1000psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Caught up with Chris and Harry for a dive. Heaps of different seastars around..at least 6 species on the ledges. Also a weedy seadragon encounter.

N.B. My computer didn’t record this dive, so log details will be inaccurate.

Camera Details:  Tokina  10-17mm ,  SS400 Strobe

Photos:

Jun

15

Dive Number: 162  05/06/11  10.41, St Leonards Pier 

Wind:   westerlies???

Tide:  4hr after 0.33 low tide  at the heads (10.33 slack)

Conditions:    Choppy, surgey, current-tity, nasty conditions.

Visibilty:   5m

Water Temp: 13c

Bottom Time: 30minutes

Max Depth: 8.7m

Air usage: 70bar/1000psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:   For some reason i decided to dive  cottage on slack…its never worked for me before and it didn’t work for me today. In fact this was probably the worst conditions i’ve ever dived cottage and it made for a really unenjoyable dive.  The most dangerous part of diving cottage above a 0.70 or so tide is that the shoreline reef is submerged, so you can easily be pushed onto the reef by the swell, especially on exit when the swell is up and stirring up the sand.  This old Ug boot is about as good as it got.  I ran into a couple of melbourne-ites after the dive who needed a second dive and were  keen on on diving cottage regardless of how bad i told them it was.  They didn’t show up on the news, so i presume they survived the journey.  

Camera Details: Canon  100mm , single SS200 strobe.

Dive Report:

Jun

2

Dive Number: 160  01/06/11  15.36, Cottage by the Sea

Wind:   10knot Northerlies

Tide:  2hrs before 0.93 low tide  at Heads (slack at 1510)

Conditions:    A crisp, blue skied winters day. A very high low tide but near flat conditions. Reasonably strong current running to the west.

Visibilty:   10m

Water Temp: 14c

Bottom Time: 72minutes

Max Depth: 11m

Air usage: 175bar/2500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:   Its been two weeks since my last dive, and i was having withdrawls.  The first day of winter brought beautiful conditions with light northerlies and a crisp blue sky. Cottage always seems current affected around slack water times (and this was no exception), but waiting for a low meant it was going to be dark. The water looked crystal clear from the shore line but dropped off a little as i got further out. Still great vis though.  A large school of salmon visited the shallow reef on entry, so i dropped down and hoped they’d do another lap…no luck.  I continued out and came across a cuttlefish under a small ledge. It was a little bit inquistive, but kept its distance and took off once it decided my strobes were just too freaky for it to handle.  I continued further out, but the strong current kept pushing me westerly. I tried to maintain a southerly direction and assumed i’d hit the ledges eventually, but it wasn’t to be. The current must have pushed me further than i anticipated, and i soon found myself totally disoriented in 11m of water. I’ve never been in 11m of water at cottage so i knew this was somewhere i’d never been before…. possibly alot further out the back, but most likely further westward, which is unusual  since i thought the depth would drop off  towards Pt lonsdale.  Large sand bowls and banks appeared, so the lack of reef must have accounted for the extra depth.  I started to make my way shoreward and came accross some small reef outcrops.    I hit about 3m and surfaced to find a tower rising out of the sand dunes in front of me.  “Where the hell am i?”, I thought.   I soon realised cottage was about 4 flights of stairs to the east. The current must of been much stronger than i thought. I leisurely waded eastwards towards cottage, taking in the soft hues of a winter sunset as it painted the rippling water  around me.  Such traquility…. and only shared with a lone dog walker and the pilot boat glowing orange as the sunset coated its bows. This is why you’ve gotta harden up for winter…it was 14c in the water, but uninterrupted nature at its best.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , dual SS200 strobes

Dive Report:

May

3

Dive Number: 154  26/04/11  11.12,  Cottage by the Sea

Wind:   15 knot N’s

Tide:  15min before 0.38 low tide at the Heads.

Conditions:  Bit behind on blog entries..cant remember.

Visibilty:   8m

Water Temp: 16c

Bottom Time: 58minutes

Max Depth: 9.2m

Air usage: 105bar/1500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:     On this dive i tried some high iso’s to capture the subtle ambient light  using  just a touch of strobe to light the gorgonians and sponges.       

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , dual SS200 strobes

Dive Report:

Apr

21

Dive Number: 153  18/04/11  16.25,  Cottage by the Sea

Wind:   15 knot N’s

Tide:  1hr before 0.65 low tide at the Heads.

Conditions:  A heavily overcast day with smoke haze  due to burnoffs. Slight current running but generally good conditions.

Visibilty:   8m

Water Temp: 17c

Bottom Time: 60minutes

Max Depth: 5.2m

Air usage: 105bar/1500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:     I headed straight out from the stairs, and quickly came across a cuttlefish blending into some weed on the bottom.  I descended and spent about 20mins with it.  It started to get a bit too use to my presence, and started tasting my computer that was dragging along the bottom.  It was like a kitten with a ball of string, and i started tempting it by moving away slowly and letting it pounce on the computer. I created a monster and couldn’t go anywhere without it chasing after me.  I eventually had to out swim in to escape it, and headed for some overhangs.      

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , dual SS200 strobes

Dive Report:

Mar

10

Dive Number: 142 06/03/11  17.48,  Cottage  by the Sea

Wind:   20knot NE’s

Tide:  2hrs before 0.45 low tide at the heads.

Conditions:  Seemed like a day that would produce good conditions, but they were very ordinary. Surgey, high current and dark and murky vis.

Visibilty: 4-5m

Water Temp: 18c

Bottom Time: 102minutes

Max Depth: 7.9m

Air usage: 170bar/2500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:    The conditions were very ordinary, and it wasn’t a very inspiring dive. I actually got cold a lot earlier than usual. Still lots of good critters around a few blue devils, a couple of small crays, a cuttle (the usual cottage suspects). I took some photos of  a strange orange  cigar shaped pod, i think its some type of  algae float.  There were plenty of squid egg clusters around in the weeds as well.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , dual SS200 strobes.

Dive Report:

Mar

1

Dive Number: 141 26/02/11  15.47,  Cottage  by the Sea

Wind:   5-10knot NE’s

Tide:  2hrs before 1.46 high tide at the heads.(slack at 15.24)

Conditions:  Couldn’t be more different to my dive earlier in the day. Big flooding current and dark and dirty water. 

Visibilty: 4m

Water Temp: 20c

Bottom Time: 73minutes

Max Depth: 7.9m

Air usage: 140bar/2000psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:    I’d just missed slack but decided i see what it was like anway…dark and dirty with strong current as the flood had kicked it. I spent most of my time under the ledges to keep out of the current, and played with a couple of Blue Devils. Suprisingly saw a small cray on this dive too…not a common sight at overdived cottage.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , single SS200 strobes.

Dive Report:

Mar

1

Dive Number: 140 26/02/11  12.03,  Cottage  by the Sea

Wind:   5-10knot NE’s

Tide:  0.5hrs before 0.10 low tide at the heads.

Conditions:  Perfect conditions..you could see the bottom all the way out, even in the 10m water, the reef below was clearly visible. Calm surface, not chop, current or surge. 

Visibilty: 12m+

Water Temp: 19c

Bottom Time: 133minutes

Max Depth: 9.0m

Air usage: 140bar/2500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:    What a day… sunny, calm conditions, great vis…and BAD AIR!!! ARHH!!! Anyway, i dont want to go into the gory details..but eventually had a cracker of a dive.  After finding an anchor and making a fisherman very happy after i dished it off to him, i spotted a Smooth Ray from the surface.   I descended into about 9 m of water. I lay flat on the bottom, and it charged straight for me. I stayed motionless, holding my ground and trying not to move a muscle. It was a game of chicken, (but with a ray) and no one was backing down. I thought it would approach closely, and then veer away at the last moment , but no…it went straight over the top of me….a 2 metre wide mass ‘breathing’ down on me as it passed over me lying on the ground. One hell of an encounter! We became quiet good friends over the next 20-30 minutes as he continued to do close inspections…none as close as this first one though.   Then a cuttlefish popped out from under the ledge to check out all the comotion.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , dual SS200 strobes.

Dive Report:

Feb

26

Dive Number: 138 24/02/11  11.24,  Cottage by the Sea

Wind:   5-10knot S’s

Tide:  0.5hrs after 0.04 low tide at Geelong.

Conditions:  Nice day..gentle variable winds but S-SE’s-SW’s all week long.

Visibilty: 8m dropping to 5m towards end of dive

Water Temp: 18c

Bottom Time: 105minutes

Max Depth: 8.9m

Air usage: 190bar/2800psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:    An extremely low tide today, so despite the  constant southerlies i thought cottage would be settled. Turned out a nice choice  and the vis was pretty good for the first half of the dive. I went out the east side of cottage and swam out the back for a bit of an explore. Some nice overhangs and ledges out there, but there seemed to be alot of sand build up.  Saw a cuttle, a big smooth ray and some nice reef scenes. 

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , dual SS200 strobes.(behaving badly)

Dive Report:

Jan

25

Dive Number: 126 20/01/11  18.09  , Cottage by the Sea, Queenscliffe

Wind:   10 knot E’s.

Tide: 0.5hrs before 0.25 low tide at the heads.

Conditions:    It had been blowing easterlies for the last few days, i suspect easterlies aren’t too bad for cottage because its somewhat swell protected by Point Nepean and the Mornington Pensinsula. It was a light easterly, so i gave it a go, and conditions were pretty good considering the flooding rivers into the bay. Green water and lots of particles but current and surge were fine.

Visibilty: 6-8m

Water Temp: 19c

Bottom Time: 126 minutes

Max Depth: 8.6m

Air usage: 200bar/3000psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:     It started out as the usual cottage dive, out to the legdes to the west and along. I tried shooting up into the late evening sun, but it wasn’t really working for me in the heavily sedimented water. So continued along and soon got a bit bored of the usual terrain and critters, so i headed out the back and tried my best to get lost. Cottage is a great place to get lost… you feel like you could be anywhere in the bay, and find some great ledges that haven’t been disturbed by divers.  I ended up along way west on exit and found some Slender Bullseye’s in a small hole. I haven’t seen this species before, so it was a nice suprise. A weedy with eggs put on a show also, so all up an enjoyable dive.

 Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , dual SS200 strobes

Dive Report:

Dec

9

Dive Number: 111 05/12/10 16.14 Cottage by the Sea

Wind:  10knot SE’s???

Tide:   1 hour before 0.22 low tide at the heads

Conditions:  Dirty as it comes..lots of sediment in the water which was expected after the large amounts of rain we’ve been having this week.

Visibilty: 4m.

Water Temp: 17c

Bottom Time: 96 minutes

Max Depth: 9.3m

Air usage: 140bar/2000psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:  This was a pretty messy dive, but i decided to go for a bit of an explore and ‘get lost’ . I started at the beginning of the main legde which heads out to sea (south). I explored out deeper and got to 9.3 meters which is the deepest i’ve been at cottage. Found some great solitary bommies out there with plenty of fish life around them.  A downside of this dive was that i didn’t put my dome on properly aligned, and the fisheye lens picked up the edges of the shade. I noticed it early in the dive, and made the decision to try to rotate it into position. I nervously rotated it, and prayed like hell i didn’t hear my leak dectector alarm. As soon as i started twisting, a mosquito-sounding jetski came flying over my head a dissappeared just as quick…funnily enough, it sounded just like my leak detector!!! Bastards! Made my heart sink into my chest.   

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , dual SS200 strobes

Dive Report:

Nov

15

Dive Number: 102 08/11/10 19.04 Cottage by the Sea

Wind: 10knot Northerlies swinging around to the west with a slight southerly aspect.

Tide:   45min before 0.10 low tide at the Heads

Conditions:  Really nice again..clear water and little water movement.  

Visibilty: 10m

Water Temp: 15c

Bottom Time: 98 minutes

Max Depth: 8.4m

Air usage: 210bar/3000psi on 10lt tank

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Chris gave me a call for a dive at Cottage on dusk, and it was another dive with great conditions.    On the way out there was a massive Smooth ray, but it became restless as soon as it knew we had spotted it and didn’t stick around.  The lighting was great and it was one of those dives you could just kick back and stare at the sun burst coming through the surface and  the light beams interplaying with the kelp fronds.  Some nice sized schools of old wives, and a weedy seadragon with eggs at the end of the dive.   We stayed in till dark and it was a nervous swim back to shore after i brought up the fact that there’s GWS’s reported in the area. Only today i read that lifeguards were on the look out after reports from Pt Lonsdale backbeach. They’re just after the snapper though, aren’t they! ; )  

Camera Details: Canon 17-40mm , dual SS200 strobes

Dive Report:

 

Nov

12

Dive Number: 100 06/11/10 17.04 Cottage by the Sea

Wind: 10knot easterlie’s (strong easterlies two days prior)

Tide:   1h before 0.24 low tide at the heads

Conditions:  Perfect conditions…clean and still above and below water.

Visibilty: 10m+

Water Temp: 15c

Bottom Time: 64 minutes

Max Depth: 7.2m

Air usage: 105bar/1500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Well… i’ve notched up my 100th dive in the 10months since i got certified.   A milestone i didn’t even know i achieved until after i got out. I was going to do something special for my 100th, but i’ve got to be happy with such great conditions at Cottage.  I decided to check out the legdes out to the left this dive since i hadn’t been over that way much.  Unfortunately, i ran out of strobe batteries and card space, so i just enjoyed the dive.

Camera Details: Canon 17-40mm , dual SS200 strobes

Dive Report:

Nov

2

Dive Number: 96 29/10/2010 8.24 Cottage by the Sea

Wind: 15knot Northerlies.

Tide:   2hrs before 0.56 high tide at the Heads

Conditions:  Northerlies for a few days..nice and flat, pretty good vis and no surge. Great conditions.

Visibilty: 6-8m

Water Temp: 15c

Bottom Time: 62 minutes

Max Depth: 8.0m

Air usage: 120bar/1800psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:  Couldn’t resist a dive down at Cottage after a couple of days of northerlies. Caught up with Chris and we hoped to find some Seadragons which he’d only seen once before. It was a great dive with lots of life around…3 seadragons, a couple of blue devils and even a couple of brevicardum nudi’s.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , dual SS200 strobes

Dive Report:

Oct

20

Dive Number: 89 05/10/2010 13.55 Cottage by the Sea

Wind: 10-15knot NE’s.

Tide:   1hr before 0.66 low tide at the heads

Conditions:  Lovely day, conditions flat, but the vis dissppointed.  Current was ok though.

Bottom Type:  Rock legdes and overhangs.

Visibilty: 5m

Water Temp: 14c

Bottom Time: 62 minutes

Max Depth: 8.0m

Air usage: 140bar/2000psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:  It was such a great day and conditions had been blowing northerlies for the last couple of days, osi had high hopes for a great cottage dive. The vis dissappointed though and i managed to get a bit disoriented. 

Camera Details: Tokina 10-170mm , single SS200 strobe.

Dive Report:

Aug

9

Dive Number: 73 07/08/2010 12.50 Cottage by the Sea

Wind: 10 knot N.

Tide: 0.5hr before 0.89 low tide at the Heads

Conditions: A high low tide with waves breaking on the shore reef. Conditions were very surgey and visibilty bad.

Bottom Type: Rocky reef ledges over sand.

Visibilty: 3-4m

Water Temp: 12c

Bottom Time: 57 minutes

Max Depth: 8.3m

Air usage: 105bar/1500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: It looked like it should be a good day for cottage but in the water the visibility was crap and the current, strong. Being tucked under the ledges was the only shelter from the bad conditions.

Camera Details: Canon 17-40mm , single SS200 strobe

Dive Report: An uninspiring dive with very poor visability… i have problems culling photos though, so here’s some shots for the record.