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.
Jul
21
Dive Number: 57 08/07/2010 13.56 Cottage by the Sea
Wind: 10 knot NW’s???
Tide: SWF – 1hr after 0.90 low tide at heads
Conditions: A big low tide meant there was a noticeable swell occuring, and the rock shelf was totally submerged. Conditions were far from perfect. Surgey and milky conditions.
Bottom Type: Reef ledges and overhangs.
Visibilty: 3-4m
Water Temp: 13c
Bottom Time: 60 minutes
Max Depth: 9.6m
Air usage: 125bar/1800psi
SAC: ???? litres/min
Details: Visibility was ordinary so i decided to descend early. This is the first time i’ve got lost at Cottage, but it was actually really enjoyable. I think i ended up out the back and to the east of the normal legdes and found some really interesting terrian. The sponge and plant life was much more prolific than the usual cottage ledges, and i reach a depth of nearly 10m. The surge and vis was annoying, but it felt like a completely new dive site. I did this dive with two large hip weights as a test for an upcoming trip, and it was really uncomfortable and made me overweighted. The walk back to the car across the sand was hell! There was a couple of rest stops along the way.
Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm fisheye , single SS200 strobe
Dive Report: It was too milky for any good photos with the fisheye on, but a couple of shots of this blue softcoral came out ok.
Jun
21
Dive Number: 50 19/06/2010 12.15 Beach 10B
Wind: 15-20 knot NW
Tide: 2 hrs 20mins after 0.44 low tide at the heads
Conditions: A pretty ordinary day…overcast, windy with touches of rain around as well. Swell was up, and the ocean fairly choppy.
Bottom Type: Rocky reef and legdes over sand base.
Visibilty: 3m
Water Temp: 12c
Bottom Time: 59 minutes
Max Depth: 8.2m
Air usage: 120bar/1700psi
SAC: 13.7 litres/min
Details: After filling my tank, i decided to check out cottage. It wasn’t looking the best and wasn’t the right tide for it, but i ended up heading in anyway. I headed in mid way along the ledge and planned to check out the westerly side where the tall legdes start to dissapate. However, i ended up just playing aound the ledges since the vis was bad and it was very surgey, so stayed around the protection of the reef.
Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm fisheye , single SS200 strobe.
Dive Report: I had the wide-angle on for this dive, but vis was nasty. I just tried to get some close up gorgonian shots.
I couldn’t resist trying a self-portrait…reg out! ;)
There seemed to be alot of recent growth of soft corals and sponges…good to see.
I hadn’t noticed this soft coral before.
This smooth ray was resting in one of the only sheltered areas… i took photos while it slept.
A biscuit star hung precariously on some red algea swaying in the current.
Jun
8
Dive Number: 46 05/06/2010 10.43 Cottage by the Sea
Wind: 15 knot NW
Tide: 0.56 low tide at the Heads
Conditions: A cold wintery day, with heavily overcast clouds promising rain. It rained during the dive. Visibility was pretty ordinary and a fair bit of surge.
Bottom Type: Rock legdes over sand base
Visibilty: 3-5m
Water Temp: 14c
Bottom Time: 63 minutes
Max Depth: 7.9m
Air usage: 100bar/1400psi
SAC: 11.3 litres/min
Details: It was a cold windy day, but the northerly aspects of the wind made cottage a goer. I decided to give my sigma lens a try due to its versatilty as a macro and wide angle setup, but i always seem to regret the decision. The lens just seems to have horrible colour, soft focus and generally not very inspiring to use. A couple of shots came out ok though.
Camera Details: Sigma17-70mm , single SS200 strobe.
Dive Report: It seemed to be a fairly quiet day fish-wise. BUt i think i was lacking inspiration with my sigma lens, so maybe wasn’t searching as hard as i could have. Yellow-striped Leatherjackets are always around:
I felt i was really close to this Dusky Morwong, but taking photos at the 70mm range of this lens means your shooting through a lot of water, and when vis is low, you get pretty grubby photos.
I had a bit of ear pain on this dive and i stuck to about the 4m mark for the later half of my dive. Dropping down to 6-7metres was causing pressure on my left ear..i put this down to a hangover from the night before. This cuttlefish was searching around the kelp on the upper reef and came to check me out. I couldn’t follow him as it decends though.
Apr
29
Dive Number: 31 26/04/2010 13.53 Cottage by the Sea
Wind: 15 knot westerlies
Tide: 1/2 hr before 0.65 low tide at the heads
Conditions: Conditions looked pretty good from the shore, but they were atrocious in. Very milky water making horrible visibility, and a surge that made for dangerous diving.
Bottom Type: Reef and overhangs on sand base
Visibilty: 3m
Water Temp: 17c
Bottom Time: 29 minutes
Max Depth: 8.1m
Air usage: 50bar/750psi
SAC: 11.6 litres/min
Details: There was a small shore break on entry but nothing too large, however the surge was fairly strong. On my way out i got pushed over the shallow reefs and at one stage had my belly scrapping against the top of the reef. I soon realised when my weight belt was hanging around my crotch strap that scrapping the top of the reef was enough to force my weight belt buckle open. With my weight belt twisted around my crotch strap i figured the easiest way to get it back on would be to descend and fix it on the ocean floor rather than trying to get it around my waist at the surface. It worked out well and i soon had it on and was on my way out. I thought the surge might drop off deeper out, but it continued to be the strongest i’ve experienced at cottage. Vis was atrocious as well, so i decided to call the dive and head to St Leonards which is protected from westerlies. So much for my thoery that cottage should be divable on westerlies!
Camera Details: Canon 17-40mm , dual SS200 strobe.
Dive Report: I only took one pic…you can see how cloudy the water is:
Apr
28
Dive Number: 30 24/04/2010 10.45 Cottage by the Sea
Wind: 15 knot westerlies
Tide: 1.5hrs before 0.43 low tide at the heads
Conditions: Brain fade…i can’t remember! I should have written this up sooner.
Bottom Type: Reef and overhangs on sand base
Visibilty: 6-7m
Water Temp: 18c
Bottom Time: 122 minutes
Max Depth: 8.1m
Air usage: 230bar/2300psi
SAC: 12.7 litres/min
Details: A good dive with lots of critters around including a port jacko shark under some of the shallower overhangs, a crayfish, weedy seadragons, senator wrasse, starfish and Bearded Rock Cod.
Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm fisheye, dual SS200 strobe.
Dive Report: Some wierd shaped sponges under an overhang:
There seemed to be more starfish around than usual today…this one must been sitting around for a while and was having a stretch.
A juvenile Blue-throated wrasse was cruising among the beautiful gorgonians and seafeathers.
A six-spined leatherjacket checked out what i was doing under its ledge:
A couple of Bulleyes:
A skull looking out from the sand…(or it could be a banksia seed pod).
These Bearded Rock Cods are really difficult to approach. This one was hiding under the ledges.
A mature Blue throated Wrasse patrolled the sand banks where it rests:
Moonlighters were in the same general vicnity too…
A Senator Wrasse stopped momentarily..a rare occurance.
Another starfish:
The dive was nearing an end and i decided to continue into the shallower areas of reef. Pleasantly suprised to see a Port Jackson Shark under a very unlikely little overhang:
Apr
12
Dive Number: 27 10/04/2010 12.05 Cottage by the Sea
Wind: 15 knot westerlies
Tide: 1 hour before 0.57 low tide at the heads
Conditions: Mostly dark and overcast day with occasional patches of sunlight. Fairly surgey and low visibility.
Bottom Type: Rocky reef ledges
Visibilty: 4-5m
Water Temp: 18c
Bottom Time: 102 minutes
Max Depth: 8.1m
Air usage: 190bar/2700psi
SAC: 12.9 litres/min
Details: After some fin strap issues that required some gaffa tape magic to fix, I had the dreaded ‘hotshoe adaptor’ problem I had a few weeks ago…so much for me checking these things out before heading down to the dive site! Anyway, after I got underwater things went well but the vis wasn’t the best. Sometimes bad conditions pay off though with more creatures out and about feeling more protected by the bad vis.
Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm fisheye, dual SS200 strobe.
Dive Report: After descent I was greeted immediately by a young cuttlefish that was out from beneath the ledges and frolicking around the seagrass.
Moving further along, I spotted the big old cuttlefish i saw a couple of weeks ago. 
He wasn’t happy this time around and spat some junk at me..well..into the water anyway. He then went into the posture below, waggling his tenticles at me in some type of intimidation display…it worked!
While he was doing this ANOTHER small cuttlefish approached ,and he wasn’t happy about this eaither and quickly advanced towards the smaller cuttlefish. Look how dark and angry he looks:
I decided to leave this guy alone and took a few pics of the youngster that was keeping its distance:
He soon became intrigued with the camera and couldn’t get enough of the reflection.
You usually dont see cuttlefish out in the segrass, but it made for a great shoot.
Moving on, i started looking under the legdes, and the resident blue devils showed up:
Schools of tiny bullseye’s fill the black voids of the caves.
Gorgonians fan out from the ledge tops:
And colourful sponges layer the walls.
A cottage dive is never complete without an Old wive shot.
Mar
29
Dive Number: 23 25/03/2010 12.29 Cottage by the Sea
Wind: 10-15 knot Northerlies
Tide: 15minutes before 0.24 low tide at the heads
Conditions: Vis was bad with very milky conditions. A bit of surge around too and some current. Generally fairly aweful conditions for photography.
Bottom Type: Sandy bottom, with large reef overhangs and ledges.
Visibilty: 2-4m
Water Temp: 20c
Bottom Time: 124 minutes
Max Depth: 7.8m
Air usage: 200bar/2800psi
SAC: 11.5 litres/min
Details: Very dissappointed with the conditions and i was expecting better based on the weather. The critters that turned up though made up for the bad vis. Two Cuttles, Two Seadragons, Two Blue Devils, a Port Jackson Shark, a rosy wrasse, a Trevalley, a large strange cod thing i’m yet to identify(maybe a Beardie???) and some very colourful and curious leatherjackets.
Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm fisheye, DUAL SS200 strobe.
Dive Report: This was a very milky dive, and it really tested out my dual strobe technique. Instead of making it more versitile, it made things a hell of a lot more complicated, and i missed some killer opportunities because i had my strobes wrongly positioned. With a single strobe you can have the strobe up high at 12 oclock, and despite uninteresting flat lighting, you can still light your subject and get a decent shot. With dual strobes though, theres a precision in positioning thats very dependent on the distance from camera to subject, and when you have a subject that moves from 1 metre to basically right in front of the dome in a matter of seconds, its almost impossible to get correct light coverage at all distances. Especially when the vis is bad, you have a wide angled lens on, and fish insist on kissing thier own reflection in the dome port. So after an amazingly close encounter with this Leatherjacket (that usually keep there distance), i was disappointed not to nail a shot of these nicely coloured Leatherjackets. Initially it kept its distance in the confines of the rock ledges.
But once it spotted its own reflection, i think it either couldn’t resist its own image, or maybe thought someone was moving in to its territory.
He really couldn’t have got any closer than this…
But of course had a crack at eyeballing the dome as close as possible.
This Leatherjacket eventually had enough of me, and took off. I continued under the ledges and thought to myself, “gee i’d love to see a Port Jackson Shark”…literally seconds after the thought entered my head, i spotted a large shark sitting deep under the ledges… A Port Jacko! My first..i was excited! ; ) He was tucked under only about a 60-80cm ledge making it extremely difficult with a tank to get in close enough for a descent photo. I knew from what i’d read that these sharks weren’t aggressive (and i’m not sure if they even have carnivorus teeth), but to get a descent photo i’d be blocking off his exits if he got freaked out, so it wasn’t the most comfortable if situations. Lucky for me when he was getting a bit unnerved by my presence, he just swung himself around and went deeper into the cave. Such a beatiful creature though, i’m looking forward to seeing more.
I continued on, and spotted a single Trevally darting around.
More colourful Leatherjackets turned up, this time a Horseshoe LeatherJacket:
Under the same ledge was a Rosy Wrasse..a new fish for me on a shore dive.
I came across another fish i’d never seen…i think it might be a Beardie:
A gorgonian-scape:
A Goatfish fossicked in the sand outside the ledges:
My air was getting low, and a Weedy Seadragon showed up, so i thought i’d have a quick go at it, but i didn’t have long to mess a round.
A second Seadragon appeared, and they were momentarily in the frame together…not a great pic, but unique to have two together.
Mar
17
Dive Number: 18 16/03/2010 18.52 Cottage by the Sea
Wind: 10-15 knot Southerlies
Tide: 1.5 hour before 0.53 low tide at the heads
Conditions: I think it was blowing light northerlies all day, but it swung around the southerlies in the evening. The surface was choppy and swell was forming at the start of the exposed reef at cottage beach. Water was very milky, and lots of surge.
Bottom Type: Rocky reef with overhangs.
Visibilty: 3-4m
Water Temp: 20c
Bottom Time: 45 minutes
Max Depth: 7.6m
Air usage: 70bar/1000psi
SAC: 11.1 litres/min
Details: I was considering calling off this dive as the conditions were far from perfect. I ended up heading out and the water was very dirty. I kept it short and didn’t get much photography in. A couple of Blue Devils showed, and a group of divers, one of whom pointed out a weedy seadragon to me. But conditions made it to difficult to photograph.
Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm fisheye, single SS200 strobe.
Dive Report: Not much to tell or show on this dive. A couple of Blue Devils under the ledges, one with a large six-spined leather jacket. These Blue Devils just aren’t as friendly as i’d like.
A dive club also braved the conditions, and one guy wanted me to take his photo. At least i think thats what he was indicating. If he didn’t he sure turned on the moves when i pointed the camera at him.
Since the fish weren’t being cooperative, the brown algae was my only subject as it had no where to go but sway in the current.
