Dive Number: 555 22/02/2014 St Leonards Pier

Conditions:

Visibilty: 5m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 60minutes

Max Depth: 3m

Details: An operation from Melbourne where trying out there standard dress kit, so i took the opportunity to snap some bygone era dive photos. I say that using this gear around a pier is the best idea though. The hose was ripping life from the pylons, and trudging over the bottom was really upsetting the local stargazers.(but so was I!) Another good sighting was a very approachable Bastard Trumpter..the first time i’ve seen this species.

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

Photos:

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 Number: 505 26/10/2013 St Leonards

Conditions: ?

Visibilty: 3m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time:60minutes

Max Depth: 3m

Details: A tiny shrimp and a seahorse were the stars of this dive.

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

Photos:

Dive Number: 469 04/05/2013 St Leonards Peir

Conditions: ?

Visibilty: 5m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 60minutes

Max Depth: 3m

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 60mm I-Torch 4

Photos:

Dive Number: 468 28/04/2013 St Leonards Peir

Conditions: Aweful

Visibilty: 1m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 40minutes

Max Depth: 3m

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 60mm I-Torch 4

Photos:

No Photos

Dive Number: 467 26/04/2013 St Leonards Pier

Conditions: ?

Visibilty: 6m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 60minutes

Max Depth: 3m

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 60mm I-Torch 4

Photos:

Dive Number: 454 26/03/2013 St Leonards Pier

Conditions: ?

Visibilty: 6m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 50minutes

Max Depth: 3m

Details: Testing the video mode on the 7D on this dive. I’m not going to upload vids here…photos only.

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

Photos: NO PHOTOS

Dive Number: 429 01/12/2013 St Leonards Pier

Conditions: ??

Visibilty: 6m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 45minutes

Max Depth: 3m

Details: Saw a grass shrimp that i’d never seen before. Very hard to photograph.

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

Photos:

Dive Number: 403 10/11/2012 St Leonards Pier

Conditions:

Visibilty: 6m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 60minutes

Max Depth: 3m

Details: Tired St leonards with the wide angle to capture some light rays and under-overs.

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

Photos:

Dive Number: 357 23/09/12 St Leonards Pier

Wind: ??/

Tide: ???

Conditions: Not the best

Visibilty: 6m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 60minutes

Max Depth: 3m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Just playing with Stinky.

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

Photos:

Dive Number: 348 08/09/12 15.53, St Leonards Pier

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: Horrible

Visibilty: 1m

Water Temp: 11.2c

Bottom Time: 36minutes

Max Depth: 3.7m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Worst conditione ever! 1m vis is if that…i couldn’t even see if there was anything around. I came across a dumpling squid on the way in(i actually got lost..at st leonards!) but thats about it. This was mainly a dive to test out some split fins.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobe

Photos:

Dive Number: 320 17/06/12 16.36, St Leonards Pier

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: Bleak day

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: 11.6c

Bottom Time: 39minutes

Max Depth: 3.3m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: An ordinary day, and i had some strobe problems, so just a few ambient light wide angle shots.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:

Dive Number: 290 07/04/12 11.30, St Leonards Pier

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions:

Visibilty: -m

Water Temp: 18.4c

Bottom Time: 70minutes

Max Depth: 3.1m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Got a bit bored on this dive and headed out the north side of the pier,

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:

Dive Number: 275 10/03/12 14.30, St Leonards Pier

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions:

Visibilty: 6m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: ???minutes

Max Depth: 3m

Air usage: 170bar/2500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: A short dive to test a new (used/old) reg i bought off ebay.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm, SS200 Strobes

Photos:

Dive Number: 268 09/02/2012 18.54, St Leonards Pier

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: ???

Visibilty: ???m

Water Temp: 22c

Bottom Time: ??minutes

Max Depth: 3m

Details: A small pink swimming anemone was the most interesting critter on this dive…i’d never seen one before. I had a small leak in the housing so aborted the dive early.

Camera Details: Canon 60mm, SS200 Strobes

Photos:

Dive Number: 252 14/01/12 ????, St Leonards

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: ????

Visibilty: 5m

Water Temp: ???

Bottom Time: ??minutes

Max Depth: 3m

Air usage: 170bar/2500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: After getting bored, i headed out north of the pier for a bit of an explore. Always good to see Pale Octopus which i had some fun with in port processing.

Camera Details: Canon 60mm , SS200 Strobe

Photos:

Dive Number: 206 29/10/11 16.21, St Leonards Pier

Wind: 10knot south westerlies

Tide: Low tide at Geelong??

Conditions: Cant remember..i’m catching up on posts

Visibilty: 5-6m

Water Temp: 17.6c

Bottom Time: 113minutes

Max Depth: 4.0m

Air usage: 70bar/1000psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: A macro dive at St Leonards. The usual suspects around with a couple of fish i couldn’t ID. I found another stargazer…after just coming across one at Portarlington. This one was checking out the gobies as a potential snack. There were lots of mysid shrimp around, so i tried to get some 1:1s of the tiny little critters.

Camera Details: Canon 60mm , SS200 Strobe

Photos:

Dive Number: 198  15/10/11  18.38, St Leonards Pier

Wind:   15knot westerlies

Tide:   high tide at Geelong

Conditions:  overcast, windy but flat at st leonards.

Visibilty:   6m

Water Temp: 16.0c

Bottom Time: 67minutes

Max Depth: 4.3m

Air usage: 70bar/1000psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:  Camera issues on this dive left me with no strobe, so just a few ambient light shots. I do like the movement in the ray shot and the moonlighter shot has a painterly quality too… so not a total right off photography dive.  

Camera Details:  Canon 60mm ,  SS200 Strobe

Photos:

Dive Number: 169  09/07/11  12.42,  St Leonards Pier

Wind:   25 – 30knot Westerlies

Tide:  2hrs before 0.44 low tide at Geelong

Conditions:  Cold windy day, but as St Leonards is protected from the strong westerlies, the water was fairly calm.  Vis was average, and it was freakin cold in the water.

Visibilty:   6m

Water Temp: 10c

Bottom Time: 51minutes

Max Depth: 3.8m

Air usage: 70bar/1000psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:     The strong westerlies gave me two options;  Ozone or St Leonards. I opted for St Leonards as it was mainly a dive to try to see if my YS120 strobe was going to work as a slave when strobes where positioned for wide angle. The answer came out a NO, and i’m now going to have to make up an optical cord to get this strobe to fire reliably. On entry, it was almost like i wasn’t wearing a wetsuit at all, my legs froze instantly in the numbing 10c waters.  I’ve decided this is way too cold to be diving in a 6mm wetsuit, and i’m going to pull out the old clunky uncompressed neoprene drysuit for my next dive in the bay.  Not a lot of marine life around, but the sponge growth was looking healthy. Some pygmy squid and dumpling squid made an appearance in the shallows when i exited.  

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

Dive Report:

Dive Number: 161  04/06/11  10.34, St Leonards Pier 

Wind:   20knot South-Westerlies

Tide:  0.5hr before 0.22 low tide  at Geelong

Conditions:    Cold, bleak, and crappy vis.

Visibilty:   4m

Water Temp: 12c

Bottom Time: 45minutes

Max Depth: 3.4m

Air usage: 35bar/500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:   A dive just to use up a low tank. The conditions weren’t inspiring,  so i chucked on the macro lens which hasn’t had a run for a while. Best find was a Spiny Gurnard flashing its blue line butterfly wings around. Just like  a butterly, it wouldn’t sit still very long for a photo.     

Camera Details: Canon  100mm , single SS200 strobe.

Dive Report:

Dive Number: 159  15/05/11  11.27, St Leonards Pier

Wind:   10-15knot Westerlies

Tide:  2hrs after 0.94 high tide  at Geelong

Conditions:   Overcast but a sheltered site in westerlies meant the water was nice and calm. Nice vis too.

Visibilty:   8m

Water Temp: 13c   – and no gloves!

Bottom Time: 58minutes

Max Depth: 3.7m

Air usage: 105bar/1500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:    Damn the waters got cold quickly! 13c felt like 6c!  At least there were a few good critters around. A baby Cuttlefish came to play and a Stargazer sat out in the open, totally above the sand.  He took off when i approached though so no photos. : (        

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

Dive Report:

Dive Number: 152 10/04/11  11.19,  St Leonards

Wind:   20-25 knot W’s

Tide:  3hrs after 0.96 high tide at Geelong.

Conditions:  Howling winds, but protected from westerlies here. The water looked better than it was..vis was shite.

Visibilty:   2m

Water Temp: 17c

Bottom Time: 68minutes

Max Depth: 5.2m

Air usage: 105bar/1500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:     I still held on hope for Spidercrabs, i decided to do a full trip around the pier and the break, and then out north of the pier. I saw lots of shells and a few straggler survivors, but no large groups.  I did more swimming that photography on this dive so nothing to show.

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

Dive Report:

Dive Number: 150 27/03/11  13.26,  St Leonards Pier

Wind:   10-15 knot SE’s

Tide:  2.5hrs before 0.15 low tide at Geelong.

Conditions:  Water was somehwta dirty, but not overly bad vis. 

Visibilty:   6m

Water Temp: 18c

Bottom Time: 65minutes

Max Depth: 3.7m

Air usage: 70bar/1000psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:     Reports of spider crab aggregations and feeding penguins the day before lured me to St Leonards. Unfortutelythe spider crabs had moved on, but there was still about 10 around (down from 120+), and i didn’t spot the penguin. I got to try out my new stainless steel shears on a spider crab tangled in fishing line.

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

Dive Report:

Dive Number: 136 13/02/11  14.44 ,  St Leonards Pier

Wind:   15knot S’s

Tide:  2hrs before 0.16 low tide at Geelong.

Conditions:  Sun was out from the clouds and the water looked in reasonable. Vis was cloudy but ok.

Visibilty: 4-5m

Water Temp: 20c

Bottom Time: 47 minutes

Max Depth: 3.3m

Air usage: 35bar/500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:    My second short dive of the day with only  500psi (35bar) in the tank. I regretted it after finding some blubber jellies, and bouncing the hell out of the dive dangerously trying to photograph them and conserve air. There were some interesting lighting effects under the pier that worked well wit the jellies.

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

Dive Report:

Dive Number: 128 23/01/11  16.10 , St Leonards Pier

Wind:   10-15 knot S’s.

Tide:  2.5hrs before 0.93 high tide at geelong.

Conditions:  Fine sunny day, with people everywhere, and divers everywhere…all kicking up sand into the water, sometimes leaving zero vis.

Visibilty: 1-3m

Water Temp: 22c

Bottom Time: 114 minutes

Max Depth: 3.9m

Air usage: 105bar/1500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:     Visibility was awful, and although i suspected as much and put my macro lens on in anticipation, it  wasn’t real fun diving. I headed out the back were i thought i might be a bit clearer and played around with a snoot. Not a great deal of postable photos from this dive.  I think i was a bit optomistic trying to do 1:1 macro of mysid shrimps with a snoot on my strobe.  

Camera Details: Canon 100mm , dual SS200 strobes and snoot.

Dive Report: