Dive 7: Cottage by the Sea

By pfuller

Feb

21

Dive Number: 7 21/02/2010 10.30 Cottage by the Sea, Queenscliffe

Wind: 10-15knot south-westerlies after early morning 20-25knot northerlies

Tide: 1hr before a 0.21 low tide at heads

Conditions: A change from northerlies to southerlies, meant i caught the wind at a 10knot SW producing flat conditions. Little current or surge, and good vis.

Bottom Type: Sand and Rocky Reef

Visibilty: 8-9m

Water Temp: 19c

Bottom Time: 101 minutes

Max Depth: 7.7m

Air usage: 165bar/2400psi

SAC: 11.2 litres/min

Details: Went to the south section of the Cottage reef. 4 Blue Devils, 1 cuttlefish and a Weedy Seadragon. Also a couple of Roughies.

Camera Details: 10-17mm fisheye, single SS200 strobe.

Dive report: I always heard that Cottage by the Sea was good for Blue Devils, but i didn’ expect to see 4 of them! And to be so confiding for the camera. The only difficulty in photographying them was that they like to hang out under tight legdes, meaning it was hard to get the strobes up nice and high and avoid filling the working space with sediment.

I had to have another go at the Gorgonians, but still haven’t nailed the shot i’m after.

I stumbled onto these Old Wives hanging above a wrasse that was sand bathing itself. Unfortunately the wrasse didn’t stick around for the photo.

Heaps of moonlighters around. I’ll have to work a bit harder to get a nice image of these guys when i’m not so distracted about all the other cool critters.

I spoke to some exiting divers on the way out who said they saw one Weedy Seadragon, so that gave me some hope. Right towards the end of my dive i got lucky and saw one leaving a small cave and heading for the kelp. It would’ve been hard to spot otherwise.

Dive 6: Cottage by the Sea

By pfuller

Feb

20

Dive Number: 6 20/02/2010 11.00 Cottage by the Sea, Queenscliffe

Wind: 25-30knot northerlies

Tide: 0.26 low tide at heads

Conditions: Northelies kept swell flat, only pushing surface water towards south west shoreline. Minimal current, only starting to develop at end of the dive. Near perfect conditions!

N.B. St Leonards earlier in the morning (10am ) was absolutley atrocious… 1m shore breaks!

Bottom Type: Sand and Rocky Reef

Visibilty: 8-10m

Water Temp: 20c

Bottom Time: 91 minutes

Max Depth: 6.8m

Air usage: 140bar/2000psi

SAC: 11.1 litres/min

Details: First dive with new gear and camera. Awesome vis, beautiful gorgonian fans, 3 cuttlefish and a crayfish.

Camera Details: 10-17mm fisheye, single SS200 strobe.

I’ve only snorkelled a couple of times at Cottage by the Sea, and haven’t seen a hell of a lot at the 3-4 metre depth and haven’t been overly impressed. On scuba it was fantastic and i couldn’t have scored a better day. Scuba gave me he ability to check under the legdes and i was very impressed by the colours and structures of the Gorgonians which i’d never seen on snorkel.

The reef vegetation is a good example of temperate kelp and brown algae gardens, and the good vis inspired me to get some blue water surface shots.

Another critter found tucked under the legdes which i’d never seen on snorkel is the Southern Rock Lobster – Jasus edwardsii. Some people will be licking their lips at this shot, but i left this guy to seen by other divers and breed up the populations (and hopefully not snaffled by anyone else!)

I saw three different cuttlefish on this dive. The first opportunity i’ve had to photograph one, with my fist ever seen on an OW training dive without a camera. They’re very curious!

This one decided to come out from under the ledge to see what i was up to.

I saw a doco on this awesome cephlapods the other day, and it was explaining how they are very visually oriented creatures. So once i toook this photo i decided to turn my rig around and show it a picture of itself to see how i would react. It gave a bit of a wiggle of the tentacles but didn’t approach any closer.

This is the second cuttlefish i saw which was a bit bigger and displaying in a more greyish colour to blend into the paler substrate. I think its partners was further back in the cave, not so inquisitive.

After a great 1hr 1/2 dive, my air was in the red, so it was time to head back. I took one more reefscape on my way back to shore. Great dive…it going to be a local haunt from now on, no doubt.

My Gear has Arrived!

By pfuller

Feb

19

On Wednesday, my gear arrived from the US! Really quick postage…very impressed with the service However, i didn’t allow for customs charges, duty and taxes, so my savings from ordering from OS wasn’t as much as i expected.

Anyway, I got my tank filled and headed down to the “lovely” Geelong Promenade for a bit of a test run of the gear. Here’s the deets of my first dive with my new gear:

Dive Number: 5 17/02/2010 19.00 Geelong Promenade

Bottom Type: Mud

Visibilty: 3m

Water Temp: 22c

Bottom Time: 24 minutes

Max Depth: 3.3m

Air usage: 35bar

Details: Gear Test

Snorkel at Portarlington

By pfuller

Feb

14

BOM predicted some nasty SE winds today(which never really eventuated), so i decided to check out Portarlington Pier, being nice and protected from southerlies.

It must be Cardinalfish breeding time, since i saw 3 seperate individuals carrying eggs in their mouths. I’m not sure how/what they eat in the meantime??? eggs???

I was hoping to find some new nudibranchs, but i only saw this Oxynoe Viridis.

On my way home i decided to check out a nearby seagrass reef that turned up a couple of Philinopsis species last time i went there. Seems like its a good spot for this family of nudi’s, with about 20 Targona species seen and 3 Cyanea.

Philinopsis Taronga

Philinopsis Cyanea

It’s also a good habitat for Spotted Pipefish, but most are fairly young.

A Snorkel at the Pt Lonsdale Rockpools

By pfuller

Feb

13

Its been a quiet few months for nudibranchs at the rockpools, with lower numbers and diversity than usual. Today i only saw 4 species…all fairly common species.

I concentrated on getting some decent photos of Madrella Sanguine…a brilliant red nudibranch.

This Tritonia sp seemed to have more orange than others i’d photographed.

Tylodina corticalis is frequently seen in the rockpools. This one was the biggest i’d seen with a well developed shell.

After a thorough search i gave up on finding any more nudi’s and photographed this very dopey looking wrasse.

Theres plenty of these cardinalfish around the rock shelves, but this little guy must have got trapped in the rockpools by itself.

I’m not exactly sure what this is, some type of hydriod maybe??? Floating midwater.

This is another strange critter….its not a nudibranch but some type of worm.

Always plenty of Thornfish in the rockpools.

Also lots of big Seacarp in the pool today…outnumbering the zebrafish.

Zebrafish are always curious…but keep thier distance.

First Underwater Competion Win

By pfuller

Feb

12

A couple of months ago i joined the wetpixel forum.

Its a forum for underwater photographers to share info , display photos and do other forumy things. They have a weekly photography competition which i’ve entered twice so far.

Last week i found out i won the “Most Awesomest Screwup” category with my image of a cleaner shrimp entitled “Spaaaaccceee Shrimp”. I’m very proud to win such a distingiushed category. ; )

http://wetpixel.com/competition/index.php?view=competition&id=231

Here’s my image:

Dive Gear

By pfuller

Feb

12

After many hours of research, i’ve finally got my gear on order. Theres a couple of hard decisions i had to make, like getting an octopus/inflator combo and getting a 3 guage console, rather than a SPG and wrist computer, but i’m just going to have to live with these decisions and see how it pans out.

This is what i’ve decided to go for:

Faber 12.2litre Steel Tank

Dive Rite Stainless Steel Backplate & Standard Harness

A dive rite travel wing

Scubapro MK17 first stage and X650 second stage

Zeagle Octo Plus Inflator

An Uwatec Aladin Tec 2G 3 Gauge Dive Computer Console

T-minus 5 days till arrival…i just hope i’ve done my calculations correct and have all the hoses, straps and other bits to make a complete kit. I cant wait any longer!

The New Dive Blog

By pfuller

Feb

12

Well..i’ve finally done it!

Over the Australia day weekend, I got around to getting my Open Water Scuba Certificate. HURRAY!

I’ve been snorkelling for about 2 years, and taking photos on snorkel could only take me so far. So i’ve finally taken the plunge into Scuba. I cant wait!

I decided i need to create a blog to log my dives, share photos, and generally share the love about the underwater world.

Feel free to log in and comment on my blog.