Dive Number: 21 21/03/2010 16.00 Ozone Wreck
Wind: 20-30 knot southerlies
Tide: 2.5 hour before 1.00 high tide at Geelong
Conditions: Strong southerlies blowing all day with a hint of westerlies kicking in to. Wind was a 20knot southerly in the evening, making Portarlington the only reasonable choice, however i checked out St Leonards Pier on the way, and there was too much sidewards water movement from south to north, so ended up at the Ozone wreck which is protected slightly from southerlies by a nearby point.
Bottom Type: Sandy bottom, with scattered metal and wooden wreck artifacts.
Visibilty: 5m
Water Temp: 21c
Bottom Time: 86 minutes
Max Depth: 3.6m
Air usage: 100bar/1400psi
SAC: 10.4 litres/min
Details: This was my first dive at the Ozone wreck, and conditions weren’t ideal, so i was sure what to expect. I’d only snorkelled here maybe 2-3 times in the past, and the waters had always been mucky and i wasn’t overly impressed with what i’d seen freediving. To my suprise when i entered, the water was fairly clean. There were a couple of spearo kids out, but it was generally a pretty quiet, cold and windy evening.
Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm fisheye, DUAL SS200 strobe. I’d recently come across a cheap SS200 strobe, but hadn’t yet got a second strobe arm. I thought i’d bring it on this dive and hand hold it, so i rigged up a quick method of attaching the strobe to my harness to carry around with me.
Dive Report: On decent i was immediately impressed by the size and scope of the Ozone wreck. The structure of the paddle steamer wheel lets a lot of light penetrate it.
Beneath the wheel is a couple of old boiler tanks. A few fish hung out here, and a small ray.
Out to the north lies another wreck, The Dominion. It consists of a series of wodden uprights that formed the hull of the boat.
A small collapsed room-like structured area had some amazing light filtering through it, so i tried some high ISO long exposure shots, but i didn’t really pull it off.
Overall i really enjoyed my first ever wreck dive!