Dive 113 – Portarlington Pier

By pfuller

Dec

16

Dive Number: 113 13/12/10 19.06  Portarlintgton Pier

Wind:  15knot SE’s

Tide:   2.5hours before 0.84 high tide at Geelong

Conditions:  Dirty as usual for port pier. Calm though.

Visibilty: 3m

Water Temp: 20c

Bottom Time: 105 minutes

Max Depth: 3.0m

Air usage: 70bar/1000psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:  I just got Ian Lewis’s shore dives of victoria book and he described Portarlington pier as the best dive on the peninsula. It suprised me since it can be the muckiest dive you’ll ever do, but it always does turn up some interesting critters. On this dive, i stopped to get photograph some blennies, and a Seahorse just casually floated past my head and attached itself to the ascidian that the blennies i was photographying were hiding amongst. Usually seahorses dont behave around me, always hiding in weeds, or in awkward positions or current/surge making photos difficult, but this guy posed brilliantly, even moving slowly in midwater. Typically though, i had the wrong lens on..my 100mm macro, so i could only manage some portraits. There were also a few Polycera Hedgepathi nudi’s around and a newbie for me over this side, Tamja sp.

Camera Details: Tokina 100mm , single SS200 strobes

Dive Report:

Dive 112 – St Leonards Pier

By pfuller

Dec

14

Dive Number: 112 12/12/10 12.18  St Leonards Pier

Wind:  15-20knot W’s

Tide:   3 hours before 0.35 low tide at Geelong

Conditions:  The water was cloudy and green…rainy, often overcast..the only plus..no current.

Visibilty: 3m

Water Temp: 18c

Bottom Time: 66 minutes

Max Depth: 3.9m

Air usage: 60bar/900psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:  Its been a week since my last dive…too long. So i had to get in a dive and St leonards was the obvious option. I wasn’t execting much with strong variable winds and high rainfall over the week wreaking havoc on the bay.  Highlights were big schools of goatfish feeding on the bottom, and the Verco’s Tambja’s have arrived back for summer.

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

Dive Report:

Dive 111 – Cottage by the Sea

By pfuller

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:

Dive 110 – The Springs

By pfuller

Dec

9

Dive Number: 110 03/12/10 14.15 The Springs

Wind:  10knot N’s???

Tide:   1 hour before 0.31 low tide at the heads

Conditions:  Clear water and great vis, but a decent current running out.

Visibilty: 10m+.

Water Temp: 17c

Bottom Time: 62 minutes

Max Depth: 5.9m

Air usage: 105bar/1500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:  Another great fish dive at the Springs.  Again the leatherjackets were intrigued by my presence and were lining up for photos. I had one six-spined leatherjacket following me like a lost puppy dog when i decided to head into shore.  i had to do some self portraits to show just how fearless this guy was of me.

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

Dive Report:

 

Dive 109 – The Springs

By pfuller

Dec

2

Dive Number: 109 24/11/10 18.39 The Springs

Wind:  10knot N’s???

Tide:   2 hour before 0.19 low tide at the heads

Conditions:  Very dark conditions with a bit of surge and current.

Visibilty: 5m.

Water Temp: 17c

Bottom Time: 52 minutes

Max Depth: 4.8m

Air usage: 140bar/2000psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:  This was a big contrast to the last dive at the Springs. Barely any fish around, surgey and a bit of current…it was also very dark in the water.  
I did find some nice big ledges and a big cray under one of them.  I ended up just shooting some of the brown algea outcrops.

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

Dive Report:

Dive 108 – The Springs

By pfuller

Dec

2

Dive Number: 108 23/11/10 18.51 The Springs

Wind:  10knot N’s???

Tide:   1 hour before 0.23 low tide at the heads

Conditions:  Awesome conditions….reasonably clean water with nice visbility and no surge or swell.

Visibilty: 10m.

Water Temp: 17c

Bottom Time: 68 minutes

Max Depth: 3.5m

Air usage: 140bar/2000psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Wow..what a dive. Sometimes you just get out of the water and think you live in the best place in the world. It was a still warm balmy evening with a beautiful sunset. But more importantly, i’d just spent an hour being nibbled, harrassed and eyeballed by some large colourful Leatherjackets. Ok i have a strange idea of fun, but it was an experience and a half. All the leatherjackets were coloured up nicely in there adult breeding coats, and were frisky as hell. Their reflections in my dome port and strobe lens made my presence irristable to check out…which is what you want as a photographer. I was actually patting a leatherjacket at one stage and it did mind a bit.  In fact at one stage, he give me a toothy bite on the glove because i think he thought my hand was part of the reflection he saw of himself, and though i was cutting in on his act. Anyway, had a great give with brown-lined, six-spined, yellow-striped, and horseshoe  leatherjackets all turning up, and blue throated wrasse cruising around too, with lots of juvie wrasse and some moonlighters.  

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

Dive Report:

107 – Pt Lonsdale Pier

By pfuller

Dec

2

Dive Number: 107 22/11/10 18.50 Pt Lonsdale Pier

Wind:  10knot N’s

Tide:   .29 low tide at the heads

Conditions:  Surge and current…pretty ordinary (and dangerous) diving conditions.

Visibilty: 2-3m.

Water Temp: 18c

Bottom Time: 62 minutes

Max Depth: 3.0m

Air usage: 70bar/1000psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:  I was determined to find myself a catshark, so dove around the pier again, and towards the rock shelf. The area was very surgey and it was hard to keep in one place for long.  I finally came across a catshark, but wit the surge  pushing  the weed  continuously  over it, it made it hard to get a focus, and strobes positions so no weed was covering the subject and/or strobes. I got a couple of shots i’ll have to make do with but they really aren’t worth posting.  A very cool critter though.  After succumbing to the fact that i wasn’t going to be able to photograph the catshark to my satisfaction, i scoured the rest of the area, finding some gorgonians under a ledge in less than a metre of water…a bit of a suprise.   I then moved to the rockpools and did some under-over shots.   

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

Dive Report: