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:
