Dive Number: 143 08/03/11 15.20, Point Danger, Torquay
Wind: 10knot N’s
Tide: 20mins before 1.45 high tide at the heads.
Conditions: The day was overcast and humid, with gentle northerlies, but the prior 3 days had been blowing strong northerlies and flattened out the seas. The water didn’t look overly clean, but was near dead flat. A touch of surge but nothing too dramatic.
Visibilty: 5-6m
Water Temp: 18c
Bottom Time: 59minutes
Max Depth: 6.4m
Air usage: 105bar/1500psi
SAC: ???? litres/min
Details: Last weekend was blowing strong easterlies, and by sunday/monday it had swung around to Northerlies, pushing down the swell along the coast to negligable levels….perfect conditions to check out some new spots on the coast that are swell affected. Some surfing websites said that point danger was registering zero foot swells, so i thought i’d check it out…a place i’ve been tempted to dive but never hit the right conditions. Pt Danger is not usually a spot with the biggest swell, but there is always some small breakers. Today was flat, with some small bumps approaching the shoreline. I couldn’t resist and headed down the stairs and straight out. The water looked pretty dirty and vis wasn’t the best, but i felt priveledged just to get out in this area. It was on high tide, which i didn’t plan, but this was to my benefit, since it enabled me to swim out to deeper water and not risk my ankles navigating the rocks. As i got deeper (3m+) the fishlife started to pickup, and a varied catshark squirmed its way through the weed. The reef started turning into scattered bommies with lots of shelter and unique formations. I gathered an entourage of sea sweep, and continued out, stumbling onto a boarfish that was also inquisitive. I’d heard Pt Danger drops off to 10m+ so i was keen to head out deeper. When i got into about 6m, i spotted a HUGE Banded Wobbegong. I’ve seen Ornate Wobbegongs up at Byron and the GBR, but they were babies compared to this guy… 3m+ !!! I was feeling a bit tentative about my approach, coz this guy was big enough to take off a hand, but since i had my fisheye on i had to get in nice and close. It didn’t seem to mind, but i still kept a comfortable distance(and the pics suffered because of it). I decided to go behind it and get some different angles. I was wary of it feeling vunerable so i approached slowly..then..spook! it 180’d on itself and rose up in a threatening gesture. I obviously didn’t get the message strong enough and took photos at arms length and it pounced again. I got out of there quick smart, keeping my eye on it and it departed into the murky vis in the opposite direction. The heart was beating, and i started heading back in, damn happy with such an encounter with a magnificent creature. Spotted a couple of biiig crays on the way in, and a stingaree that looked paler to the other species i’ve seen in the bay. Apart form the usual reef species, there were silver drummers, and some other small school fish that aren’t common in the bay. I didn’t manage any pics though. A short but very sweet dive thats whet my appetite for more coastal diving.
Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , dual SS200 strobes.
Dive Report:
That is one magnificent wobbie.