May

18

Dive Number: 159  15/05/11  11.27, St Leonards Pier

Wind:   10-15knot Westerlies

Tide:  2hrs after 0.94 high tide  at Geelong

Conditions:   Overcast but a sheltered site in westerlies meant the water was nice and calm. Nice vis too.

Visibilty:   8m

Water Temp: 13c   – and no gloves!

Bottom Time: 58minutes

Max Depth: 3.7m

Air usage: 105bar/1500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:    Damn the waters got cold quickly! 13c felt like 6c!  At least there were a few good critters around. A baby Cuttlefish came to play and a Stargazer sat out in the open, totally above the sand.  He took off when i approached though so no photos. : (        

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

Dive Report:

May

18

Dive Number: 158  07/05/11  11.27,  Beach 10B to Shortlands Bluff

Wind:   ???

Tide:  0.5hrs  after flood slack – 7knot streams peaking at 3pm!!!

Conditions:   Strong East to West current as the bay flooded.

Visibilty:   4m

Water Temp: 14c

Bottom Time: 43minutes

Max Depth: 5.9m

Air usage: 105bar/1500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:    I wanted to visit Friendly bommie again.  I knew flood wasn’t the time, and to make matters worse, i’d missed slack. Anyway, I  thought i’d give it a go just to see just how the area behaves around flood.   After getting in up to my waist i considered calling off the dive as the current was just too strong, but i thought i’d use it too my advantage and do a drift to cover the area between 10B and Shortlands bluff.  I stayed relatively close to shore because the current was running strongly out to the centre of the bay, and i knew it would be difficult getting back in if i went too far out.  I played it conservatively and scrambled my way along the bottom, finding another old “geelong aerated water” bottle from 1919 in immaculate condition.  I kicked my way towards shore as the current pushed me out so i maintained a nice safe distance to shore. In no time i was approaching Shortlands Bluff and the currents started getting really intense.  I had to grab onto the reef and wrench my way towards shore, since swimming against the current was not an option. I got out at the “Danger: Strong Currents” sign, that really held true today.    A nice long walk back to the car  used all the the energy i saved on the drift. Crazy dive….but exciting and nice to experience what flood was all about.  I only reliased after the dive that peak streams reached 7.oknots!!! Thats pretty much as fast as you’ll get.         

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

Dive Report:

NO PHOTOS

May

3

Dive Number: 157  30/04/11  14.10,  Beach 10B and Friendly Bommie

Wind:   10 knot variable to Ns

Tide:  0.5hrs before 0.78 low tide at the Heads.

Conditions:  A high low tide(above about .60) always seems to create a east-west current around lonsdale bight, and although it was noticeble from the surface at this site (coming off shortlands bluff) it wasn’t unbearable.  Vis was nice.

Visibilty:   10m

Water Temp: 16c

Bottom Time: 73minutes

Max Depth: 10.0m

Air usage: 140bar/2000psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:    I hoped to find Friendly Bommie again on this dive, but from my entry point at 10B it was a bit of a swim. I decided to swim out and use the current to hopefully stumble onto the ellusive bommie.  Its not everyones cup of tea this entry point, but this is a really interesting drift dive. The terrain is fairly barren, and then you come across big sand dunes and dune valleys that are really different to anything else i’ve seen in the area. Almost like a flooded desert (hence the title to this post). It even had little gibber plain outcrops of rocks on the sand dune ridges, with kelp growing on them and plenty of fishlife. After a long drift, i was giving up hope of finding friendly bommie, but typically, with little air left, i found it! Its such a great little area…a large bommie split with gullies lined with sand, small and large overhangs, and a “roof” covered in kelp that fish just go nuts around.  Herring Cale shimmer in the sunlight rising above the kelp, sweep, zebrafish and morwong work the midwaters, and leatherjackets down below. A mid-sized Smooth ray passed up over the top of the bommie also, giving the whole place an ‘untouched, way it should be’  feel. A cuttle even hung out admist the kelp.  Under the ledges all the usual suspects and some great soft corals and sponges on smaller outlying bommies. I love this area…my favorite shore dive! If only i could find it reliably.     

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

Dive Report:

May

3

Dive Number: 156  27/04/11  13.42,  The Springs

Wind:   15 knot NE’s

Tide:  1.5hrs after 0.49 low tide at the Heads.

Conditions:  Nice flat conditions with reasonable vis.

Visibilty:   6m

Water Temp: 16c

Bottom Time: 53minutes

Max Depth: 6.5m

Air usage: 105bar/1500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:    I swum out a long way out the back of the marine reserve here, and exhausted myself by the time i got out there, making the dive less enjoyable. Some nice structures out there though with nice amounts of fish life.  

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

Dive Report:

May

3

Dive Number: 155  27/04/11  11.33,  Shortlands Bluff

Wind:   15 knot NE’s

Tide:  30min before 0.49 low tide at the Heads.

Conditions:  Visible current running out to the heads, but generally calm conditions. In the water the current got pretty crazy in certain parts.  You’ve gotta be cautious diving here.

Visibilty:   6-8m

Water Temp: 16c

Bottom Time: 44minutes

Max Depth: 12.2m

Air usage: 105bar/1500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:     Crazy, crazy diving here. Low tide is close to maximum outflowing streams, but being a low rate of knots today, i decided just to play around to try to get a feel for what this area does at different tide levels. I jumped in off the far edge of the exposed reef and was soon in 12m of water.  The current flows fast through channels bordering the edge of the reefs with different rates of flow at different parts of the reef, so you have to play it by feel and if the current is getting too strong, just head higher up the reef. I envisage the currents never really stop here, even on  slack so its about feeling out how the height of the tide affects the direction and speed of the current. I’m thinking that a higher tide might help to diffuse the strong directional currents that exist around low tide.  Anyway, i only poked around the high current areas for about 20minutes, finding a nice intact bottle from 1918. A “Geelong water” bottle.  There were lots of grey sponges in this area loving the strong current.  Fish and weed were flying past furiously, and i decided to play it safe in some shallower water for the rest of the dive. Even then i ended up a long way down the coast on exit. Exciting diving, the kind of place you feel like you might come across sharks riding the currents making suprise ambushes.         

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

Dive Report:

May

3

Dive Number: 154  26/04/11  11.12,  Cottage by the Sea

Wind:   15 knot N’s

Tide:  15min before 0.38 low tide at the Heads.

Conditions:  Bit behind on blog entries..cant remember.

Visibilty:   8m

Water Temp: 16c

Bottom Time: 58minutes

Max Depth: 9.2m

Air usage: 105bar/1500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:     On this dive i tried some high iso’s to capture the subtle ambient light  using  just a touch of strobe to light the gorgonians and sponges.       

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

Dive Report: