Dive Number: 165 02/07/11 15.36, Barwon Bluff
Wind: Howling 20-25knot north/north-westerlies
Tide: 2.5hrs past 1.62 high tide at the Heads
Conditions: The howling northerlies over the past few days had flattened out the seas and ocean swell. Only small breakers breaking right on the edge of the shoreline. Surface was otherwise calm…a very rare phenomena at this site. Cloudy condition, but not overcast giving alternating periods of sunlight and dullness.
Visibilty: 10-12m
Water Temp: 12c
Bottom Time: 58minutes
Max Depth: 10.8m
Air usage: 100bar/1400psi
SAC: ???? litres/min
Details: Swellnet promised flat ocean conditions on sunday and monday, but the forecast for saturday still had swell at about 1ft…it doesn’t sound like much, but thats enough to stop diving at most ocean dive sites along the surfcoast. I decided to have a peak at Barwon Heads on my way through, and was amazed to see flat conditions. Luckily i had all my dive gear in the car, but only half a tank of air. This was too good an opportunity to miss, so i geared up and started getting all excited about diving a site i’d been drooling to dive since getting my OW ticket. While gearing up, I had a chat to Brian Latter, who was checking to see if the Earl Of Charlemont wreck was visible today. Brian’s written a book on the wreck, and dived the area extensively, so he was able to point out some good areas of reef to check out. I hurriedly scrambled down the stairs and entered the water, swimming out on a 45degree angle out towards the point. Even the shallows were impressive with large boulders and fish darting around amongst them. Further out the vegetation started thickening up with large outcrops of brown algae covering the reef and standing elegantly around 1metre high in the gentle seas. I soon came across the fields/forests of Bull Kelp that i’d heard so much about. Its truly an amazing plant..massive in proportion and sculpted beautifully in its shapes and subtle colourations. The fishlife wasn’t all that prolific and i saw no notable species, but the terrain and the vegetation made it a memorable dive. There were some nice overhangs and swim-throughs and i even reached nearly 11m at one stage, although most of the dive was around 6m deep. Despite having only half a tank, i still got in an hours dive and was wrapt to finally check out this site.
Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , dual SS200 strobes.
Dive Report:
