Dive Number: 15 14/03/2010 15.39 Cottage by the Sea
Wind: 10 knot Easterlies (mean to be northerlies)
Tide: .5 hour before 0.53 low tide at the heads
Conditions: Nice day. and surface was noce and flat at cottage
Bottom Type: Rocky reef with overhangs.
Visibilty: 4-5m
Water Temp: 20c
Bottom Time: 96 minutes
Max Depth: 7.9m
Air usage: 140bar/2000psi
SAC: 10.4 litres/min
Details: It was just one of those days where things dont go right. I got to cottage after putting my hotshoe adaptor back on the hotshoe, which caused the strobe not to work on my dive at The Springs. I started swimming out and it took a bit of effort to get out to the reef..a bit exhausting. I did my pre-descent check and tried the strobe out..no flash again!!! I figured out that when i’m pushing in the camera, the hotshoe adaptor is being pushed off the hotshoe for some reason. *sigh* So i swam back in, and couln’t be bothered walking back up to the car. I rolled up the wetsuit sleeevs, tried to de-drip as much as possible, and disassembled the housing on the beach. With the fisheye on, i have to take up the dome port first, so i was open to dripping in the whole rig. Which is exactly what i did..but didn’t think it would create much of a problem. Eventually got the rig back together and headed out again. Take 2. Swam out…puffed..rested..desecended..then lay on a sandy section approaching some sand bathing wrasse. Looked through the viewfinder to compose a shot, and it was all hazy. I flipped over the rig to see that the dome port had condensation covering all the inside of the dome port. I decided to forget about the camera and just enjoy the dive.
Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm fisheye, single SS200 strobe.
Dive Report: After all the camera hassles i thought i’d explore the reef. I headed over the back of the usual overhang section and found some amazing little sections…scatter boulders and areas where the fish seemed almost oblivious to the exsistence of humans. I had leatherjackets coming up to my mask and observing a new creature in their home patch. After about 45 minutes of exploring, the condensation on the dome had disappated, and i started to take a few snaps.
I found a nice little ledge with gorgonians and a family of rougies living under it. They were very protective of the ledge and chased away anything that passged through their area.
Above the ledges, Victorian Scalyfin darted around the kelp.
Higher up in the water column, Dusky Morwong patrolled the area. Resting occassionally in the kelp.
A small school of moonlighters pass under a legde.
