Dive 553 – Ant Caves

Feb

Dive Number: 553 18/02/2014 Ant Caves

Conditions:

Visibilty: 20m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 50minutes

Max Depth: 22m

Details: Another cracker of a dive at Ant Caves. After descending we were surrounded by large numbers of fish…sweep, perch, leatherjackets… Close to the anchor position was a wobbegong shark under a ledge. The resident Blue Grouper put in another show but still no photos to prove it. It likes to keep its distance. Phil got a couple of ID shots though. On ascent the large schools of Barber Perch formed again beneath us.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 545 – Barwon Mouth

By pfuller

Jan

Dive Number: 545 16/01/2014 Mouth of Barwon River

Conditions:

Visibilty: 10m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 30minutes

Max Depth: 12m

Details: This was a short dive just out of the mouth of the Barwon River. The vis can usually get pretty bad here, but i made the best of the good conditions to check out the area. There are some good reef sections out around here, but this dive didnt turn up much reef, just your usual kelp species, crayweed, bull kelp etc.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 544 – Ant Caves

By pfuller

Jan

Dive Number: 544 16/01/2014 Ant Caves

Conditions:

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 50minutes

Max Depth: 21m

Details: I spent most of this dive in a cave that gives this site its name. A pretty amazing sight with schools of yellow-tailed pike swimming in and out of the cave. Very nice.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 542 – Barwon Bluff Caves

By pfuller

Jan

Dive Number: 542 10/01/2014 Barwon Bluff Caves

Conditions:

Visibilty: 10m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 50minutes

Max Depth: 10m

Details: A beautiful dive, unfortunately i ran out of batteries in the camera so no photos.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 539 – Beady Boulders

By pfuller

Jan

Dive Number: 539 01/01/2014 Beady Boulders, Barwon Heads

Conditions:

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 40minutes

Max Depth: 14m

Details: This was a dive just out of the mouth of the Barwon River Esturary. The area consisted of a field of boulders, but not many overhangs or crevices. Not much of interest except the algae cover boulders themselves…hence the name..Beady Boulders.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 531 – The Vortex

By pfuller

Dec

Dive Number: 531 22/12/2013 The Vortex

Conditions:

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 35minutes

Max Depth: 20m

Details: Sometimes the ocean scares me…probably a healthy thing, but this was one of those dives. I sounded up a new site off 13th Beach on a day where the swell was slightly up. It seemed reasonably innocent and well-behaved on the surface but under the water was a different story. There seemed to be an even mixture of steady south-westerly and south-easterly swells moving through the area which, as a result, created surge that wasn’t just in one direction, but two. As that interacted with the reef rising from 20m to 15m, it created a truly bizaar dive experience. A washing machine at 20m!!! It was actually a pretty cool site, so perhaps i’ll try this again when conditions are better and hope it doesn’t live up to its name (The Vortex).

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 530 – Barwon Bluff Caves

By pfuller

Dec

Dive Number: 530 19/12/2013 Barwon Bluff Caves

Conditions:

Visibilty: 10m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 60minutes

Max Depth: 10m

Details: This was a dive on dusk from the boat out off Barwon Bluff. The area was scatter with caves and swimthroughs and the light underwater was just magic. It was one of those days where the sea was flat with no wind only the sunset skimming across the surface.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 529 – Chimney Rock

By pfuller

Dec

Dive Number: 529 19/12/2013 Chimney Rock

Conditions:

Visibilty: 7m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 45minutes

Max Depth: 23m

Details: A fairly dark and gloomy dive at Chimney Rock with Chris and Jarrod.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 525 – The Ampitheatre

By pfuller

Dec

Dive Number: 525 08/12/2013 The Ampitheatre

Conditions:

Visibilty: 7m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 50minutes

Max Depth: 6m

Details: After a free dive at the Bluff with Chris, Kerry and Sophie, i went to check out the Ampitheatre. A catshark was the best subject and an interesting sighting of the uncommmon Banded Morwong.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 521 – Head and Tail Reef

By pfuller

Nov

Dive Number: 521 29/11/2013 Head and Tail Reef

Conditions:

Visibilty: 5m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 45minutes

Max Depth: 20m

Details:

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 503 – Abandoned Reef

By pfuller

Oct

Dive Number: 503 08/10/2013 Abandoned Reef

Conditions: ?

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time:50minutes

Max Depth: 20m

Details: A new site down near Ant Spit off 13th Beach. The place was eerily quiet…devoid of fish initially, and it felt like this was a ‘ghost reef’ that was no longer used.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 500 – White Wall

By pfuller

Sep

Dive Number: 500 18/09/2013 White Wall

Conditions: ?

Visibilty: 10m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time:50minutes

Max Depth: 20m

Details: I’ve be concentrating my search for new dive sites around the Ant Spit area of 13th Beach lately. This was another site down that way that sounded up as a sharp wall from 20-15m. The wall was covered in a lot of white animal life, like corals and ascidians. Not a bad site, but more of a wall with a flat top and a small overhang on one side, with not a great deal of gnarling going on. Might be worth another visit one day.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 499 – Ant Caves

By pfuller

Sep

Dive Number: 499 17/09/2013 Ant Caves

Conditions: ?

Visibilty: 10m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time:50minutes

Max Depth: 20m

Details: I’d sounded up some great looking structure out of Ant Spit that I wanted to check out. Returning to the area with Phil, we found an amazing site with lots of overhangs, caverns and caves. Its now been dubbed Ant Caves and is one of the better dive sites off Barwon Heads. A few Port Jackson Sharks around and just really interesting structure.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 493 – Secret Garden

By pfuller

Sep

Dive Number: 493 01/09/2013 Secret Garden

Conditions: ?

Visibilty: 10m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 60minutes

Max Depth: 11m

Details: Always a nice little splash at the Secret Garden. Highlight was a Draughtboard Shark (Cephaloscyllium laticeps) that came in nice and close to check me out.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 492 – The Chambers

By pfuller

Aug

Dive Number: 492 31/08/2013 The Chambers

Conditions: ?

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 50minutes

Max Depth: 21m

Details: A new site down near Ant Spit featuring large chasms in the reef creating large ‘rooms’. Not a bad site, but the less than Ideal conditions detracted from it. There were extraordinary numbers of comb jellies in the water column near the surface.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 490 – Boulderfields

By pfuller

Aug

Dive Number: 490 09/09/2013 Boulderfields

Conditions: ?

Visibilty: 10m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 50minutes

Max Depth: 12m

Details: This was a site around the mouth of the Barwon River, so you need a nice clean day around high tide to dive this area. It was really nice have large chunks of reef scattered everywhere and making anchoring really difficult. Although shallow, the profile went from about 12m to 3m, so there was some great structure and lots of different fish species. the day was gloomy though so I look forward to going back here.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 487 – Chimney Rock

By pfuller

Jul

Dive Number: 487 26/07/2013 Chimney Rock

Conditions: ?

Visibilty: 10m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 50minutes

Max Depth: 23m

Details: A nice dive at Chimney finding that my favourite little cave/overhang had a cuttlefish hanging out in it. Love the expression on this inquisitive Rosy Wrasse too!

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 482 – Coraline Reef

By pfuller

Jul

Dive Number: 482 10/07/2013 Coraline Reef

Conditions: ?

Visibilty: 6m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 50minutes

Max Depth: 20m

Details: This was a site off Ant Spit that had some really lush vegetation and nice structure. The big highlight was gigantic Giant Cuttlefish that came out of nowhere in a bizaar alien encounter. Its clearly the biggest cuttlefish I’ve seen and stuck around for some modelling work.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 474 – The Ampitheatre

By pfuller

May

Dive Number: 474 29/05/2013 The Ampitheatre

Conditions: ?

Visibilty: 10m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 50minutes

Max Depth: 20m

Details: While my strobe was away being fixed, I decided to try my hand at video which I may upload in the future. Most dives in April and May will be video with the occasional ambient light/torch light photo. Dive 479 is my first dive back with the camera.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm I-Torch 4

Photos:

Dive 473 – Chimney Rock

By pfuller

May

Dive Number: 473 24/05/2013 Chimney Rock

Conditions: ?

Visibilty: 10m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 50minutes

Max Depth: 20m

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm I-Torch 4

Photos:

Dive 460 – Rosy Bank

By pfuller

Apr

Dive Number: 460 06/04/2013 Rosy Bank

Conditions: ?

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 40minutes

Max Depth: 18m

Details: Sounding around out off the back of Charlemont Reef, I came across some structure that looked promising, however it wasn’t all that interesting. The terrain was larger boulders forming a bank of reef. No gnarls, or overhangs, but some nice vegetation.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 457 – Grouper Reef

By pfuller

Mar

Dive Number: 457 26/03/2013 Grouper Reef

Conditions: ?

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 50minutes

Max Depth: 20m

Details: Another 20m site off Ant Spit. A great little site that played host to a small Blue grouper. Not a species often seen.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 456 – Crater Rock

By pfuller

Mar

Dive Number: 456 26/03/2013 Crater Rock

Conditions: ?

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 50minutes

Max Depth: 21m

Details: Off Ant Spit I sounded up a nice drop off from about 15-21m. The bommies/reef down here is a different structure to around Charlemont reef and around the bluff with a much more horizontal layering to it. Some of the walls and holes looked like the edges of Craters. A nice dive.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 455 – Ant Spit – 12m

By pfuller

Mar

Dive Number: 455 26/03/2013 Ant Spit 12m

Conditions: ?

Visibilty: 10m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 30minutes

Max Depth: 12m

Details: This was just a random dive off the edge of Ant Spit. It wasn’t anything special, and consisted of well formed boulders more than the gnarled limestone that makes good habitat.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 452 – The Ampitheatre

By pfuller

Mar

Dive Number: 452 12/03/2013 The Ampitheatre

Conditions: ?

Visibilty: 10m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 50minutes

Max Depth: 16m

Details: Back to the Ampitheatre, this time with a working camera. The Port Jackson Sharks were there in number and some nice schooling fish. A shearwater hung around the boat topside.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos: