Dive 296 – South Milton Wreck Search

By pfuller

Apr

13

Dive Number: 296 13/04/12 19.40, South Milton Wreck Search

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions:

Visibilty: -m

Water Temp: 17.2c

Bottom Time: 36minutes

Max Depth: 17.3m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: After Chimney Rock, we decided to try to find the wreck of the South Milton. We had marks but sounding around the area didn’t turn up anything. We just jumped in a had an explorer, but the terrain wasn’t that interesting. A beautiful sunset on the way back in through the estuary.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:












Dive 295 – Chimney Rock

By pfuller

Apr

13

Dive Number: 295 13/04/12 15.02, Chimney Rock

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions:

Visibilty: -m

Water Temp: 17.2c

Bottom Time: 77minutes

Max Depth: 24.1m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Another great dive at Chimney Rock. A Port Jackson Shark put in an appearance near the ‘Chimney’ and lots of nice seafans and sponges.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:



























Dive 294 – 18m Reef Area

By pfuller

Apr

12

Dive Number: 294 12/04/12 14.19, 18m Reef Area

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions:

Visibilty: -m

Water Temp: 16.0c

Bottom Time: 49minutes

Max Depth: 17.2m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: This was the second dive after the J4. Nothing to blog home about..some really coloured up Horseshoe Leatherjackets were the biggest highlight.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:








Dive 293 – J4 Submarine

By pfuller

Apr

12

Dive Number: 289 03/04/12 19.30, J4 Sub (28m – Shallow Sub)

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions:

Visibilty: -m

Water Temp: 16.8c

Bottom Time: 44minutes

Max Depth: 28.1m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: The J4 is one of the shallowest of the scuttled wrecks outside the heads, so it was going to make a good introductory dive to the ships graveyard. This sub was coming up to its 85th anniversary of lying on the ocean floor and it was just oozing with a sense of history and air of mystique. Ambient light was the only way to go to try to capture this, but it required high ISO’s and focussing was difficult. Cant wait to diver this again. Great atmospheric dive.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:

















Dive 292 – Little Governor Reef

By pfuller

Apr

11

Dive Number: 292 11/04/12 17.30, Little Governor Reef

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions:

Visibilty: -m

Water Temp: 17.2c

Bottom Time: 86minutes

Max Depth: 3.9m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Trev spotted a spider crab aggregation out near little governor reef, so i took the boat out to see if i could track them down. No signs, but a blue ringed occy put on a good show..not exactly a wide angle subject, but i made do.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:
















Snorkel off Andersens Reserve

By pfuller

Apr

10

Snorkel off Andersens Reserve, Indented Heads 10/04/12 17.50

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: Bleak..cold.

Visibilty: m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 50minutes

Details: A bit of exploring around Indented Heads on snorkel. Found some OK sections of reef, and a few old metal wheels and other bits a pieces. I’m not sure what they’d be off???

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:






Dive 291 – Lake Elizabeth

By pfuller

Apr

8

Dive Number: 291 08/04/12 12.11, Lake Elizabeth

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: Rainy and overcast.

Visibilty: 0.5m

Water Temp: 15.6c

Bottom Time: 5minutes

Max Depth: 3.5m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: A pipe dream of mine has been to photograph a platypus underwater, and i thought the best local place to give it a shot was Lake Elizabeth – the start of the Barwon River near Forrest. The family was down at the Forrest caravan park over easter so i thought it was as good a time as any to give it a crack. Phil came down and we met at the carpark and geared up. It was a 1km+ walk to the lakes edge so i brought along a plastic wheelbarrow to lug the gear. I thought this was a good idea, but pulling it up and down wet forest gullies wasn’t fun. Visibility was near zero so it turned into a snorkel rather than a dive. Needless to say, no platypus were sited…but it was an adventure.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:











Dive 290 – St Leonards Pier

By pfuller

Apr

7

Dive Number: 290 07/04/12 11.30, St Leonards Pier

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions:

Visibilty: -m

Water Temp: 18.4c

Bottom Time: 70minutes

Max Depth: 3.1m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Got a bit bored on this dive and headed out the north side of the pier,

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:








Dive 289 – St Leonards Reef (Night)

By pfuller

Apr

3

Dive Number: 289 03/04/12 19.30, St Leonards Reef (Night)

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions:

Visibilty: -m

Water Temp: 18.8c

Bottom Time: 74minutes

Max Depth: 3.5m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Headed out for a night dive from the boat with Chris off St Leonards. Initially it seemed like a fairly quiet dive that wasn’t going to turn up much….until i came across a Sculpted Sea Moth. This critters been on my wish list for a while, so i was really happy to finally find one. A very unique critter.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:




















Dive 288 – Lake Eildon – Jerusalem Creek

By pfuller

Apr

1

Dive Number: 288 01/04/12 13.17, Lake Eildon – Jerusalem Creek

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions:

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: 20c

Bottom Time: 16minutes

Max Depth: 5.6m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: For the final dive Hui suggested somewhere different, so we headed over to jerusalem gully to dive the area at the boat ramp there. This area had more native trees and was more gentley sloping. As we headed out the water looked very cloudy. We descended and was quickly amongst the branches of a large gum. The visibility was only a couple of meters i felt very unsafe with potential snag hazards all around us. After pushing on for 10 minutes i decided to call the dive. Overall it was a great weekend of diving so i didn’t want to ruin it by drowning on the last dive. ;)

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:





Dive 287 – Lake Eildon – Dam Wall

By pfuller

Apr

1

Dive Number: 287 01/04/12 15.30, Lake Eildon – Dam Wall
Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions:

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: 19.2c

Bottom Time: 61minutes

Max Depth: 11.2m

Air usage: 170bar/2500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: This dive site took a bit more getting to than the boat ramp. We parked in the top carpark, and walked up the road and over the metal railing to get to a steel staircase down the cliff face to the edge of the large rock dam wall. This was a great site with lots of upright trees along the more natural section of wall, and then as we past the artificial wall, the area was scattered with lots of fallen trees and scattered boulders. A very evocative dive.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:



























Dive 286 – Lake Eildon – Alliance Boat Ramp (Night)

By pfuller

Mar

31

Dive Number: 285 31/03/12 20.00, Lake Eildon – Alliance Boat Ramp(Night)

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions:

Visibilty: -m

Water Temp: 19.2c

Bottom Time: 47minutes

Max Depth: 12.2m

Air usage: 170bar/2500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: This dive was to the left of the boat ramp along the rock wall. A fair few fish around, including redfin and gudgeon. Some of the other guys saw Murray cod too. Really tranquil night diving.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:







Dive 285 – Lake Eildon – Alliance Boat Ramp

By pfuller

Mar

31

Dive Number: 285 31/03/12 16.20, Lake Eildon – Alliance Boat Ramp

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions:

Visibilty: 6m

Water Temp: 19.2c

Bottom Time: 57minutes

Max Depth: 12.9m

Air usage: 170bar/2500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Phil and some of the BSAC crew were going up to Lake Eildon for a bit of fresh water diving and i was kindly invited to join them. After an interesting tour of the fish farm by Hui we went to the boat ramp and kitted up. The dive was to take place just off the boat ramp, and towards the dam wall. It was characterised by a flooded valley wall with scatterings of old flooded pine trees that grew out of the bank. The vis was much better than i expected and the eriee green glow mixed with the dead calm water made it a really different dive. Not much fishlife, but the night dive planned for latter in the evening was promised to deliver more of the native and stocked fish that occupied the lake.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:

























Dive 284 – Chimney Rock

By pfuller

Mar

29

Dive Number: 284 29/03/12 9.17, Chimney Rock

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions:

Visibilty: 10m

Water Temp: 17.6c

Bottom Time: 48minutes

Max Depth: 21.7m

Air usage: 170bar/2500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Another nice dive at Chimney Rock. Some great fish life around today.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:

















Dive 283 – Popes Eye

By pfuller

Mar

25

Dive Number: 283 25/03/12 13.30, Popes Eye

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions:

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: 17c

Bottom Time: 53minutes

Max Depth: 11.3m

Air usage: 170bar/2500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: We headed to Popes Eye for the second dive, and Harry came for a dive after skippering the Kelp Beds Reef dive. We found an old bottle which was pretty interesting..must be from the William Salthouse.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:







Dive 282 – Kelp Beds Reef

By pfuller

Mar

25

Dive Number: 282 – 25/03/12 11.30, Kelp Beds Reef

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions:

Visibilty: 10m

Water Temp: 16c

Bottom Time: 51minutes

Max Depth: 20.3m

Air usage: 170bar/2500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: This dive started off with adventure and generally felt a bit dicey. The swell was up and the boat felt small sitting in the middle of the heads, but there were a flurry of dive charters turning up to the same area, so we felt assured of a rescue if anything went wrong. ;) My dive started with a backroll from the boat (usually its an in water gear up). Before i hit the water i realised Harry’s regs were coming for a dive with me, as they hitched a lift on my flippers and sunk into about 18m of water. Chris was already in the water so was straight off after them. I followed shortly but could find neither Chris or the regs, despite a 20 minute search of the area. Luckily Chris spotted them on the way down and managed to bring them back up to the surface. The dive turned out to be ok, but the current was ripping at the end, and it felt pretty hairy on ascent getting swept into the bay. Luckily it was in and not out.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:









Dive 281 – Orungal Wreck

By pfuller

Mar

20

Dive Number: 281 20/03/12 17.07, Orungal Wreck

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions:

Visibilty: 6m

Water Temp: 19.2c

Bottom Time: 28minutes

Max Depth: 4.9m

Air usage: 170bar/2500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: A second dive at the Orungal just to wear off the excitement of seeing the seven gill at Chimney
Rock. Very surgey.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:





Dive 280 – Chimney Rock

By pfuller

Mar

20

Dive Number: 280 20/03/12 15.35, Chimney Rock

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions:

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: 18c

Bottom Time: 48minutes

Max Depth: 21.6m

Air usage: 170bar/2500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Some dives will stick in your mind for ever…this will be one of them. My first encounter with a broad-nosed seven gilled shark. Here’s what i posted to flickr about this dive after it happened:

“What an experience!!! I have dreamt of seeing a sevengill shark since i started diving, and i’m not sure i’ll have a better encounter than my first yesterday. I was sitting at about 20m, stalking a large school of bullseye that were sitting in a gully over a wall from me. Luckily i had the camera all ready to go when this shark gracefully swum through an archway, along the gully and continued past within a couple of metres of me. I was totally blind-sided from its vision and it continued through the gully and into the blue, totally unaware of my presence. It had an amazing vibe to it. It moved so gracefully and it almost gave off a happy vibe, without a trace of menace or fear about it. Perhaps it would have behaved differently if it was aware of my presence….this is why i feel i’ll never get an encounter like this again.. just nature doing nature’s thing.”

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS400/SS200 Strobes

Photos:





















Dive 279 – Chimney Rock

By pfuller

Mar

19

Dive Number: 279 19/03/12 18.00, Chimney Rock

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions:

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: 18c

Bottom Time: 36minutes

Max Depth: 20.4m

Air usage: 170bar/2500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: I’d heard alot about Chimney rock and i was dying to dive it. Alan Beckhurst kindly past on the gps coords to me, so while the going was good, i headed out with the old man who was keen to do some fishing. The coords were spot on and it picked up on the sounder very easily. I dropped in to 20m and explored the bommies that made up chimney rock. Its a great site. Archways covered with zooanthids, sea fans on the walls and plenty of fish around. We left the run a bit late and it was getting dark so i kept the dive short and viwed to come back for a longer dive.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:












Dive 278 – Friendly Bommie

By pfuller

Mar

18

Dive Number: 278 18/03/12 13.15, Friendly Bommie

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions:

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: 18c

Bottom Time: 83minutes

Max Depth: 8.4m

Air usage: 170bar/2500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Well, friendly bommie never gives up its secrets easily, but i got lucky on this dive and came across it nice and early in the dive. I cant get enough of the swim throughs at this site, and it had some wonderful soft corals on the outer rock too. The swaying ‘roof’ kelp coverage revealed a ‘pencil’ kelp critter that i’ve never seen before. It was small and i had the fisheye on, so not great photos, but good enough to identify it hopefully.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS400/SS200 Strobes

Photos:


















Dive 277 – St Leonards Reef (Boat)

By pfuller

Mar

17

Dive Number: 277 17/03/12 11.30, St Leonards Reef

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: Some current early.

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: 19.6c

Bottom Time: 70minutes

Max Depth: 3.6m

Air usage: 170bar/2500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: This turned into a great dive. This was the reef out off St Leonards Pier. The area is dominated by rocks covered with sponge and brown algae. We dropped straight onto a cuttlefish and then explored the sponge area. After 10 minutes i came across two Port Jackson sharks spleighed across each other…as they do. A real suprise. Chris also saw some squid out here…a really productive area.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:



























Dive 276 – Point Edwards

By pfuller

Mar

17

Dive Number: 276 17/03/2012 10.00, Pt Edwards

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions:

Visibilty: 6m

Water Temp: 18c

Bottom Time: 17minutes

Max Depth: 5.4m

Air usage: 170bar/2500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: No Photos…an exploratory dip with clary off Edwards point….just seagrass beds.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS400/SS200 Strobes

Photos:

Dive 275 – St Leonards Pier

By pfuller

Mar

10

Dive Number: 275 10/03/12 14.30, St Leonards Pier

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions:

Visibilty: 6m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: ???minutes

Max Depth: 3m

Air usage: 170bar/2500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: A short dive to test a new (used/old) reg i bought off ebay.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm, SS200 Strobes

Photos:



Dive 274 – Charlemont Reef

By pfuller

Mar

9

Dive Number: 274 09/03/12 7.20, Charlemont Reef

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: Dark and surgey

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: 16.5c

Bottom Time: 61minutes

Max Depth: 16.5m

Air usage: 170bar/2500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: This was just a random spot off charlemont reef. I got a bit lazy with the sounding and the area was fairly monotonous with a gentely sloping terrain. It was a fairly dark and surgey dive with not a lot of interest in it. Always good to get wet though.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes

Photos:




Dive 273 – Perpendicular Reef

By pfuller

Mar

4

Dive Number: 273 24/03/12 10.30, Perpendicular Reef

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions:

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: 17c

Bottom Time: 95minutes

Max Depth: 8m

Air usage: 170bar/2500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: A nice little dive at Perpies with the usual suspects. A massive school of Slender bullseye were around …this site seems to be a hotspot for the species.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS400/SS200 Strobes

Photos: