Dive 407 – White Beach, Torquay

By pfuller

Nov

20

Dive Number: 407 20/11/2012 Whites Beach -TOrquay

Conditions:

Visibilty: 10m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 60minutes

Max Depth: 9m

Details: So many wobbies around today…i love this site.

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

Photos:



















Dive 406 – Collendina Reef

By pfuller

Nov

20

Dive Number: 406 20/11/2012 Collendina (The Wedge)

Conditions:

Visibilty: 6m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 50minutes

Max Depth: 7m

Details: Not great conditions but always good large critters around this area. A big smoothie, and wobbegongs.

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

Photos:






Dive 405 – Point Lillias

By pfuller

Nov

17

Dive Number: 405 17/11/2012 Pt Lillias

Conditions: Crap!

Visibilty: 2m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 20minutes

Max Depth: 8m

Details: I decided to head over to Pt Lillias and sound around for structure. It wasn’t the best conditions for over this side of the bay, with NW really picking up. The vis was atrocious and after descending to about 8m, and finding nothing but mud, i decided to try to get some pics of some passing blubber jellies in the upper water column. I’d still like to try this side of the bay one day when conditions are better.

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

Photos:





Dive 404 – City of Melbourne Wreck Search

By pfuller

Nov

17

Dive Number: 404 17/11/2012 City of Melbourne Wreck Search

Conditions: 4m

Visibilty: 5m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 60minutes

Max Depth: 4m

Details: I’d never boat dived Corio Bay, so i thought i’d try to find the City of Melbourne wreck located in Stingaree Bay…somewhere. i had gps marks, but had no luck finding it. The area is covered in seagrass and very shallow. Its probably under a couple of meters of silt.

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

Photos:



Dive 403 – St Leonards Pier

By pfuller

Nov

10

Dive Number: 403 10/11/2012 St Leonards Pier

Conditions:

Visibilty: 6m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 60minutes

Max Depth: 3m

Details: Tired St leonards with the wide angle to capture some light rays and under-overs.

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

Photos:















Dive 402 – Cathedral Rock, Great Ocean Road

By pfuller

Nov

7

Dive Number: 402 07/11/2012 Cathedral Rock

Conditions: A bit surgey, dirty and overcas.

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 50minutes

Max Depth: 8m

Details: I’ve been busting to try out some new sites along the Great Ocean road, so after wandering down along the coast, i decided on Cathedral Rock which ticked all the right boxes. Decent spot to park the car, nice stairway down to the beach/rock platform and also a lovely little beach cove entry/exit. I felt a bit vunerable exploring this site, but it was worth the effort and its on the todo list for another dive. The edge of the rock platform looked like the base of ancient ruins…particularly the stairway. All natural, but very evocative. Fishlife was fairly sparse, but some lovely vegetation.

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

Photos:
















Dive 401 – Earl of Charlemont Wreck

By pfuller

Nov

7

Dive Number: 401 07/11/2012 Earl of Charlemont Wreck

Conditions:

Visibilty: 7m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 60minutes

Max Depth: 5m

Details: Another dive on the Charlemont, this time with a working camera.

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

Photos:

















Dive 400 – Orungal Wreck

By pfuller

Nov

6

Dive Number: 400 06/11/2012 Orungal Wreck

Conditions:

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 50minutes

Max Depth: 6m

Details: A quick dive to empty the tank.

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

Photos:





Dive 399 – Chimney Rock

By pfuller

Nov

6

Dive Number: 399 06/11/2012 Chimney Rock

Conditions:

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 50minutes

Max Depth: 23m

Details: Dark and murky conditions at Chimney Rock.

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

Photos:










Dive 398 – Earl of Charlemont Wreck

By pfuller

Nov

6

Dive Number: 398 06/11/2012 Wreck of the Earl of Charlemont

Conditions:

Visibilty: 7m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 60minutes

Max Depth: 4m

Details: Camera focus issues on the charlemont. Just enjoyed the ride.

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

Photos:



Dive 397 – Cottage by the Sea

By pfuller

Nov

4

Dive Number: 397 04/11/2012 Cottage by the Sea

Conditions:

Visibilty: 6m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 60minutes

Max Depth: 9m

Details: A surgey dive at cottage

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

Photos:




Dive 396 – Portarlington Pier

By pfuller

Nov

2

Dive Number: 396 02/11/2012 Portarlington Pier

Conditions:

Visibilty: 5m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 60minutes

Max Depth: 4m

Details: First dive back in australia…so what compares to the Maldives? Portarlington pier…ha…but i do like the macro life here. Lots of flatworms around today

Camera Details: Canon 60mm, 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:








Dive 358 – Collendina Reef

By pfuller

Sep

27

Dive Number: 358 27/09/12 Collendina

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: Average

Visibilty: 5m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: ??minutes

Max Depth: 6m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Ordinary…surgey with a sand filled water column curteousy of the Barwon River.

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

Photos:




Dive 357 – St Leonards Pier

By pfuller

Sep

23

Dive Number: 357 23/09/12 St Leonards Pier

Wind: ??/

Tide: ???

Conditions: Not the best

Visibilty: 6m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 60minutes

Max Depth: 3m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Just playing with Stinky.

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

Photos:










Dive 356 – Chimney Rock

By pfuller

Sep

22

Dive Number: 356 22/09/12 Chimney Rock

Wind: NE

Tide: ???

Conditions: Dirty surgey water…dark and nasty.

Visibilty: 3m

Water Temp: ??c

Bottom Time: 40minutes

Max Depth: 22m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: A scary dive..repositioning the anchor caused me shortness of breath and a less than quality occy in place of my primary made me feel panicked with an inadequate delivery of air. Mixed with strong surge and 3metres vis this was a nightmare dive….but a good learning experience all the same.

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

Photos:




Dive 355 – Blairgowrie Pier

By pfuller

Sep

16

Dive Number: 355 16/09/12 16.53, Blairgowrie Pier

Wind: Light

Tide: Ebb

Conditions: A bit of current, but clear water

Visibilty: 10m

Water Temp: 12.4c

Bottom Time: 45minutes

Max Depth: 5.5m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Testing the new YS-D1 Strobes for macro..second dive. Time was the enemy as i was running short of light to safely get back to queenscliff in the boat.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-70mm, 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:












Dive 354 – Blargowrie Pier

By pfuller

Sep

16

Dive Number: 354 16/09/12 15.49, Blairgowrie Pier

Wind: Light

Tide: Ebb

Conditions: A bit of current, but clear water

Visibilty: 10m

Water Temp: 12.4c

Bottom Time: 50minutes

Max Depth: 3.6m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Testing the new YS-D1 Strobes for macro..dual strobe macro is tough!

Camera Details: Tokina 10-70mm, 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:














Dive 353 – Popes Eye

By pfuller

Sep

15

Dive Number: 353 15/09/12 16.02, Popes Eye

Wind: Light

Tide: Ebb

Conditions: Calm surface, but strong ebbing tide

Visibilty: 7m

Water Temp: 12.4c

Bottom Time: 55minutes

Max Depth: 10.0m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Second dive at Popes. I usually find Popes abit ho-hum, but i really enjoyed this dive. Spent lots of time hassling a cuttlefish. There’s always plenty of fish at Pope’s..even in winter.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-70mm, 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:

















Dive 352 – Symonds Channel

By pfuller

Sep

15

Dive Number: 352 15/09/12 13.51, Symonds Channel

Wind: Light

Tide: Slack

Conditions: Calm

Visibilty: 8m

Water Temp: 12.4c

Bottom Time: 62minutes

Max Depth: 11.1m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Andrew Newton kindly shared some marks to a site in Symonds Channel of a sponge garden dive. I’d just got two new strobes, so it was going to be a fun dive to test them out. It was a really interesting area with mounds of sand covered in sponges with patches of ascidians, hydroids, etc..not much fish life around by it would be a cracker of a summer night dive. The area seemed like it would be perfect for cryptic critters like frogfish. We saw a small weedfish, but not a lot else fish wise. An interesting dive though.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-70mm, 2 X YS-D1 Strobes

Photos:













Dive 351 – Dolphins and Charlemont Reef

By pfuller

Sep

12

Dive Number: 351 12/09/12 12.08, Charlemont Reef

Wind: 25knot northerlies

Tide: high

Conditions: Northerly Swell off shore pushing the Barwon outflow over Chimney Rock

Visibilty: 5m

Water Temp: 12.4c

Bottom Time: 39minutes

Max Depth: 11.1m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: The winds were blowing a fierce northerly today, which had the affect of not only squashing the southerly swell, but creating a northerly offshore wind swell. We headed out in Chimney Rock direction getting sufficiently drenched everytime we hit a wave that showered us in water. As i fiddled around with the GPS the wind was pushing us further out to sea. Once i thought i had the GPS functionable i fired up the motor again and we were joined by a couple of Dolphins riding the bow. This then turned into about 5 dolphins, then quickly 10, and all of a sudden we had 20 dolphins swimming around the boat. I put the boat into nuetral and we watched as the dolphins played around the boat. We geared up in a hope they would stick around and allow us to swim with them, but they were off as soon as we hit the water. An Albatross didn’t seem to mine though..i swam within centimeters of it and it only gave me a slightly baffled look. Back in the boat, we started heading back in, and were again joined by the large pod of dolphins, who were obviously bored and just wanted to play with the boat…not us! I snapped away off the boat and the dolphins passed by without a care. We ended up spending about an hour with them, and eventually decided it was time for a dive. They rode the bow all the way back in again…magic!

Due to the wind, we headed close to shore and the sounder was showing a hole dropping from 10m to 20m. It must have been a sounder glitch since there was no 20m hole. A nice kelpy dive… but dirty vis and surgey. I spent most of it looking at my dolphin pics. ;)

Camera Details: Tokina 10-70mm, SS200 Strobe

Photos:



























Dive 350 – South Channel Fort

By pfuller

Sep

9

Dive Number: 350 09/09/12 13.22, South Channel Fort

Wind: Light

Tide: Slack

Conditions: Nice Day

Visibilty: 7m

Water Temp: 11.6c

Bottom Time: 41minutes

Max Depth: 11.9m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: We decided to do the second dive at Shortlands Bluff and on arrival the streams had stopped. We jumped in and circumnavigated the small island, exploring old jetty pylons on the other side of the island. About 3/4 around, the flood kicked in and it was a matter of clinging to the rocks and dragging ourselves back to the boat. Chris had a better idea and climbed up the rocks and walked it. I was still tsting my split fins to see how they perform in strong current! ;) They passed…good swimmers, but not the best for stability for photography. Believe it or not, this was a rare dive that i didn’t take my camera.

Camera Details: None

Photos:

Dive 349 – Blairgowrie Pier

By pfuller

Sep

9

Dive Number: 349 09/09/12 11.22, Blairgowrie Pier

Wind: Light

Tide: ???

Conditions: Nice

Visibilty: 10m

Water Temp: 11.6c

Bottom Time: 59minutes

Max Depth: 5.0m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Chris finally got a new drysuit, so i convinced him Blairgowrie was a good spot to test it out…then we could find some Tasselled Anglers which he keeps on missing out on. We found two and heaps of nudi’s around too as usual.

Camera Details: Canon 60mm, SS200 Strobe

Photos:











Dive 348 – St Leonards Pier

By pfuller

Sep

8

Dive Number: 348 08/09/12 15.53, St Leonards Pier

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: Horrible

Visibilty: 1m

Water Temp: 11.2c

Bottom Time: 36minutes

Max Depth: 3.7m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Worst conditione ever! 1m vis is if that…i couldn’t even see if there was anything around. I came across a dumpling squid on the way in(i actually got lost..at st leonards!) but thats about it. This was mainly a dive to test out some split fins.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobe

Photos:




Dive 347 – Chimney Rock

By pfuller

Sep

2

Dive Number: 347 02/09/12 14.45, Chimney Rock

Wind: Mortherly

Tide: High

Conditions: Nice

Visibilty: 10m +

Water Temp: 12.0c

Bottom Time: 49minutes

Max Depth: 21.7m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Near ideal conditons for diving chimney rock. The swell was flat and the visibility was the best i’ve seen it out here..the only problem was, i was feeling very seedy from a big night before. The conditions were too good not to dive though, so after messing around with stupid smartphone GPS’s we eventually found the site and headed down. Lots of jellies midwater on the way down, and we started exploring the gullies and overhangs. Lots of Rosy Perch kept us company and a whiteear buzzed around the zooanthids. A lone Port Jackson Shark was sitting on ledge and i turned around excitedly to point it out to Hyeonji. I only shortly after realised this PJ was the “guard on duty” to a cave FULL of Port Jackson Sharks!!! There were at least 30 PJ’s, criss-crossing each other as far as the eye could see into the darkened cave. I’d seen 7 PJ’s in a group before and that got me pretty excited, so 30+ was a wet dream. I’m not sure i nailed photos of the event, but some came out ok. I sat out the second dive and took photos of Albatross, and watched as a seal buzzed Phil and Hyeonji on their saftey stop. On surfacing they were overjoyed that the resident seven-gilled shark had given a good show. Chimney rock turns on the goods again!

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobe

Photos:



























Dive 346 – St Leonards – 1.5 Avenue Reef, St Leonards

By pfuller

Aug

26

Dive Number: 346 26/08/12 14.31, 1.5 Ave Reef St Leonards

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: ???

Visibilty: 4m

Water Temp: 10.4c

Bottom Time: 56minutes

Max Depth: 2.8m

Air usage:

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: Shit weather again, so i thought i’d try a new spot near st leonards…just north of the pier. I saw a very tiny cryptic fish that i got very excited about. I think its just a baby stinkfish though…not all the exciting. Some hydriods out there, and a seemingly abundant over winter, featherstar floated by.

Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobe

Photos: