22/02/2011 19.00 Parkside Jetty – Corio Bay
Tide: 0.5hr before 1.01 high tide at Geelong
Wind: 15-20knot Southerly
Conditions: Decent southerly blowing but protected by the land. Overcast and unseasonally cold.
Bottom Type: Seagrass beds with scattered rocks.
Bottom Time: 60 minutes
Details: Ian Lewis in his book, “Shore dives of Victoria”, mentions an old jetty between the Geelong Promenade and Limeburners point; Parkside Jetty. I’ve never seen this mentioned anywhere before and have been meaning to head to the historical society to find more info about this, but i thought i’d just have a fossick around the general area to see if i could find it. The visibility was disgusting, under 2m, and the water was so salty it brought tears to my eyes for the first 5 minutes on the dive. Eventually i came across a couple of concrete pylon bases, that i assume may have formed part of the jetty, but they looked too modern, and are possibly just an outlet pipe foundation. The area is generally seagrass beds, so any bottom is not easy to observe. Lots of small weed whiting, a few stingaree’s aroun, and a couple of banjo sharks. One Bango Shark i saw had the body of a banjo shark, but was a dull grey colouration, almost like a stingaree….
In the shallows, were juvenile Half-Bridled Gobies)Arenigobius frenatus.
), Cleaner shrimp, some small stars (Patiriella exigua) i haven’t seen before and a few small crabs(Ozius truncatus).
Camera Details: Canon 100mm , single SS200 strobe.
I think this must be parkside jetty in the background:
