Mar
31
Dive Number: 459 31/03/2013 The pipeline
Conditions: ?
Visibilty: 8m
Water Temp: ??c
Bottom Time: 60minutes
Max Depth: 3m
Details: Back to the Pipelines in a hope that the Whitely’s Skate is hanging around still. Of course not. I just shot a Jelly instead.
Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes
Photos:
Mar
29
Dive Number: 458 29/03/2013 The pipeline
Conditions: ?
Visibilty: 8m
Water Temp: ??c
Bottom Time: 50minutes
Max Depth: 3m
Details: The things you see when you have a macro lens on! This beautiful Whitely’s Skate let me come so close to it. A beautiful creature I never knew existed.
Camera Details: Canon 60mm 2 X YS-D1 Strobes
Photos:
May
20
Dive Number: 311 20/05/12 15.33, The Pipeline
Wind: ???
Tide: ???
Conditions: Rainy
Visibilty: 6m
Water Temp: 13.2c
Bottom Time: 93minutes
Max Depth: 3.3m
Air usage:
SAC: ???? litres/min
Details: Pipeline
Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 Strobes
Photos: Phil and Hyeonji were coming out west and were headed for the Springs. I suggested to come over to the end of the bellarine since the winds were strong westerlies and the Springs would probably be pretty dirty. We ended up at the Pipeline, a site i hadn’t done in ages and one i was keen to show off. Phil and Hyeonji were pretty impressed with the site, despite Phil falling for my sinister horsehoe swimthrough diver trap…mwahahaha. Fishlife was down, but plenty of rays around.
Oct
16
Dive Number: 199 16/10/11 16.53, The Pipeline
Wind: 15knot westerlies
Tide: high tide at Geelong
Conditions: overcast, windy but flat at st leonards.
Visibilty: 6m
Water Temp: 14.8c
Bottom Time: 99minutes
Max Depth: 4.1m
Air usage: 70bar/1000psi
SAC: ???? litres/min
Details: I’d wanted to get another dive in at this location for a while, but the lure of Ocean dives had kept me away. The area was nice and quiet (no jetskis) so it was a good opportunity to check it out again. This was a really enjoyable dive…some nice sponge growth under the pipelines, and many rays hanging out underneath. The tops are dominated by kelp and home to lots of filter feeding ascidians. Between the pipelines where thousands of tiny shrimp forming clouds in the water. A decorator crab out in the open was a big highlight, and no fish seemed to be stuck in the inlet filters this time.
Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200/SS400 Strobe
Photos:
Mar
13
Dive Number 14: 13/03/2010 14.12 The Pipelines, St Leonards
Wind: 10 knot Northerlies
Tide: 1 hour past 0.75 high tide at geelong
Conditions: Great day…25c, calm winds however some small chop on the surface caused by shallow bottom. A bit surgey due to shallow depth made macro focus difficult.
Bottom Type: Three 2 metres in diameter pipes running out over sandy bottom.
Visibilty: 4-5m
Water Temp: 20c
Bottom Time: 94 minutes
Max Depth: 3.9m
Air usage: 120bar/1700psi
SAC: 11.9 litres/min
Details: This is a site i’d checked out on snorkel before. It’s the water source for a nearby aquaculture centre which consists of three pipelines running out about 500mm towards Governor Reef. The pipelines are covered by sand in the shallows, and then are exposed about 200 metres from shore. The pipes are covered in some nice algea, with some plants i haven’t seen elsewhere. Every 50metres or so are joiner boxes, that seem to attract ecklonia growth. Underneath the pipes, some sponge growth occurs and provides shelters for fish and rays. The pipelines end in about 3.5-4 metres of water with large extraction units and is marked by a yellow bouy (just to the right of the sailboat pictured) you can see from shore. Governors reef is presumably further out, but i’m yet to see any signs of it. Be careful of boats in this area and a dive bouy is probably a good idea. Jet ski’ers use this area too.
Camera Details: Canon 100mm macro, single SS200 strobe.
Dive Report: My main visit to this site was to look for nudi’s and generally check out the area on scuba. Even though it was only an hour after high tide, it was still fairly shallow and a higher tide (around .90) would be beneficial. The usual suspects on the way out..small moonlighters, wrasse, lots of small leatherjackets, and small rays under nearly every junction of the pipeline. Generally its small flighty fish in this area, nothing big and nothing particularly curious. Even this Pygmy Leatherjackets was a little bit wary.
A bright red anemone stood out on the green algea that was swaying in the surge..an unusual host selection.
Once i reached the extraction units, i wasn’t suprised to see another globefish corpse embeded in the extraction units mesh. Last time i snorkelled here, a globefish was gasping for its life after being sucked into the units…spikes wedges into the mesh.
The first nudi’s i came across were out past the end of the pipelines, on my search for governors reef. Philinopsis taronga journeyed over the sand.
As usual Philinopsis cyanea was not far away. I swear they are the same speices!
An opened shell near a purple anemone made a nice photo:
I cant seem to resist taking photos of sand gobies when i have the macro lens on.
Another purple anemone.
On the way in i scoured the weed on top of the pipelines of nudi’s. I saw a couple of oxynoe viridis and a small pink Noumea haliclona, but conditions made focus too difficult. There were also two Ceratasoma brevicaudatums which made life a bit easier for me.
A pretty good dive that ‘ll do again on a full tank and search for Governors Reef. I’m suprised its not dived, but i guess with the peir to the south and the ozone to the north it gets overlooked.