Dive 244 – Urquharts Bluff

By pfuller

Jan

3

Dive Number: 244 03/01/12 14.47, Urquharts Bluff

Wind: ???

Tide: ???

Conditions: Lovely crystal clear water but still some swell and surge.

Visibilty: 10-15m+

Water Temp: 19.2c

Bottom Time: 90minutes

Max Depth: 8.4m

Air usage: 170bar/2500psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details: The weather was on the improve and the swell dropping so i headed down the coast and dropped into Urquharts bluff. It was ordinary the other time i dived it, but conditions were much better today and the water looked great. I parked half way down the hill to the carpark and headed out from there. Interesting boulders in the first 50-100 metres out, but since conditions where so good i continued out further and it just got better and better. The big highlight was seeing a couple of Sargeant Bakers, which i’d never seen before.

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

Photos:
















Dive 170 – Urquharts Bluff

By pfuller

Jul

23

Dive Number: 170  16/07/11  15.01,  Urquharts  Bluff

 Wind:   15knot north/north-easterlies

Tide:  2hrs after 1.58 high tide at the Heads

Conditions:  Small sets of messy 1ft waves. The vis was non existent…could barely see my own hand in front of my face.

Visibilty:   1m.

Water Temp: 12c

Bottom Time: 5minutes

Max Depth: 3m

Air usage: 0bar/0psi

SAC: ???? litres/min

Details:  I shouldn’t even be logging this as a dive since i barely spent 5 minutes underwater, but i will just to inspire myself to check this site out again in the future. I arrived at Urqaharts bluff after a leisurely drive along the coast checking out some sites.  I was debating whether or not to dive here, since conditions were pretty ordinary, but decided to give it a go when i saw a couple of other guys (nick and pete) gearing up. We walked out to the end of the bluff and swum out about 100m. I descended into about 3m and couldn’t see a thing all the way down. Vis was absolutely atrocious… you really dont get much worse, and it really wasn’t even worth diving.  So my shortest dive ever was logged without a photo to boot. After looking at this area on google earth though, it looks like its got a lot of potential. Its the start of the cliffs and reefs that run all the way along the great ocean road, and has the benefit of a carpark on the beach, rather than the painful stairs you need to ensure to get to any of the other sites along this stretch. So i’m definently keen to return here  when conditions are better.