Aussie diving April 2013

[alcina]

Thanks for popping in and sharing, cayal!!

I was going to be a responsible adult today and stay home to do housework & office work but it was so nice on the beach with the dogs for our presunrise walk that I stopped at Exmouth Diving Centre to see if they had room and they did! So out I popped for two dives in Lighthouse Bay. Turtles were very happy at Labyrinth and I dropped in on some mystery 9'+ shark on Blizzard. Tried for video but he was so light he almost blended into the sand and so quick that I couldn't catch up! Both dives were very good. A nice little detail that has changed on their tour when they run the smaller dive boat, Hollis, they are offering premade wraps instead of having everyone clamber over each other to try to get to the make-your-own sandwich thing going. As Hollis only has the aisle on one side, it was a bit of a production, but now it's smooth, fast and relaxing Well done, I say - it's often the small, seemingly unimportant details that can make a difference.

Two turtles coz I haven't dealt with the rest of the images yet
Scratch me under here!

Getting the mellow on

 

[cayal]

Hi cayal,

Where are you diving from? I don't recognize the dive site you have mentioned.

-Mike

---------- Post added April 8th, 2013 at 03:28 PM ----------

Also your profile only lists your location as Australia. A rather big country.

Hi Mike,

I am from Victoria and that dive was at Blairgowrie pier which is between Rye and Sorrento/Portsea on the Victorian coast.

I'm not sure if you know Melbourne/Victoria well but that's where

 

[alcina]

Didn't go out on the boat today as I had a ton of stuff to get done. Still took a nice lunch break for a snorkel at an area I haven't been to in years. Awesome. I have to admit I cut it short once I got paranoid about the buzzing lemon sharks Gotta go back soon - with a friend LOL

Had turtles including one eating the mangrove trees, lemon sharks, shovelnose rays, schools of trevally, darts, long toms, sweetlips, rabbitfish, a tiny raccoon butterflyfish, big whiptail rays - just tons of stuff.

shovelnose hiding under a branch

turtle eating a tree - screen grab from video

Panasonic TS3

 

[bowlofpetunias]

lovely... what an awesome dive thanks for taking us alone vicariously!

 

[bfowles]

Cool frogfish bowlofpetunias, they can be very hard to pick the species by visual id only.

Alcina, it is good to hear we don't feed the whalesharks here, I really don't think feeding is good as it changes the animals natural behaviour too much. Great pic as usual, I really like the mangrove shots (I would have been nervous about the lemon sharks as well).

Cayal nice video, especially in the challenging viz (whereever the spider crabs are the viz usually suffers). Sometimes with card problems you need to just turn the camera off for a few minutes and then try turning it back on. If you keep getting the problem however I would recommend getting a new card.

No diving for me on the weekend, my wife was shooting a wedding so I was stuck at home with my son. At least I got to play with the remote control helicopter with him This weekend is looking free at the moment so hopefully I will get out.

 

[Liam hemsworth]

Beaut shots, Alcina! Where was that snorkel? (researching for my next visit) Did you snap any of the lemon sharks?

 

[bowlofpetunias]

I have been in contact with the team that is working on the "discription" and Categorization of this rather interesting fish. Unfortunately I think I "know" the fish they collected for ID. Our group knew of him for years and even named him may seem silly to some getting "attached to a fish" but we dive the site often enough to know territories and track fish.. get pictures of the same creatures over years. We are aware of when this fish disappeared and it is consistent with what we understand the "collection date"

I understand the need for "collection" but don't want to be responsible for the collection of a fish based on my information. I have provided information, pictures, dates etc for the team but stressed I would not give information about location that might result in collection. They tell me they have enough speciments now....

Reminds me I need to forward on the pictures, date, depth of this fish to them.

You may find this link interesting
Undescribed Anglerfish - Australian Museum

You may also find this link interesting..
Bare Island Undescribed Anglerfish - We Talk Diving

 

[alcina]

@Mark - secret locals spot I'll take you out there if you're here when the tide is right

@bowl - I'm not a huge collector fan either. I understand the desire to further knowledge, but...

Got out for a dive this morning but not happy with anything I shot really. Conditions are turning a bit thanks to a kickin' swell and huge tides, think today is the last wide angle day for a while. Which is fine by me as I'm looking forward to going back to macro and puttering in holes for cool stuff. It's still 15m+ viz but it's cloudy and there's tons of big chunky stuff floating around. Still 29C - just gorgeous and feels so good. Had a huge cowtail ray, some white tips swimmin around, six or so turtles, a couple of huge rankin cod getting cleaned, a wobbie all tucked into a crevice and really fun school of fusiliers. Yeah, I can't really complain too much LOL

Decided this turtle hanging on the edge of a big plate coral needed some drama so went black & white.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Oh I love the effect.. beautiful work alcina

 

[cayal]

alcina - what do you do to be able to dive so often and take so many fantastic photos?