Aussie Diving Dec 5th to 12th 08

[Sas]

hmm ... Sas ... remind me NEVER to do drift dives in Melbourne.

They can be fun sometimes!

I went out for a night dive tonight at Black Rock near the sunken Cerberus. We were not hopeful that conditions would be good given that it was quite choppy (and there is mainly sand) but the viz was *excellent* (15m or so) for most of the dive, it started dropping quite a lot as we went further out and the surge picked up a lot further out too. We saw practically no life, few starfish, a prawn, one puffer and a fiddler ray but I was testing out my drysuit after it was repaired. NO LEAKS! I shouldn't have put off fixing it for so long On our return the fishermen were throwing dead fish at us!!! :shocked2: I don't think they were annoyed at as getting too close or anything as we surfaced shortly after and they were packed up, so I think they were just having fun getting rid of the rest of their bait. Oh well, at least we provided some amusement for bystanders.

 

[Sas]

Ok got a few pictures from the weekend's dive

Little pot-belly seahorse we found feeding, they are so cute when moving around, usually I only see them hanging off things.

Tiny octopus that was really good at camouflage

Melbourne Wobbie!

Check out the cool viz! That diver was ages away from us

 

[Aardvark]

Seems like there was some really good diving over the weekend. Thank you for sharing the photos. I'm going to have to look close at the sea squirts up here and see what's living on them. Haven't seen an octopus for a while need to do more night dives.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Aardvark..... is your sea squirt my sea tulip?

We see octopus all the time in the day time..... Don't remember seeing one at night.... interesting

nice shots Sas great viz.... I want some of that please. You can tell when our viz is lousey.... just get macros

Are you sure that is a big belly... I thought it might be a Whitei because of the spikes on it's head. How big was it?

I can't wait to try for some more shots of the pygmy pipehorse. I am determined to get ONE good shot of one before I give up!:depressed:

I chased blue fish for ages until I got a couple decent shots of them to share with my non diving family. Now my new project is to get a good one of the pygmy pipehorse..... Still want to get a good shot of a Sgt Baker with it's teeth in focus too....

 

[Sas]

Aardvark..... is your sea squirt my sea tulip?

We see octopus all the time in the day time..... Don't remember seeing one at night.... interesting

nice shots Sas great viz.... I want some of that please. You can tell when our viz is lousey.... just get macros

Are you sure that is a big belly... I thought it might be a Whitei because of the spikes on it's head. How big was it?

I can't wait to try for some more shots of the pygmy pipehorse. I am determined to get ONE good shot of one before I give up!:depressed:

I chased blue fish for ages until I got a couple decent shots of them to share with my non diving family. Now my new project is to get a good one of the pygmy pipehorse..... Still want to get a good shot of a Sgt Baker with it's teeth in focus too....

It's a pot-belly one, so a different one to the big-belly. Hippocampus bleekeri is the scientific name for the Victorian/Tassie type and Hippocampus abdominalis (i.e. Big Belly) is the one in NSW Head filaments are more common on the Pot-Belly Seahorse. Not sure if the whitei one has filaments or not?

Most of my shots are macro too The viz is usually not good but I have to say, it has just been amazing over the last month or two apart from one dive! Not sure what to attribute it to, or if it is generally just like that at the start of summer. The dredge was running all winter though and has recently stopped, so perhaps that had something to do with it? No idea...

 

[stormysea]

Sorry I haven't been on in a few weeks, it was very depressing but we haven't been able to get out and dive. But we went diving on Sunday off Cook Island. Vis was a bit iffy and it was a bit cool (was only wearing a 3mm....think I might stick with the 5mm for a bit longer) However we still got to see some massive wobbies and bright yellow moray's and plenty of colourful fish. Our dive guide this time seemed in a hurry and we didn't get much chance to stop and look if we found something interesting. I bought my dive camera this week but wont get a chance to use it before we go on holidays in Townsville and Cairns. We are off diving again this weekend but its just pool diving for our Advanced Open Water!

 

[Sas]

Hope your AOW goes well! And cool about the new dive camera! Post some pictures after your trip

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Sorry I haven't been on in a few weeks, it was very depressing but we haven't been able to get out and dive. But we went diving on Sunday off Cook Island. Vis was a bit iffy and it was a bit cool (was only wearing a 3mm....think I might stick with the 5mm for a bit longer) However we still got to see some massive wobbies and bright yellow moray's and plenty of colourful fish. Our dive guide this time seemed in a hurry and we didn't get much chance to stop and look if we found something interesting. I bought my dive camera this week but wont get a chance to use it before we go on holidays in Townsville and Cairns. We are off diving again this weekend but its just pool diving for our Advanced Open Water!

Great enjoy your course and your trip..... we've missed you... looking forward to your pics!

Hey are you thinking of invading the rock with us? Not too far from you really...

 

[stormysea]

Not too far lol !! Actually its on at the same time I am off to Lady Musgrave to dive with the manta rays. Shame cause I would love to meet you all!!

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Not too far lol !! Actually its on at the same time I am off to Lady Musgrave to dive with the manta rays. Shame cause I would love to meet you all!!

Hey I like your avatar Stormy!