Aussie Diving July 15 to 31 09

[bowlofpetunias]

The dive was 15 C, viz 1 - 3 M, silty and a bit of surge even the nudis and octopus were no where to be seen but I got wet so I am content!

We tried out fish's birthday torches... very impressed! Didn't take many pics but here are a few two are just to show the Viz... remember this was early afternoon and sunny outside and we probably averaged 10M depth

 

[livinoz]

The dive was 15 C, viz 1 - 3 M, silty and a bit of surge even the nudis and octopus were no where to be seen but I got wet so I am content!

We tried out fish's birthday torches... very impressed! Didn't take many pics but here are a few two are just to show the Viz... remember this was early afternoon and sunny outside and we probably averaged 10M depth

Cool pics, even if it was silty. Glad you got wet.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

I think I will start trying to see if I can track down an appropriate location/authority to complain to. I am afraid with all the silt that it is endangering the fishlife. I have never dived that site without seeing a blue grouper before and I have probably got over 100 bottom hours in Botany Bay!

It is an inconvenience for the divers but I am afraid it is getting life threatening for the critters! We heard today some dive shops won't even take classes there anymore because of the Viz, silting and lack of critters!

 

[toefa]

Hi there bowlofpetunias.. Yeah it's quite dissapointing that the site is consistently ordinary of late. Maybe email Carl Fallon, he might be able to point you in the right direction? He is the founder of Botany Bay watch, so at very least might know the right person to put the complaint forward to..

Botany Bay Watch: Site/Contacts

Still no diving for us.. I have to get my ear 100% before i get back in the water, but we have Fiji in less than 3 weeks now woooooooooooohoooooooooooo

 

[Gudge]

We got out for two dives today in almost perfect condtions. Water was a toasty 23.5°C, the seas were flat except for a very long low swell and there was hardly any wind. The surge caused by the swell was kicking up a little sand so visibility could have been better but we had a good time anyway.

I decided I needed a change and wanted to try something a little different so I put my Kenko 1.4X teleconverter between my camera and Tokina 10-17. I didn't have a suitable zoom gear for the combination so I set the lens at 17mm and went hunting fish my new 24mm fisheye lens. Here's some of the shots from the two dives I did today with the new combination:

Spangled Emperor:

Up close and personal with an Olive Sea Snake:

A very small Honeycomb Cod getting a tooth clean from a tiny Cleaner Wrasse:

Someone get this thing off my tongue. Rankin Cod with a very large and ugly Isopod on its tongue:

About halfway through the second dive one of my strobe's batteries went flat. It was nice to find that one strobe could cover my "new" lens

 

[roby jeff]

Have just had a couple of dives around the fringing reefs of the Palm Islands NTH QLD.
I found this monster sized Blue Spot Rock Lobster in a hole , i jammed the camera in and started taking pics and to my surprise he came out touching me with its meter long feelers then as i took my last shot it flew of like a missile. I snapped the pic just as it was departing...my first ever lobster action shot..I WAS SOOOO WRAPPED!!
i was using the 10 - 17 tokina fish eye 160-F18 with stobes on TTL turned up a couple of notches.

 

[Sas]

That sucks about the viz and muck affecting the critters petunia. We have had dredging in PPB for over a year now and a lot of people are worried about the long term environmental effects. I haven't noticed viz problems for a while but there was for a bit. Slackwater is now shorter and Portsea beach is disappearing, and a lot of people attribute that to the dredge :depressed:

I did two dives yesterday. First dive I had just awesome viz. It was hard to estimate but I would put it 20-25m :shocked2: We were at Flinders Pier. Lots of big rays around, heaps of weedies (saw about a dozen) and lots of fish life. Then we did a backbeach dive around the corner at Mushroom Reef and that was going well until my drysuit inflator button got stuck. I pulled out the hose immediately so I did not shoot to the top but of course this flooded my suit! I had a 250m surface swim in a suit filled with water, was not pleasant... The others continued their dive and said it got quite rough towards the end.

Weedy

Michael and a weedy

BIG ray, so close I could have given it a pat

Nice viz!!!

Incoming Ray

 

[bax737]

yep perth diving today was like .5 mt -6 mt swell and big winds

 

[Sas]

Hi!

Anybody been out lately? Been a quiet fortnight it seems? I didn't get out midweek :depressed: as I have a big project due at work, so that was disappointing but I got in two shore dives yesterday at Flinders Pier and then Portsea Pier. Flinders had nice viz at 12m and calm conditions. Portsea was very surgy but had nice viz of 6-8m Temperature was 11-12C and at Flinders I did 100mins so got SO COLD. People on the pier were asking me questions and I could barely talk as my lips were so numb Portsea I did 70mins but did not get cold as I did more swimming because of the surge. Hoping to do some boat dives next weekend as it has been ages!

Anyway, here are some pics:

Puffers!

Weedy at night

Solitary hydriods

Ornate cowfish (male) - hard to take pictures of these as they insist on only showing you their tails. Lovely colours though so I want a better pic!

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Great shots Sas... fantastic you got decent viz.. maybe even worth getting that cold for!