Aussie Diving March 15 - 31st

[tiggrr]

Sas.....if you haven't already....maybe you could post that lovely dumpling squid??? I really love that pic.

And all the rest here are amazing too. These are my favorite threads.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

I got some photos of chilled_mammel from the other night. He was trying out something new - taped a block of lead to the camera to keep it stable and took long exposure shots (15s) whilst he swum around waving his torch around to light up a scene.

Given it's a strobeless P&S camera and his first attempt I think he did a great job!

We are going to do a night dive next week and try more of this on more interesting scenes

What a brilliant shot... tell him he really should log on so we can tell him how much we are enjoying his work. Nothing like thinking outside the square to get something unusual!..... :thinking: hmmm.... gives me ideas.....

Sas.....if you haven't already....maybe you could post that lovely dumpling squid??? I really love that pic.

And all the rest here are amazing too. These are my favorite threads.

Some of the shots and the variety of stuff we get here is amazing..... we are just so lucky in OZ!

 

[Sas]

What a brilliant shot... tell him he really should log on so we can tell him how much we are enjoying his work. Nothing like thinking outside the square to get something unusual!..... :thinking: hmmm.... gives me ideas.....

Yes I keep telling him to log on but usually he is too busy for forums. I send him links to the best threads so will send him this one. He rarely posts his pictuers too, so I figure I will do it so he gets some nice feedback as his photos are great

Sas.....if you haven't already....maybe you could post that lovely dumpling squid??? I really love that pic.

No worries I think it might have been in another thread but here it is>

Flickr link to a bigger size: Flickr Photo Download: Dumpling squid

 

[ChilledMammal]

Hi All,

Very slow in getting organised and getting logged on. The photos of the trip look awesome, and I love Sas's dumpling squid would have to be up there in the competition for the coolest creature.

Definitely having fun with the long exposure, I tried so many different things which turned out to be pretty unexciting.

But it is heaps of fun to experiment the caver Jill Heinerth was my inspiration, she does some amazing things with caves and long exposures.

I bought a tripod yesterday, so will give that a go at my first opportunity :>

Go the Gaffer tape:>

love the shrimp in the sand.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Dived our normal site viz 2 to 3 M temps 18C gonna need to break out the wetsuits soon... I HATE wetsuits... but I bought a 3mil from Jon at Fishrock so that won't be as bad as the 5mil but still prefer to dive in the sharkskin as long as possible...
Didn't get to play with the octopus but found a few kewl things

I love the blue in the Eastern Spiny Gernerd.... this was a very active one... was the first one I have got shots of free swimming in midwater.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Weedy Seadragon and the tiny fish less than 10mm in the sponge is a juvenile Blotched Hawkfish Have to include the boxfish for Sas

 

[Sas]

Thanks for the boxfish What is that furry thing behind the Hawkfish? An arm of a bristle sea star?

I got out for three dives yesterday - Portsea Reef 82min Blairgowire 100min and Sorrento 60min so I got a lot in but was out from 7am to 11.30pm, long day. Portsea Reef had poor viz and terrible surge, and I also had an octopus launch face-hugger style at me off a pylon! It was fun to watch it for a bit and here is a video: Maori octopus on Flickr - Photo Sharing! It does not look happy!

Blairgowrie had a strong current so in general was quite an uncomfortable dive however Sorrento at night was just *awesome* so made up for the two average dives. We planned to dive slack water after the ferry left but slack never happened so we had to stick to the protected part so not to be swept away to the Heads. It is very strong on this pier and we still haven't seen the pier yet, just the bollards where the ferry parks. I climbed down the rocks without my scuba gear just to test it out before we got in. Did not bring a camera this dive

The viz was great at Sorrento and I saw heaps of different nudibranches and lots of fish. A blue ring and a cuttlefish attacked me so I am not sure what is going on with cephalopods lately... I know the blue rings are mating at the moment so perhaps they get aggressive then? The blue ring lept off the sand towards my face so I pushed it away with my torch and it kept swimming at me :shocked2: Neither me or Michael who I was diving with had seen that behaviour before.

Here are some pics

Funny seahorse expression

Spider crab eating something

Maori octopus that tried to latch onto my face

Lots of goatfish

Ascidian on a pylon

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Nice shots Sas.... I've heard of fight fish but attacking cephalopods is a new one!

 

[thanksforallthefish]

Nice pics Sas ... maybe the cephalopods know you like them and are attracted to you

It makes me tired just thinking about all the diving you did


In the second pic it looks like brittle star arms, but the first one looks like some sort of worm to me ... like a millipede or something