Aussie Diving - May week 3 (Fri 16th to 22nd)

[digital_steve]

bad dog! bad!

you should have given someone else the greenforce to test it out for you

No way! It's my baby, it's never been wet and i've never dived with a primary light before... so i'll be damned if anyone else is testing it for me!

I may just have to jump in and do a small solo shore dive during the week, damn me and not having any regular buddies close by!

 

[stiebs]

Hey saspotato, were you diving with Dive Vic? I went out on their midday dive to North Wall Corner (which ended up being at Far Side instead, coz the damn dedger was hanging around too close to NWC). Back at Dive Vic one guy had just done Boarfish. Maybe we saw eachother and didn't know it

The bay looked pretty choppy as we were driving down, and despite the very ordinary conditions above water, once we dropped below the surface it was an awesome dive. As per Skipper-Extraodinaire Bob's instruction we followed the shot and headed due North to find a sandy bottom at 25m, and after a short swim a reef which stepped us down to our planned 35m.

I fired up my camera and strobe and lined up a small overhang covered in yellow zoanthids, only to find that I had stupidly left my camera in manual focus after some topside shooting. The only control (except for popup flash) that my housing doesn't transfer! ARGH!

So I just hung with my buddy as he snapped some stills and took a few vids of boarfish, a cowfish and a very uncharacteristically patient blue devil. There a few good size swim throughs and plenty of overhangs to peak under.

Awesome dive with some of the best vis I've seen in the bay for a while.

 

[Sas]

Yea I was with Dive Vic! I use them for boat dives. I am the chick with a orange and black Beuchat wetsuit and very short brown hair I was back at the shop for a bit so maybe we saw one another?~~

The viz was great for sure. Have not seen it like that before, but I guess I have only been diving for just on three months. Hopefully more days like that in winter.

 

[stiebs]

Visibility around Melbourne tends to be better in winter compared to summer. Plus you don't have to content with the rest of the tourists in Portsea and parking is easier!!

Must say I didn't take too much notice of everyone, it was fairly busy in there. There were two young girls in the corner next where I was gearing down, and one was struggling to get out of her wetsuit. And I think there was another girl closer to the exit. I think all of them had short dark hair. As I said, I didn't take too much notice..

 

[almitywife]

Viz in sydney clears up in winter also due to the (colder) blue water coming in

 

[bowlofpetunias]

No diving for me this weekend ... cut my foot on some glass and had to get some stitches.

My wife dived on Saturday at BI ... for a chenge they did the Eastern side.

Seas were flat as and viz was tremendous ... temp still warmish (still diving in the sharkskin)

Here are a couple of her pics ... the cuttlefish was taken by her dive buddy

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Well I only have a picture of us on the boat so far. He says he will update Flickr soon so looking forward to getting some more pictures. My buddy is probably getting a camera soon too which will be cool :]

Anyway, I have *some* pictures from my diving set up in an album now - from my aquarium dive too which I said I'd post pictures of eventually Sarah's Photos - Scuba Diving

Edit: oh and if anyone knows the names of some of the fish life in the pictures, I'd appreciate knowing what they are. :] I have no idea about identifying marine life yet!

Pic 4 on your facebook is a goatfish

 

[Sas]

Must say I didn't take too much notice of everyone, it was fairly busy in there. There were two young girls in the corner next where I was gearing down, and one was struggling to get out of her wetsuit. And I think there was another girl closer to the exit. I think all of them had short dark hair. As I said, I didn't take too much notice..

Haha no worries, next time I will wear a badge saying 'Saspotato' j/k. Actually I will be back next weekend to dive the Eliza Ramsden, maybe we will run into each other at some point eventually.

Pic 4 on your facebook is a goatfish

Thanks, bowlofpetunias, I have updated my picture description~ I really should take a marine id course one day as I would like to be better at identifying fish. Is there some kind of website that has a big list of fish that live around Melbourne with pictures? I just keep seeming to find fishing reports, guess I am googling the wrong thing. Might get a slate at the local shop as they have ones with all the common fish.

 

[almitywife]

not melbourne specifically but try Dave's site, The Underwater Photo Gallery - Dave Harasti

click underwater gallary and then marine species data base.

Dave occasionally also runs ID courses (Nelson Bay/NSW Nth Coast), he works for NSW Fisheries (endangered species) and doing his phd on seahorses

 

[stiebs]

Its also a worthwhile investment getting a fish ID book. Sea Fishes of Southern Australia is a good one ([google]ISBN 1875169784[/google]). The introduction is a good tutorial on making IDs, and then the rest of the book is grouped into families and species. I spent a couple of hours flicking through it and marking a few sections to get an idea of where to start looking when I do come across a fish I don't recognise.