How was your Aussie diving 29th & 30th March?

[almitywife]

there are so many aussies here now lets show and tell (if you have pics) on what you did this weekend

both sat & sunday were at Bare Island (Sydney) for us.

critter count; pygmie pipehorse, upside-down pipefish, 4 HUGE octopuses, huge cuttlefish, the usual super friendly big blue groper, seahorse, eels, nudies and a big boar fish (very strange to see a boar fish as the water isnt cold enough for them yet)

sat temps were 21C and 8mtrs viz, sunday was 20C and approx 8mtrs viz

a magic weekend of diving!

now who else whats to share???

 

[Sas]

Most people I know weren't diving in Melbourne this weekend. I think the weather was quite bad. So was last weekend I ended up with <1m vis.

But I got to dive in the Melbourne Aquarium this weekend so weather wasn't an issue! Anyway, the dive was pretty cool, getting to see sharks up close and being able to play with 4m stingrays. Saw a lot of snapper, a turtle (the only thing in the tank I was nervous about, they are pretty vicious! the sharks are nothing compared to a hungry turtle ), two grey nurse sharks, banjo sharks, a Port Jackson shark and a bunch of sevengilled sharks, not sure what the other creatures were called. The sevengilled sharks were quite inquisitive and would swim at us a lot. The stringrays like the feel of our bubbles on their bellies so they swum over us a lot and we got to pet them. I brought along my mother and my partner to watch on the outside as they both are unlikely to dive ever so they figured it was their only chance to see me in action I could see people quite easily through the glass and spent a fair bit of time waving back to little kids

However, I didn't realise but in the Aquarium you are required to be negatively buoyant the whole time so basically I was walking around on my knees very slowly at the bottom of the tank for the entire dive. My mum said when I met up with her after 'is that all you do when you go diving??' Hehe. There was also two non-divers in my group so bottom time was limited to 30 minutes as I think they used their air pretty quick. I wish I could have stayed longer! All in all, I suspect if you have seen a lot of marine life and sharks you wouldn't find the aquarium dive very exciting and therefore worthwhile (especially given the expense!) mainly because you can't actually do any swimming around but I had a great time

One last thing, I am glad we got to descend a bit away from where the public looks in though, as I had a weight belt issue at the start. I have always worn a weight integrated BC so am not used to a belt. At the Aquarium they only had belts so when I descended, I didn't realise but my belt slipped to one side and I kept rolling over trying to descend and again when I reached the bottom looking incredibly awkward. It was quite embarrassing as everyone else seemed fine but I worked out the issue after a few minutes and evened out the weight!

Unfortunately I don't have pictures yet. My partner took the videos and my mum took the still pictures so will have to wait til I next visit her before uploading. Might try make a youtube video though...

 

[alcina]

Our weather sucked here. Poured rain until about 3am this morning. Today was a bit better but the huge swell knocked out diving again today. This afternoon is already much much better so we are hoping for full steam ahead tomorrow.

Why couldn't you ask about last weekend or even Tuesday - I actually got four days of diving in myself!!

 

[Mike Veitch]

with all them aussie tourists here it sounds like Oz.. does bali count? haha

 

[Underwater Ogre]

Hi all,
I am heading to Byron Bay in August and was going to book a couple of days of diving. Have been debating on which suit to take. I have a 2mm long and a 5/3 long for surfing and was going to take the 2mm for surfing.
The average sea temp at that time seems to be 20 degrees.
As a cold water, dry suit diver I cant get my head wrapped around it.
I dive 7 degrees and summer surfing is 15 and I wear a 2mm.

Any help would be appreciated...
Thanks
O
guess I crashed a thread

saspotato- I dove the aquarium in 2005, was pretty cool. I watched as the DM put 10kgs of weight in the pockets of my BC as I clipped the 18kg weight belt on...uhgg. Also I was sweating under there, they used 7mm johns and jackets. But it was worth it to wave at the kids and feel like Nemo stuck in the tank.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Ahhhh ... so you did go diving again on sunday almitywife, we had too much to do around the house.

Bare Island on saturday was flat warm and not great viz ... but the diving was good ... didnt see the pygmy pipehorses ... going to look for them on the next dive .... did see a dwarf lion fish and the upside down pipefish

Was hubby able to get any good pics of the upside down pipefish ... would love to see them if he has.

Thinking of maybe doing an evening dive this week.

 

[almitywife]

...... the upside down pipefish ....

and thank you, we found it!! they were very cool to see

AND....

because of you i ordered a pair of crocs!!! now im jibbitz obsessed!!

 

[bowlofpetunias]

crocs have nothing to do with me ... that was the wife

??? jibbitz ????

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Hi mike ... where in Indonesia are you?

Used to do a bit of diving there about 12 or so years ago ... Tulamben, Amed, Menjangan, also did a trip to Bunaken Marine Park at Manado and the Gilli Islands off Lombok.

Was wondering how the diving is there these days ... and how teh liberty wreck is holding up, even back then you could notice some deterioration

 

[almitywife]

crocs have nothing to do with me ... that was the wife

??? jibbitz ????

you 2 are a double act! heheheh anyways, you bought the crocs for the mrs so i blame you

jibbitz are the decorations for the crocs - i think you have a crab on yours.