Where did you solo dive today?

[BoltSnap]

It depends. In summer in the north of NZ where I live, water temperature can reach 22 degrees C (I've actually witnessed 26 degrees C way offshore) and we get an influx of tropical visitors including turtles, whale sharks and mantas. They are unusual sightings though. Fishermen get excited by the arrival of tuna and marlin. It is classed as sub-tropical. Visibility can be 25 metres, but the sea is rich in microscopic life, so visibility 10-15 metres is more normal. Obviously this depends where you dive. If you're in a harbour after heavy rain, visibility can be less than 2 metres. There's lots of fish including sharks, but it's rare to see sharks unless you are spearfishing, then you see too many! There's a few wrecks dotted around the north too. Water temperature in winter falls to below 15 degrees C in winter and there isn't as much life around. It can certainly be cold and dark! Whether winter or summer, the weather and sea conditions are highly unpredictable. You'll often get a good day in winter and a terrible day in summer. The Pacific Ocean is treacherous and it is essential to pay close attention to weather and sea forecasts. The further south you go in NZ, the colder it gets in general. Most diving is done on the east coast as the west coast is pounded almost relentlessly by heavy swells.

Australia is a huge country, a continent. You can experience everything from the conditions I've described in NZ (and colder!) in the south to the tropics in the north with everything in-between!

I'd love to visit you in NZ to dive there. Maybe one day

 

[MB NZ]

I'd love to visit you in NZ to dive there. Maybe one day

I'd be happy to show you around. Come in summer/early autumn though, March is probably the best month overall. The link in my signature will give you a flavour of the diving.

 

[MB NZ]

Back to Chapel Rock, Cyprus. Someone has helpfully installed a stainless steel ladder to aid entry/exit from the water since my last visit. I didn't take a camera this time. Hit 30 metres which is the deepest I've gone at this site. Found a nice little rock wall loaded with big lion fish. Evil thermocline at 20 metres from 30 degrees C to 22 degrees C! A little more above water scenery in the general area...

On the way home, visited a few dive shops to discuss the possibility of solo wreck diving. None were having a bar of it.

 

[SurteesDiver]

I'd be happy to show you around. Come in summer/early autumn though, March is probably the best month overall. The link in my signature will give you a flavour of the diving.

Boltsnap, MB has given a flavour in the north. In the South Island we have the marvellous Lermontov wreck which although not cheap to do is divable most of the time with >8m vis and often excellent inside. Milford Sound is a great dive with 20+ metres vis below the freshwater (brown) halocline - lots of life and black coral. Beyond that when the weather is good there is plenty to see and lots of crays all around the coast. Make a trip and stay a while!

 

[astr0b0y]

Looks nice a warm there, bro. Nice to read your description of NZ diving too. I’ve done a couple of dives there when I lived in AK a lifetime ago, time to come back and explore.

Got in a nice solo dive a few days ago at Jawbone, a very small marine sanctury in Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne, Aus. It’s my local spot that I have visiting for many years. Very familiar with the layout but still come across new things most visits. In the last two three years a massive urchin population increase caused a significant reduction in brown kelp (Elkonia sp.) and created many barrens. Seemed to happen in a number of weeks. Some culling was done which does seem to have made a difference to urchin numbers however a horrible filamentous algae has now infested a lot of these areas, stifling kelp and sea grass regrowth.
Dive was lovely and calm as high tide was approaching slack. Sunny day with a moderate northerly, 16C air temp and no one else on the beach.
Water temp just below 11C (52F) which is about my limit in my 5mm wetty.
76 minutes, max depth 7.7 metres. Very few vertebrates and didn’t come across any slugs or seahorses which is a bit unusual.

 

[BoltSnap]

Make a trip and stay a while!

You don't know how much l'd love to go. I want to take the 3 months of children's summer vacation to go and stay there for entire vacation. Not sure if our summer, June to end of August, is good time to be there for diving and site seeing.

 

[SurteesDiver]

You don't know how much l'd love to go. I want to take the 3 months of children's summer vacation to go and stay there for entire vacation. Not sure if our summer, June to end of August, is good time to be there for diving and site seeing.

Certainly in and around the southerly fronts you would get some good diving if you are prepared to move around. More certainty up north. Very difficult to get good conditions on the south island east coast during those months. Water down here is cooler then too - 10 - 12 deg C (50ish F). Feb to May is better. But if you snow ski you could do both between June & Aug .

I've just come back from a 3 week trip from Australia (Brisbane to Cairns) and got 15 dives in (thoroughly recommend Wolf Rock for the Grey Nurse Sharks). Diving over there is certainly pretty and the weather and conditions seem more reliable... but our NZ diving is still great. Things are gritty (colder, often rougher and murkier, less certain that you will actually get in). When it comes off though, there are some awesome dives (and experiences around the dives).

Back on topic for the thread, a couple of the dives on the trip were solo off Mike Ball's Spoilsport liveaboard. Water was 25deg C, vis better than 20m, lots of pretty coral and fish. The sites were the Cod Hole, and the Two Towers. Both were great, the Potato Cod are a sight to see and very friendly.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Yesterday solo dive off the beach in Hollywood, FL 220 minutes of almost bliss, interrupted by other freedivers, snorkelers with go pros, and hookas..
But, was buzzed by a large spotted eagle ray, saw a ton of out of season lobsters, and got to spend a lot of time looking at little things of little interest to others. Also did a REEF ID survey, some photography, and was happy to notice the coral bleaching is not nearly as bad as I expected. Biggest fatality is the fire coral, which, I am OK with. LOL

 

[1fspeed]

Lake Ore-be-Gone in Gilbert, Minnesota. Abandoned iron mine as you might have guessed.
70min, 45ft, 48°F

Don't know any of the SCUBA stars who laid line in the lake. Makes finding this stuff so much easier.
THANK YOU!

ps. image is vertical panorama. One shot being a self timer selfie from a tripod blended in photoshop.

 

[1fspeed]

Some GoPro video "grabs" from my day on the Zenobia.

Great go-pro work - love the Cuda shot