Aussie Diving 15th to 31st January 2010

[Gudge]

We got our first dives in for 2010 last Sunday in Lighthouse Bay. I put the Sigma 17-70 on my camera and my new snoot on one of my Z240s and used only one strobe with a very narrow beam for most of my photography on both dives. My first real go with a snoot underwater and it was steep learning curve with surgy conditions making it difficult to hit the subject with the narrow beam from the strobe. Sitll, I got a few shots I'm happy with:

Blacktip Rock Cod:

Anemonefish:

Green Turtle:

Squirrelfish:

Bigeye:

 

[thanksforallthefish]

Great Pics as usual Gudge, especially like the anemonefish, and the Green Turtle.



Bare Island was not much better on Sunday either ... arrived there at 7:15 and couldn't believe how many cars were there already!!

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Lovely.. I particularly like the anenomie fish and the Squirlfish

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Hehe I think non-divers don't quite realise how long it takes to dismantle gear and of course the wetsuit removal is definitely a time-consumer...

Oh the blocking of traffic, where the road through the carpark and back towards Manly becomes an additional carpark.. funtimes! That road is so narrow that you get traffic stopped in both directions!



Hahaha I must admit I do the same thing - for some reason I'm partial to families carrying small children/umbrellas/eskies/strollers, the parents always look so desperate with the kids in the back of the car crying (as long as its not a BMW ). Or even better, fellow divers!

I was at Shelly last weekend and as I arrived at 7.30am I managed to get a 2 hour park a fair way up the road from where you were Bowlofpetunias. Unfortunately my dive buddies were very late. Now they all have Manly parking permits so I was the only one that after the dive had to run up the beach, dump my gear, scoot up the hill and I was very lucky to get to my car just before the Inspectors.. Of course this meant that I couldn't repark the car as it was absolute mayhem and my coffee that was waiting for me down at the kiosk went undrunk... Oh well, the instant coffee at home almost makes up for it :confused6:

That is the one huge benefit of Gordons Bay. All day, free parking.

Sorry I missed your post when I was on earlier:depressed:. So you don't park in the car park but on the road? Missing your coffee now that is bad :condolences:

We have looked at trying to park on the road but we tend to do two hours bottom time when we dive Shelly since it is so shallow. If I get wet.. I really hate doing less than 90 minutes on shore dives. Two hour car park just doesn't allow enough time for getting geared up/entry/dive/exit/ gear breakdown.

 

[sydney-diver]

Sorry I missed your post when I was on earlier:depressed:. So you don't park in the car park but on the road? Missing your coffee now that is bad :condolences:

We have looked at trying to park on the road but we tend to do two hours bottom time when we dive Shelly since it is so shallow. If I get wet.. I really hate doing less than 90 minutes on shore dives. Two hour car park just doesn't allow enough time for getting geared up/entry/dive/exit/ gear breakdown.

Getting a park at Shelly is a pain, I'm sure they've changed the rules - last year I parked on the road and don't remember a 2 hour limit, I think they introduced it this year and made all day parking in the park cheaper?

Dived Shark Point, Clovelly yesterday. First time - what a fantastic dive! Killer walk though!

 

[Sas]

I've gotten out for four dives this week, one night dive last week and three yesterday. I even got to do a site I don't do often, Sorrento Pier (the ferry goes back and forth all day so you can't dive it during the day). We have tried to plan this dive on slack many times but never had much luck and always ended up just hanging out in the ferry dock area. Anyway, we just rocked up and decided to see how the current was and if it was bad we'd again dive in the ferry docking area rather than the pier. Turns out the current was really slow, and slowing down, then slack, then it started to pick up again in the reverse direction so we were able to do the whole pier before it started to be a struggle to swim, then we headed to the sheltered area. The pier was just average after all that! The ferry area is incredible though so we're just going to dive there in future and not worry about slack.

I took LOTS of photos:

Michael chasing a smooth ray

Flathead saying hello

Me practicing line work - Michael is doing cavern next month so we are doing some practice

Lots of fishers dropped bait so frequently came across little feeding frenzies - it would momentarily distract the fish from eating my face or fingers

Moonlighter - this one also kept trying to bite me, after yesterday's dives and the constant fish attacks I'm wondering if my buddy sprayed me with fish pheromones when I wasn't looking...

Michael + weedy

Yet another fish (Brown Striped LJ) that took a liking to my flesh - on the plus side it made it very easy to take photos

Old Wife

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Stunning shots as usual Sas! I can't believe what you manage to get out of that camera! The flathead shot is a once in a lifetime shot. Thanks for sharing. I posted my pics in HH but I need to download or upload them or whatever to post them here.

 

[vickobcn]

Getting a park at Shelly is a pain, I'm sure they've changed the rules - last year I parked on the road and don't remember a 2 hour limit, I think they introduced it this year and made all day parking in the park cheaper?

Dived Shark Point, Clovelly yesterday. First time - what a fantastic dive! Killer walk though!

We were out at Clovelly yesterday, but headed to Gordons. We had a look at Shark Point and it looked perfect, flat flat flat (unfortunately that was AFTER we got out of the water after two dives)! I actually think we may have seen you (or could well have been another group of divers). Did you park up on the hill and walk down? I'm still yet to dive at Shark Point and am trying to work out the logistics...

Hmmm, I don't know if they had 2 hour parking at Shelley a few years ago and then got rid of it and then brought it back again (back in 2005 I remember moving the car a few times), but that $16 for day parking for me is a killer. Although the peace of mind knowing there is no rush whatsoever does make up for it somewhat! (2 hour shore dives and no danger of losing that coffee!!

Gordons was pretty good yesterday, although the temp had dropped to 18 degrees celcius. Less nudibranchs and a lot more seaweed than the previous week. But anything was great to be out of the 35 degree heat! Only problem was that two of us (me being one of them ) locked keys in cars, resulting in one call to the NRMA for one set of keys and me pretending I was gumby and had arms of rubber through a barely open window to unlock the other... fun times!

Great photos Saspotato!!

 

[Sas]

Stunning shots as usual Sas! I can't believe what you manage to get out of that camera! The flathead shot is a once in a lifetime shot. Thanks for sharing. I posted my pics in HH but I need to download or upload them or whatever to post them here.

thanks :blush: I will have to check out HHs later. I am logging my dives at the moment. Had a bit of a backlog

The flathead I was so happy with! I clicked the camera just as it did that and I am like 'YEAAAAASSSSSSSS' then waited for ages hoping it would do it again but no such luck!

 

[thanksforallthefish]

Yep great pics sas ... i would have thought you would have jumped out of the water with excitement over that flathead shot!!!

I have never dived Shark Point ... one day possibly

good to see people getting some good dives in