Aussie diving 16th Feb to 28th Feb

[bowlofpetunias]

nice shots Byron

sorry it was a dissapointment... frustrating when they go tooo quickly... waiting for your pics... all these great shots here ... man makes me jealous I've had to miss the diving the last two weeks... oh well... caqn't wait to get some dives with jon at fishrock....

 

[Sas]

I got out for a dive tonight. Was my first dive in doubles - I had twin 7s and they were very comfortable on land and was also easy to climb up the ladder in them so they are not too heavy. However the manifold was quite heavy in the water and I also was wearing quite buoyant sneakers (left my boots at the dive shop on the weekend) so this meant I spent the whole dive on my head pretty much or else finning madly to stay horizontal as being upside down meant my reg leaked water. I was so tired from this I finished the dive after 45mins which is the shortest shore dive I have done in ages.

I swum back myself to shore and on the way saw an amazing site - a cuttlefish eat an octopus! It happened so suddenly it took me a moment to figure out what was going on! The cuttlefish quickly swam away after this.

Didn't bring the camera to record this (doubt I could have been fast enough anyway) but the others continued the dive after I left and got some awesome videos and photos of a cuttlefish and also blue-ring octopuses mating! I guess it was a shame to miss this but at least I got to see a cuttlefish hunt I am glad we saw tonnes of blue rings so our visitor from the UK could see them. I told him it was a great spot for them but as usual I was worried they'd all be hiding and he'd miss out. A couple of minutes into the dive I spotted one though and thought 'phew, now I can relax as he's seen one now'

I am going to try the doubles again, but this time with some tail weight. Also I am going to get twin 12s to borrow too, to see what they are like

 

[AussieByron]

Here is a link to the video I took on my D90 on sunday at Julian Rocks. My sync cord has fail yet again and I had no strobes to shoot stills.

20090222 046 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I got a dive in this morning and it is still all happening out there. Had about 8 Eagle Rays and over a dozen Leopard Sharks just doing their thing.

Cheers Mark

 

[AussieByron]

I am going to try the doubles again, but this time with some tail weight. Also I am going to get twin 12s to borrow too, to see what they are like

I prefer the twin 12.2s over my 300bar 7's in the water. But they are pain get them on and off when diving off a small boat or RIB. I havn't tried the 232bar 7's twins yet as they are alot lighter than the 300bar one which i have.

Regards Mark

 

[Sas]

I prefer the twin 12.2s over my 300bar 7's in the water. But they are pain get them on and off when diving off a small boat or RIB. I havn't tried the 232bar 7's twins yet as they are alot lighter than the 300bar one which i have.

Regards Mark

Yea I have heard that from a lot of people and am leaning towards twin 12s for my first set of doubles. Twin 7s would be good for solo shore diving, and that was why I was looking at them (the twins last night were 232 bar ones). I can quite comfortably do over 2hrs with my 10L on a shore dive, but the 7s would be more for redundancy. Probably be a while before I buy them but just going to try out a few different types. It's so handy having people loan me the gear! Really helps me make up my mind about things

 

[AussieByron]

Yea I have heard that from a lot of people and am leaning towards twin 12s for my first set of doubles. Twin 7s would be good for solo shore diving, and that was why I was looking at them (the twins last night were 232 bar ones). I can quite comfortably do over 2hrs with my 10L on a shore dive, but the 7s would be more for redundancy. Probably be a while before I buy them but just going to try out a few different types. It's so handy having people loan me the gear! Really helps me make up my mind about things

I have split my 12.2's as I rarely get the chance to need to use twin 12.2s. I am still coming back with alot of air with just a single 12.2l. Most of the time my strobes are about flat anyway.

if you already own a 10.5 I would also suggest a little ally pony. They come in handy for alot of uses and they are handy if you need to palm it off to someone in a situation. they work out cheaper when comparing twin setups.

just an idea.

Regards Mark

 

[Sas]

I have split my 12.2's as I rarely get the chance to need to use twin 12.2s. I am still coming back with alot of air with just a single 12.2l. Most of the time my strobes are about flat anyway.

if you already own a 10.5 I would also suggest a little ally pony. They come in handy for alot of uses and they are handy if you need to palm it off to someone in a situation. they work out cheaper when comparing twin setups.

just an idea.

Regards Mark

Ok I see. So far the plan is that I would be getting the twin 12s (or twin 10s but leaning towards 12Ls - at the moment I have one 12.2L and one 10.5L so either could be paired up) for Cavern and also deeper wreck diving (around the Graveyard wrecks), over the next year or two. For the meantime I am planning to get an AL 40cf pony to use in the 30-40m range along with my 12.2L tank. Air is rarely a limiting factor for me but rather NDL - so my main purpose with the 40cf bottle is for redundancy as I don't like to dive below 30m without redundant gas source.

The 40cf I will probably get first around midyear. Then 12.2L twins towards the end of the year. My solo shore dives I thought perhaps I could eventually get twin 7s but that is further down the track. Currently I don't dive with redundant air on my shore dives as they are less than 10m but ideally I would like to. I guess I could always carry the 40cf. Bit overkill for that depth but I guess better than nothing!

But yea, there are lots of options and everyone seems to say the different things So it's gonna be a while before I make up my mind I think.

How come you originally had 12.2L twins? Did you think you would use them but didn't end up needing it? Or have you changed the style of diving you do?

 

[AussieByron]

I was caught up with a mates plan to go to Mt Gambier and do our cavern ticket. The idea was that I would start diving the twin 12.2s to get used to them before I rock up so I wouldn't look like a complete muppet.

i dove with them for a while and it got to the stage where they became a pain in the butt getting them in and out of the RIB and not really worth taking on the boat. I am limited to 55minute maxium bottom times and I could get 3-4 dives out of the twins.

After looking at the time and money to be spent on cavern ticket I thought to myself it was alot of money to outlay for something which I would only do say once a year if that. I then thought that I would further my experience into wreck/tech but again there is nothing local and I would have to go to Sydney for courses and costing more money.

So I started thinking about bang for buck and threw more money at my camera gear which I can use all the time locally and something which I really enjoy.

I have the 3x 12.2s, 2x 10l 300bar, 2x7l 300bars twinned up, and borrow a 10.5 and 9l 232 bar fabers. More tanks to poke a stick at. Currently I really enjoy the 10.5 and 9l tanks in summer and diving in boardshorts, love the feeling especially with my 24lbs winged ally backplate (I might even take the wing right off and just dive with the BP).

Regarding the 40cuf ally. I love their size on deeper dives as they provide a really nice backup. Its an ideal size for a deco gas mix too. Have a look out for smaller 20cuf as they are sweet if you just want something for shallow work. I bought one off a mate for $100 and got alot of use until it failed test.

Borrow as much gear as possible until you find something that your happy with.

regards Mark

 

[Sas]

I was caught up with a mates plan to go to Mt Gambier and do our cavern ticket. The idea was that I would start diving the twin 12.2s to get used to them before I rock up so I wouldn't look like a complete muppet.

Well that's the plan... want to get comfortable with them before my Cavern course. Mt Gambier is about 5-6hrs drive from me so doable a few times a year. A lot of people in the club I'm in go up fairly regularly too so seems worthwhile at this stage

Luckily here there are a whole bunch of wrecks easily accessible too.

Regarding the 40cuf ally. I love their size on deeper dives as they provide a really nice backup. Its an ideal size for a deco gas mix too. Have a look out for smaller 20cuf as they are sweet if you just want something for shallow work. I bought one off a mate for $100 and got alot of use until it failed test.

Ok will keep an eye out. That size would be nice as a backup on shore dives.

Borrow as much gear as possible until you find something that your happy with.

That is my strategy of late - given I have replaced (or will be replacing) heaps of the stuff I bought right out of OW. At least now I know a bunch of friends who are happy to loan me gear. Was hard at the start to get loans of gear so I just bought gear anyway. Most of the gear I don't like now :depressed:

 

[Sas]

Ok well I have some pictures Paul took from our night dive the other night! I did not have my camera as I was trying out new gear.

Firstly, two blue ring octopuses mating! Well pretty sure that is what they are up to

Cuttlefish face - this one was friendly and liked to be patted.

Cuttlefish eye

Pest starfish - they look nice though!

Also here is a video of a cuttlefish - you can see the colours shimmering on its back, looks awesome!
Cuttlefish video on Flickr - Photo Sharing!