11/4/2006 - Blue daydreams

This is a photo of me (left) snorkelling at Piccannie Ponds with EP last Mt Gambier trip.  Taken by a cave diver (GP) diving below us.  Great photo- I love it! it's already my background but I had to steal it and put it in my blog.    I wish I looked more co-ordinated though!!

Watching those guys descend through the chasm with such awesome vis - it's the only time I've wished I was cave diver so I could go too!

EDIT: I have looked at the full size file and I am NOT the unco one in the photo - LOL 

(I know this because I have BLUE fins and EP's are yellow!)

9/4/2006 - the Barge and the Dredge

Did the Barge and the Dredge this weekend.  First time I have ever done the Barge, even though it's only about 50m from the Dredge (apparently?).  Just timing I guess.  There has been a fair bit of rain about so the vis was very poor - about 4m both dives!  Lucky our president is very good at finding the sites (or using the GPS/Sounder), and put us right on top of them.

Despite the crappy vis, there were heaps of nudi's on the deck of the Barge.  I saw 3 very vivid yellow ones about 2-3cm, a tiny white and purple one and a huge (10cm +) orange one.  Lots of fish around too.  It's funny, when the vis is bad, you don't see them until you virtually run into them. 

The Dredge is an old local favourite - reliable in the worst conditions.  If we can't dive the Dredge, we don't dive.  Only found 1 yellow nudi on the deck of this wreck, but I'm still not as good at spotting them.  There were some extra-large cuttlefish underneath the boat, one looked like it was going to attack my arm!  They are cool, I love psyching them out and watching them change colours.    Vis was again about 4m, but it must've been 10m + inside the wreck - at least until after I'd been in there .  Actually buoyancy has been getting better, am much better at the hovering thing, and don't kick up half as much as I used to.  New weight belt went well, started off using all 10kg that LH gave me, but was way too much, so dropped another kg today.  Probably could drop an extra kg on top of that, in the 15-20m we were in today.  Only problem is the pouch belt tends to slip around and hang upside down on me.  If I push it down around my hips, it restricts my leg movement, and for some reason just cannot get it to sit right around my waist.  Then again have only used it for 2 dives, so maybe should advance to next step and use the integ weight pockets my BCD came with!!

Water temp has dropped from 22C to 19C.  Seems like a only a little but really started to feel it after 30min.  Used a lot more air too, probably because I was starting to feel cold.  Maybe because frog kicking uses much less energy, so I'm not being active enough to stay warm?!  Am so paranoid about stirring up the vis though (and I know I still do a bit), so what to do?  Laps at deck level? Underwater jogging?!

Glad I went out today anyway, was absolutely stunning on the water - flat, hardly any breeze, clear skies.  If the vis was good it would've been perfect!  Probably won't get to dive next weekend as most of the club is going to Yorke Peninsula camping for Easter, taking ALL the hire gear and both boats.  I really should be going too, be an awesome trip, but have made myself stay behind to WORK ON MY PHD so I can justify going the following long weekend to Mt Gambier (ANZAC Day here).  Seems a bit reversed, as I'd get heaps better diving at Easter - more sites I can dive there - while Mt Gambier I'm restricted to cray-diving (if, and only if, the ocean's flat) and Ewen's Ponds.  If I thought my little VW could make it down to Yorke, or I get a last minute offer of a lift......I'd be very tempted!

6/4/2006 - Got my own weight belt now :-)

A friend of mine is moving to the US, and can't take all her gear with her, so now I have my own lead to put in my weight belt that has otherwise been sitting in the bottom of my dive tub.  Most of the time I hire a belt ($2 with my club - toooo cheap ) and just can't be bothered unthreading all the weights to put into my integ pockets or belt.  But since she gave me the lead..... thanks LH!!!  I will miss you though!

So now all I need to have a complete "kit" is regs and a tank.  The 2 items I know least about.  So will have to do some researching.  Will probably buy some regs in NZ when I have more money to play with.

Has been cool (less than 20 degrees) and damp here, and quite a bit windy too, am hoping it will clear up by the weekend.  Hopefully the rain hasn't killed the vis.  I got 2 free boat dive vouchers for my birthday, so I'm looking forward to spending them!

3/4/2006 - ex-HMAS Hobart dive!!!

Well, have been so busy with uni, beach volleyball and of course DIVING, haven't had a chance to post anything for a while.

But yesterday, had a chance to do the ex-HMAS Hobart, and had a whale of a time!! What a wreck - so well set up for divers!  There a rip-roarer of a current, but the charter put us right on it, and once you were inside it was just magic - I know why they call it the "green ghost".  Also was my deepest dive yet - 28m - and am happy to say I handled it well.

In other news, I have accepted a job in Wellington, NEW ZEALAND - so I'm glad to have had a chance to the Hobart before I left!  At this stage am moving there in July, so still some time to do some diving here.  Not that I plan to give it away altogether!!  But I think I'll need to ease into the (much) cooler waters, invest in a good semi-dry and leave diving around Wellington till the Summer!

Love to hear from anyone who's done any diving in NZ, especially around Wellington!

2/2/2006 - Mt Gambier Jan '06

Tales from my 2nd Mt Gambier trip.....

Arrived 10pm Wednesday night, so no diving, but stayed up to some ridiculous hour listening to the CDAA divers talk the talk.  Occasionally wondered whether they were speaking another language...?!

Thursday, my non-cave buddy arrived promptly and Keen as mustard, so we set off down to the coast to see what the ocean was like.

Alas it was rough - not as nasty as last time but still the vis looked non-existent and the waves could be a problem.  Great day for surfers!  We drove up and down the coast a bit looking for a calm spot to get it and finally found one that looked so-so.  It was a stinking hot day, especially for the region, with temperatures pushing 40 degrees so we were but this stage pretty keen to get in the water.  The spot we picked was fairly protected from waves, so we got our wetsuits on (it's still only 18 degrees in the water!) - braving heat stroke I might add! - and decided to check it out on snorkel to begin with.  The vis was a lot poorer than we'd hoped, and despite being protected the surge was quite strong, so we soon gave up.

On the way back to the pub (where we were staying!), we called into Ewens Ponds.  As I had predicted, the place was packed out, being such a hot day.  We checked out the first pond and there was well in excess of the regulation "6 snorkellers & 4 divers at any one time in the pond", one of which was struggling with her buoyancy and finning like mad, silting up the entire place.    Another 2 carloads of divers arrived while we were there, one of them armed with a scooter (also not permitted - I mean, seriously! ), and I think that sealed it for us.  So we headed back to the pub, washed our snorkelling gear and wetsuits and got a carton of beer in good Australia day fashion.

The next day we had booked permits to snorkel Piccanninie Ponds at 8am, so it was a bright and early start.  Four of our cave divers we're booked in at the same time, so we jumped in and watched them descend into the Chasm.  The vis wasn't as good as it may have been (probably had lots of holiday traffic the day before), but it still was mesmerising to watch, and made me want to go down too!  We paddled around a bit and saw a few eels, but the freshwater was pretty cold and the air temperature was 10-12 degrees cooler than it was the day before, so we packed up and headed for the ocean again, in hope for some salty diving.

There was still quite a bit of swell about and we'd made an agreement with ourselves not to try and dive where people were surfing (usually not a good sign!!!)We headed for a spot that we had looked up on the map northwest of Pt Mac; there was only a dirt road there but it was well maintained and not too many pot-holes.  The spot we were heading to wasn't much more than a speck on a map, and when we got there, there was scarcely more than a few dozen well-maintained holiday houses.  Best of all, it seemed to be fairly protected, with several reefs leading into shore.  As we were driving along, we caught a glimpse of two snorkellers coming back to shore, so we parked up and headed down to see if he had caught anything.  as we approached we got very excited - the catch bag of the father and son looked quite full, and when they reached the beach, they emptied 3-4 nice crays out to measure, one of quite reasonable size!  We could hardly contain ourselves, we almost sprinted back to the car to get our gear!

Back on to the beach for an easy shore entry, then surface swam out to the first patch of reef.  We were dragging our bellies at quite a few places - it was only about half a metre deep!  I had a look under the ledge anyway...and were there some crayfish!!!! All little fellows and definitely undersize, but it was fantastic to see!!   In some places they were 3 or more deep under the ledge...with some stacked on top of each other and even some upside-down on the roof!  I couldn't believe it.  The only place I'd seen more lobster was at a commercial holding facility where they export them live overseas. But never in the wild like this!!  It was good to see so many of them, and I'd like to think that this is an indication that the fishery is still healthy down there.  Well, we had fun playing with them, but none were legal, so we couldn't take any back.  We decided to go back there the following morning and explore a different patch, to see if we could find any for the pot.

It was high tide in the morning, which meant we had a little bit more depth but this also meant more surge.  We headed out a bit deeper and a bit closer to the breaker zone, but the surge was almost impossible to contend with, and in only 2m of water I could not sink at all, despite having added extra lead.  We saw a couple of bigger crays, but they were under deep ledges with plenty of  dark places to retreat into.  We ended up heading back in closer to shore.  I picked up some healthy blacklip abalone on the way - I just couldn't handle going home empty-handed again!  We contented ourselves with playing with the little crays again.  I pulled a few out that were about half a mil undersize, but although they were so close, it was definitely not worth running the gauntlet with Fisheries, and I know better anyway - size limits are there for a reason!

I had my head under one ledge when I felt my buddy tightly squeeze my ankle.  She had a wide look in her eyes and as we were in only half a metre of water, I merely raised my head to see what the problem.  Apparently she had been "surfing" the surge into another reef and had almost collided with a huge wobbegong!!  It had given her a helluva fright and she only just managed to pull up in time.  She had come to warn me not to put my hand under ledge without looking first.  I had done anyway, but I was extra-extra cautious now!  We swam over to where she'd encountered it, but it was nowhere to be seen.....which made me wonder: where do you hide a 6-foot wobbie?!?

By now we were low on air (despite not having logged any bottom time so-to-speak - both of our depth gauges said we were still on the surface!!!).  So we headed back into shore and back into town for lunch.  Our tales of the "crayfish nursery" as I'd nicknamed it got the boys interested (I'm not sure if they fully believed us at first!), and 2 of them followed us back to the spot for an afternoon session.

It had begun to drizzle and it was cold climbing back into our wet gear, but as the tide had gone out the sea had dropped.  It was calm with almost no surge and the vis was remarkable.  We pointed out the reef we had dived previously, but decided to explore another area further down.  There was expansive shallow bed of seagrass leading out to it, and as we swam along, I thought we might even have a chance of seeing a leafy sea dragon - it just looked like their sort of territory.  Later on, I found out they were seen there on occasion, and perhaps if hadn't been so caught up in "cray fever", we might've even seen one!

The territory wasn't looking so good for crays at this stage, too much seagrass and no reef.  We got out a bit further and then we were on sand.   We found a nice series of ledges running perpendicular to the shore, and there were lots of crays under there in patches, but again mostly undersize.  At least we had a bit depth here (about 2m) but we still came to the surface often and sat on a ledge while we discussed where we should look.  I was peering under one particular ledge when I made out the patterned body of a wobbegong.  Then I realised it wasn't its body at all - it was only its tail!!!  I don't know if it was the same one my buddy had seen the day before, but it was huge, 6-feet at least - the biggest I'd seen underwater!!  I went back to my buddy, who was under the same ledge trying to coax a cray out, and gave her what was by now our universal signal for "big wobbie" - a squeeze on the ankle!!  we were both pretty stoked to see it, but gave it plenty of space!

In the end we only got one legal cray - but we had heaps of fun, and that's the main thing!

25/1/2006 - more freshwater diving... and hopefully a cray?

Tomorrow is Australia Day which means public holiday , so I'm skipping uni on Friday and taking a long weekend with the dive club.  I was umming and ah-ing about whether to go down the Yorke Peninsula with one group - lovely shore diving opportunities, including the famous Edithburg jetty - or heading down the south-east for some freshwater diving and maybe a crayfish or 2....! 

I ended up opting for Option # 2, although I almost decided against it, as most of the contingency are cave divers and will be doing just that - cave diving - for most of it (you may have guessed I am not a certified cave diver).  But another non-cavey member is coming across as well now, and she's reputably good at finding crays, so hopefully we will be able to get in ocean this time as well as lovely freshwater stuff (see my previous Ewens Ponds post!).

Apparently there is a cray-catching comp on Sunday with first prize being $500, but I'll be just happy to get a legal size one for the pot!

Am counting down to the end of the day, although it will be a long (5hr) drive.

So people - will let you know how I go - and Happy Australia Day for tomorrow!!!!

24/1/2006 - My first Queensland dives

Ok...my first dives in QLD were off Pt Lookout, North Stradbroke Island, affectionately known as Straddie (East of Brisbane, for those of you OS).  I booked a holiday unit for BKM and I as he had never been Straddie (background check: I grew up on Moreton Island which is beside Straddie, so I wanted to show BKM the environment I grew up in).

We dived with the LDS, which is also the local backpackers.  I thought they were pretty good, professional and friendly, didn't take shortcuts and were organised.

We had seen heaps of manta rays and sea turtles from the cliffs overlooking the ocean, so we were hoping to see at least a manta.  The boat headed to Manta Ray Bommie, but the DM deemed the spot unsuitable to dive, mainly because of the low vis.  I was a bit disappointed but not surprised - after the flat, still days we had over New Year's, a 15K Northerly had blown up, and with the southeasterly swell, it wasn't too pleasant above the water.  So the skipper decided to take us a little further out, to a spot called Flat Rock.  we pulled up on the eastern side (more exposed), but while the vis was better, there seemed to be a fair bit of current, and we had some newly-certified divers on board.  This left us with one last spot, called the Nursery, around the Western side of the rock. 

I'm not sure if it's called the Nursery because it's an easy dive to "nurse" newbies in, or if some sort of marine creature actually breeds there.  It was a shallow dive, with encrusted rock gently sloping down to sand.  The dive guides didn't take us quite on to the sand, which was about 18m, I registered a maximum depth of 12m.

We did two dives here with about a 30min surface interval  - by this time my seasick medication had begun to wear off, so I was feeling pretty average, but managed to keep my breakfast down.  No mantas but BKM was over the moon to see a decent sized sea turtle (i'm guessing it was a green, but it swam off pretty quickly before I got a good look at it).  Also saw quite a few wobbegongs, epaulette sharks, sweetlip, one very cute anemone fish, the biggest nudi I've ever seen (about the size of my hand ), some painted crays (spinier than southern rock lobster, I found out the hard way...!), lots of butterfly fish....I'd have to get my log out as I'm sure this is just a taste of what we saw...!  I'm happy to say I was toasty warm in my 5mm 2piece despite some very shocking thermoclines - the guides said it was rather cold (about 24 degrees in places), which is why there probably wasn't any mantas or leopard sharks.  BKM dived in his 2/3mm surf steamer and 0.5mm rashie, and was fine - must be that hot New Zealand blood!!!!!

I thought the vis was great but apparently 10m is a poor day in those parts.  Looking forward to getting some more QLD diving in next time I'm up!

24/1/2006 - What kind of coffee am I?

You are a Black Coffee

At your best, you are: low maintenance, friendly, and adaptable At your worst, you are: cheap and angsty You drink coffee when: you can get your hands on it Your caffeine addiction level: high

11/1/2006 - Back to reality

Well sadly my holiday is over and I'm now back at uni for what is hopefully the home run...

Had a great time in Brisbane, albeit quiet, mostly catching up with family.  Had a quiet Christmas then went to North Stradbroke Island for New Year's...I love that place.  Did a double dive at Flat Rock, so will have to find some time to blog those dives.

So sad to hear about the girl who died after being attacked by bull sharks.  It was completely unexpected, even thought I've always felt the area is "sharky" when I've snorkelled there.  Needless to say, Mum & Dad weren't too happy about us diving, although I'd never get in the water when it was that murky.

Anyway, hope everyone is settling back into "reality"...

16/12/2005 - Last day at uni for while - yay!

Two entries in one day - well this is me procastinating and counting down till we head to the pub for "festive drinks"!

On Monday I fly up to Brisbane to spend Christmas with my Mum, Dad and brother.  Am packing my dive gear and hoping to get at least a couple of dives in.  Looking forward to the warmer water and better vis - apparently 10m is a bad day!?!  We had 10m on Saturday and I was STOKED!   Will be staying at North Stradbroke Island (known affectionately as "Straddie") for New Years, so hoping to get out off Pt Lookout, maybe even see a Manta Ray!! A friend did a double dive on the Brisbane ( newly-sank wreck off Mooloolaba) on Monday and has flaunted some great happy snaps, but I don't know if I can afford 2 charters on my student budget (especially when I'm still waiting on signatures so I can apply to extend my scholarship.....grrrrrr! ).

No diving this weekend, as found out I can't hire gear through my club for my partner unless he joins (and since he lives in NZ, not worth paying the $70 is Sports Assoc fees). 

By the way - had an AWESOME dive on Northern Outer Reef (finally had decent enough weather to find it - yay!)  last Saturday - in summary it was so good we went into deco because we didn't want the dive to end!!!! (but only just ).

We saw: a grass eel, heaps of blue swimmer crabs (many berried females!!), lots of Gurnards, a very too-cool-for-school flathead, cuttlefish, spider crabs, a wicked blue devil, a cod (either a red or a bearded - not sure!), whiting, a SHIRTLOAD of nudi's, some small snook, big school of old wives.....the list goes on!!!  This reef is little more than a blip on the sounder, but I don't think many people dive it, hence the great amount of life on it.  Definitely going down as one of my best dives...yet!

Anywho, better tidy up the desk for the New Year, next time I blog will be from sunny QLD!  Cheers! 

16/12/2005 - November nights - part 2

Well it's well and truly December now, almost Christmas even! - so I thought I'd better get in here and finish this blog entry....

Our second dive at Port Noarlunga was just as nice as the first, if not better. Four of us girls and one of the girls' brothers headed down a bit later this time to make it a proper night dive instead of a twilight dive.

I buddied with two of the girls while the brother & sister stuck together.  Our group spent a lot of our time under the jetty, examining the life on the pilons.  When we got to the end, it was almost completely dark, the reef loomed above us almost ominously.   We decided to go South - against the slightest of currents.

The activity at night is such a contrast to the day.  I was amazed at how active the abalone were, mostly cruising around on the reef and interacting with each other, but one particular one looked like it was dancing....! It was arching right off the rock, it's frills and soft parts quite exposed, and it seriously looked like it was "doing the twist"!  

Further along we were rewarded with what is the most amazing thing I have ever seen underwater (yet...!) - a sea pen!!  I thought it was some sort of alien life form, and it scared the sh!t out of one of my buddies, who drifted over it.  This thing seemed to grow out of the bare sand to over a foot high, and looked surreal in our torch beams, gently moving with weak surge.  I know nothing about them (what Phylum do they belong to even????) but I certainly wasn't expecting one in 5m of water inside a suburban dive spot!!  Fantastic!!!  

We were starting to feel a little cold so we turned around to head back when I realised we were one torch down.  The batteries on Lauren's SL4 were borrowed to begin with, and had finally kicked the bucket.   I pulled my MiniQ from my pocket and gave it to her, feeling a bit geeky for having a "back-up" but a bit chuffed it had come in handy!

We hadn't intended to have such a long dive at 81 minutes we were hauling ourselves up the steps and back to the car park, and even though we were breathless, we couldn't stop talking about what an awesome evening it was!

28/11/2005 - November nights - part 1

With this beautiful spring weather we've been having (although it was a bit cold for spring on the weekend!!), I put my hand up for not one but 2 night dives last week.  Both were to Pt Noarlunga, about 20km south of Adelaide and a marine reserve. It's a longshore reef and jetty dive all-in-one, as there's a nice long jetty right out to the reef itself.  .  It's a spot used a lot for OW training, as its a nice safe dive, with maximum depth rarely going over 6m, you just can't get lost and the stairs provide easy entry.

With Daylight Savings, the sun doesn't set till about 8pm, leaving plenty of time to get home from work.   Unfortunately the entry stairs at the very end of jetty that dropped you right on the reef were knocked off during a storm and have not yet been replaced.   There are another set about 2/3 of the way out, which really isn't too bad as the trek from the carpark is long enough. 

We dropped down under the jetty to follow it out to the reef.  I hadn't really dived under this jetty before, there wasn't too much to see, a few abalone that might almost have been size if it wasn't a marine reserve.

Towards the end of the jetty  I heard my buddy's hearty laughter underwater from a few metres away. He'd  found a the torn up pieces of  still very legible love-letter that had obviously been tossed off the end of the jetty.  "Engagement ring?" he wrote on his slate.  I was thinking the same thing.  Apparently a few had been salvaged around "throwing distance" off Glenelg jetty.  We shone our torches around, hoping for a glint in the sand, but to no avail. 

We headed north along the inside of the reef, poking our noses in holes and under ledges.  We saw a few little nudi's and a whole school of what looked like juvenile old wives.  At one stage I was having some serious issues with being too buoyant - not quite enough weight for a whole 3m of water!!

After almost an hour we turned around and started back towards the jetty.  It was completely dark by this stage and this had brought some common stingrays on to the reef.  We saw at least 4 on the way back.  A large school of silver drummer hovered on the very edge of our torch beams, which was kinda eery.  One of them spooked and smacked straight into my buddy giving him a dead arm for the rest of the dive.

We finished the dive after 85 minutes - my longest ever!! - and I still had 75 bar (out of 220) left so I was pretty happy with that. 

23/11/2005 - Just SWELL

Well had one weekend off diving as I had to move house....the good news is the house has plenty of room to store dive gear and one my new housemates works at a chocolate factory - yum!!!!  And they both seem pretty normal so that is good news because now I live closer to the city AND pay less rent!!

Last weekend BKM came to visit on his way to WA, and since his flight didn't arrive till midday, I decided to squeeze a dive in with the club before he arrived (the clubrooms are right next to the airport - how convenient!).  It was a move I lived to regret because it was a ROUGH day out on the water - we were only heading 5km offshore but headed straight into a 2m southerly swell.  I was unfortunately right on the leading edge of the 6m rigid hull inflatable our club uses, and not only did I get drenched but my vertebrae certainly were tested on every wave.  I would've donned my mask if I wasn't holding on for dear life!

After what seemed like forever, fighting against the waves, we finally reached the vicinity of our intended dive spot - Northern Outer Reef. This is the reef we have adopted for Reefwatch, and I'd like to give you a description but I have never dived it - that's right, we couldn't find it on the sounder, what with swell pushing us around.  For this reason we ended up anchoring on the Dredge - mainly because we could locate it!!!

As for me, I would have just as much preferred to have given up and gone in.  But here we were, 11 divers with sore backs.  We might as well get in the water.

Despite "growing up" on boats I am terribly susceptable to seasickness, and it seems you don't grow out of it.  I had taken a tablet before leaving the boat ramp, but by the time we'd anchored, I'd wished I'd taken 2 - it was taking all my willpower to hold the first one down!!  I almost called the dive, but I knew I'd feel better once I was under the water.  A couple of the guys kindly helped me gear up while I stared at the horizon, and as fast as I could I rolled over.

The dive itself was excellent - great vis, almost zero current.  Found the Dredge with ease, sitting only few metres from the anchor.  My buddy was having some buoyancy issues, even at 19m, and it wasn't till he started collecting every sinker or piece of lead that he could that I realised he had lost his weight belt.  I found out later he hadn't realised he had lost his weightbelt either, till he got to the bottom!!  At about 30 minutes into the dive I started to feel a bit cold so we started our ascent on the anchor line.  At the safety stop I thought I was feeling pretty good, just a slight headache, but as soon as I broke the surface it was all over.  I was not good.

I handed my gear into the boat between chucks and when I was down to my wetsuit, I decided the best thing would be to stay in the water, as getting back into the boat was not going to help.  Another club member was already treading water for the same reason, and we had the boat based shark deterrant, so floated around while the second group did their dive.  It wasn't much better in the water, after 20min I really started to feel the cold, but through my pounding head and involuntary heaving, I didn't really care.  towards the end I finally begged someone to help drag me into the boat, where I curled up  feeling very sorry myself and wishing I could crawl into a dark corner and hide.  The swell and subsided a bit so the ride in wasn't half as bad with the following sea.  I was glad to get on to dry land.  The only consolation was that BKM was also feeling under the weather from a big night out , so we both had plenty of sympathy for each other.

This was by far the worst episode of sea sickness I've endured.  I wish I didn't get it cause I love being out on the water!  I know next time not to bother going out because it just isn't worth it - no, not even if it's a good dive.  Of course the group who went out the following morning got beautiful conditions underwater AND on top of it - just my luck!

8/11/2005 - the big two-zero

Despite the inactivity on this blog, I've atually been out and done a few dives, in fact on the weekend I logged my 20th dive, which for me is quite exciting!!!    This brings me ever-closer to my goal of 30 dives before January 06 so I can volunteer at Lizard Is Research Station.

I guess I can say I have overcome my fear of getting back into the water....overcome it but it's still definitely there.  Our club has purchased a boat-based shark deterrant which hangs off the anchor line...and this has calmed my nerves when it comes to safety stops (even if it may be a false sense of security....?).  Last weekend, we didn't find the anchor line in time for our safety stop, so we ended up doing a mid-water one.  I had concentrated pretty hard on my breathing to avoid panicking but somehow got through it.  We weren't that far from the boat as it turned out.

Later in the day as we anchored for our 2nd dive, another dive boat approached us and told us there'd been a white pointer sighting the day before exactly where we'd just finished our first dive.    What could we say? It wasn't there now!   Sea rescue had posted a warning just that morning on 2 sightings of a white pointer about 25km north.  Maybe it had swum up there?  I don't know.  I did my 2nd dive with no nerves (maybe the travel sickness pills had a sedative effect.......). 

Saturday was a perfect day weather-wise and there were plenty of divers out, but no reported incidents.  Afterwards, I felt slightly exhilarated.  I think it was mainly cause I got out there and did 2 dives, in spite of their being sightings (in total there 4 last week).  Some people will call us reckless, but what are we supposed to do?   The first sighting had been where we originally planned to dive, so we moved 25km south.....only to find one had been seen there too!!  It shouldn't be so surprising - a shark being seen in the water!  I hope I never see one myself.

This weekend I think I will have to have a dry one as I am moving house.  As it is, I've left only Saturday to pack and Sunday to move (I'm in share-houses, so I virtually have only bedroom furniture and dive/fishing gear to move!!!)  I've thought about how I could fit in one dive Saturday and then spend the arvo packing.....but I don't think it's a good idea......

17/10/2005 - Dive # 17 - the Dredge 15/10/05

I conquered my fear this weekend and did my first ocean dive from a boat.  I was pretty scared but I paid for the equipment hire in advance - to discourage me from chickening out.

I was late signing up for the boat and the first trip was already full, so I put my name down for the second trip.  The club usually runs 2 boats but our new one has only just arrived and wasn't fitted out so the plan was to meet the boat at the ramp, where they would pick us up after they had dropped off the first boatload.

Before I went to sleep the night before I silently willed it to be blowing and raining when I woke up.

Of coure it was a stunning day when I awoke - only a slight breeze and warm and sunny.  You couldn't really ask for a better day to be out on the water.  I disconnected my overactive imagination for the day and packed all my gear up and headed to the boat ramp to be picked up.

The boat came in right on time and we swapped over gear and divers.  Only 2 of us were actually picked up, as 4 of the others from the first dive stayed on for 2nd dive.  Besides, it was such a nice day, I'm sure they didn't really want to be on dry land.

We headed out and had barely left the harbour when we were frantically waved down by another speedboat.  I feared they had recognised the dive boat and were going to warn us of shark sighting or worse.  It turned out their motor wouldn't start, and they just wanted a tow back to the ramp.  They didn't have marine radio so they couldn't call the Coast Guard (even though they were almost in earshot).  There was some muttering...  couldn't it wait till we'd finished our dive?... why didn't they  be wave down someone who was heading in not out?..but we obliged.  They didn't even offer us a carton of beer!

We anchored up and Dave being a legend put us right on the boat.  The Dredge sits upright in about 20m of water. It's was an easy wreck to dive for someone who's not "wreck certfied" - it's is quite open with a couple of eays swim-through's and if you're adventurous you can penetrate easily into the hold.  Unfortunately the vis left much to be desired and there wasn't much life to be seen.  The current was also running quite hard so the best place to be was inside the wreck!!  After skirting the circumference and going over timthe deck a few times, we were getting close to our no-deco limits and I was starting to feel the cold.  Plus my bottom timer/depth gauge was out of battery, so it was time to end the dive.

I stuffed up on the safety stop, relying on my buddy's hand signals I surfaced after only about 1 1/2 min. Although it was a pretty average dive I was pretty stoked to have overcome my fears of getting back into the water. 

A word of thanks to everyone in the club who have been nothing but supportive and encouraging to dive with. 

6/10/2005 - Ewens Ponds....how good is freshwater!!!!!

Am flat out with PhD stuff at the moment so haven't had time to blog my weekend....let me just say that I had a most relaxing time with a great bunch of people and freshwater diving rocks!!

In short....

• Snorkelled Picanninie Ponds (can only SCUBA dive if you're Cave diver accredited).  Super clear water, lots of little freshwater fish that I don't know the name of  and a few eels. 

• Dived Ewens Ponds - what an awesome spot!! Water was a balmy 16 degrees, vis fantastic - seemed endless in places.  saw many "south east spiny crayfish" (Euastacus bispinosus, thanks Marty )...some that would rival their distant saltwater cousins (well almost!!!).  Please note no crayfish were harmed in the taking of these photos!! (Ewens Ponds is a conservation area).  Also so numerous bream (Acanthopagrus sp.).

The ponds are linked by shallow channels - it's like drifting through an underwater garden!

This little fella didn't want to pose for the photo!

Dinner, Ewens Ponds style...!

Pond 1 - amazing clarity!

Many thanks to Lauren for taking the happy snaps!!! 

• The ocean itself was like a washing machine, so despite the lure of southern rock lobster (Jasus edwardsii for those of you still playing at home!) season opening, they had only the cray pots to worry about.  We did try and enter the water at one stage, and were unceremoniously ejected back on to the beach by the angry waves.  I promise to tell the story next blog, I'm sure you'll find it rather entertaining (although was pretty embarrassing for us! )

Anyway, must  fly.......have to return gear to the dive club before they send out an APB on me!!

26/9/2005 - Mmmmm.....chlorine & sloughed skin!

For some reason I decided to sit in on a "Try SCUBA" course at the Aquatic Centre on Sunday.  It was a soggy day with not much happening, so playing around in a heated pool was better than nothing.  A friend is doing his DM course and invited me along, and I coerced Gulia to come along too - she is one dive out of attaining her OW, and needs practise!

It must have been the most non-eventful dive I've ever been on.  Once I had alerted the Instructors to the fact I was already qualified, I spent most of the time doing laps of the pool on SCUBA!  At one stage I took to looking closely at the cracks in the tiles (with the amount of chlorine that was in there, I didn't expect to find anything living, and thankfully I didn't!).  I did see some rather large pieces of dead skin float past though......  After some convincing I got Gulia to go through mask removal and replacement, which she was rather nervous about but did with no dramas at her second attempt.  I'm so glad I have finished my course.....and that I don't wear contacts!

The question remains - do I log this dive?!

this weekend is the long weekend and I'm quite excited about it though I'm worried I'm going to freeze.  I'm expecting about 12 degrees (both in the ponds and the ocean), and only have a 5mm 2-piece to work with.  Earlier this winter I bought 0.5mm Titanium rashie that I plan to wear underneath, I'm hoping they're as warm as they claim to be!  I have a 2/3m steamer but i don't think I could fit into both at the same time....anyway we will see!!!  Might get one of those cheap waterproof cameras for Ewen's and Picanninie Ponds, hopefully the vis will be good  enough that they'll turn out!

20/9/2005 - Lizard Is and the Southeast

Ok, apparently this entry has been frustrating a few people as they haven't been able to view it......that's because it's been saved as a DRAFT and wasn't ready to be published (had distractions, i.e. PhD ).  So hear it is, hope I haven't built up the suspense too much.....

Word has come from my dear friend up North QLD that she is travelling to Lizard Is in January 2006 for field work and requires volunteers to help her. BKM and I have been given first refusal for the first fortnight.  I don't know if I can afford the time off, but am very excited all the same and hopefully can negotiate something with my supervisor.  Unfortunately, I only have 11 dives under my belt (not including my 4 OW dives), so have to log a few more before I can volunteer for her.  This wouldn't have been a problem normally but given time's recent events, I'm a bit nervous getting back into the water, and boat diving, for time being, is out of the question for me.  This is recreational diving and if you're not having fun or feeling comfortable, what's the point, right?  Also, I wouldn't want to spoil someone else's dive if I felt like pulling the plug early.

On the weekend I finally got my lazy bum into gear and got down the Dive Club to help out with their jumble sale.  "Help out" I did....but not by selling stuff!! I ended up eating a large share of the sausage sizzle and coming away with a desk and coffee table that were "such a bargain" but I'm not sure where I'm going to put them.....anyway, a group has organised some diving in Southeast on the long weekend at the end of the month, which I've been coaxed into going.  This is my opportunity to get some dives under my belt, under fairly non-threatening circumstances, all shore-based diving.  The "Southeast" is the southeast region of South Australia, bordering Victoria, and is often referred to as the Limestone Coast due the limestone rock formations.  Its a mecca of caves, and one of the dive sites is Picanninie Ponds, which for cave divers only though I will be snorkelling it (as I don't have CDAA).  this is a freshwater dive spot ponds reknowned for it's super-clear vis.  Another freshwater spot, also reknowned for it clarity is Ewen's ponds.  This one doesn't require CDAA so I'll be diving that one.  Will let you all know and give a better description when I've visited both spots!! (see http://www.daveharasti.com/articles/ewensponds.htm for nice description).  We will also be doing come saltwater diving off Port Macdonnel.  Apart from wine and sheep, crayfish are also a substantial export of the Limestone coast region, and I will be trying my (gloved) hand at catching some the old fashioned way.

In other news, I've put my name down for a DAN O2 course (required for boat handlers), but am not sure if I can attend as I may be visiting BKM in NZ. 

So the wheels are in motion for Lizard Is; now I just have to convince my supervisor in my 3rd and final year of my PhD to allow me to take 2 weeks off to go fish-watching in the tropics.

15/9/2005 - Public notice

This appeals to my twisted sense of humour .

http://dumpty.net/notice.jpg

No, it's not me taking the pictures........!

14/9/2005 - First NZ dive

Last summer I was introduced to cray diving my big Kiwi man (BKM). 

This was the first time we had dived together (living in different countries prevented it happening sooner).

Anyway, we headed out towards Akaroa heads, me at the helm (no really - I got to steer the boat for at least part of the way ).  BKM's Dad had an ear infection, so was by default boat person.  There was a bit of a swell rolling through, so I was starting to feel a bit green.  BKM was in a mad rush to get in the water, so while I was struggling to keep my eye on the horizon while wrestling into my wetsuit, he put my unit together (without asking me, I might add - I normally do it myself, and being new to the game I need the practise!).  Anyway, I checked over my gear and everything seemed fine, doing Big White Rabbits Are Fluffy in my head.  Finally I was ready and in we went.

I won't lie - it was bloody cold!! I was in a 2-piece 5mm, while BKM was in 7mm.  Despite the 11kg of lead I was wearing,  I wasn't quite sinking.  so I did what I normally do and turned tail up and went for the bottom, knowing the pressure at that depth would keep me down.  It was only 10m of water, but I didn't see the bottom till I almost head-butted it.  The vis was about 1.5m-2m.  BKM kindly checked if I was ok.  I was still clutching tightly to his hand, not having dived in such low vis before.

Off we went, madly going from crayhole to crayhole.  I was vaguely aware that we were following along the shoreline.  I hung on to the top of BKM's tank to save being left behind.  BKM stopped and started working this one rock quite hard, and I guessed there must be cray under it, but for BKM kicking up the silt, and the low vis to begin with, there was nothing I could see.  when I finally shouldered my way in and got my much smaller hand under, all I pulled out was a  small and pretty scared looking cray, which was missing quite a few appendages.  BKM clapped; I had caught my first cray but I felt pretty sorry for the little fella, and he was returned to his hole. 

we continued on along and went through a well-planted bed of extraordinarily large paua (=abalone).  I couldn't believe it when BKM continued without stopping, and almost lost my knife trying to get one the run.  I didn't know you couldn't take paua on SCUBA in NZ, and when we surfaced later it was lucky I hadn't slipped any into my BCD as DOC had just checked our boat.

The territory was not fantastic, the vis was poor and the cold was starting to get at me in my 5mm, so after about 30min we decided to surface.  BKM's dad was waitng patientlyfor us and had been vigilantly watching our bubbles, so wasn't long till we were back on the boat.  We decided to try another spot, since we had only brought up a couple of size crays.  although it was reasonably sunny day and air temp was about 18, I was really shivering now, so I opted out of diving again. 

I was very pleased on how much air I'd used. I'd gone down with about 280 and come back up with over 200 left.  even though I'm a girl and a fairly slight one at that,  I'd been a bit of a huffer in the past, and I'd expected to have used a lot more air this dive being cold.  Since there was still a lot of air left in my tank, BKM decided to use it for the next dive, since he didn't plan to be down for long.  So I removed my reg, only to discovere BKM had not removed the tape!!!!  No wonder I hadn't used any air!!!  I hadn't had any trouble getting air when I'd made my check or even on the bottom, so we thought the pressure must be great enough when we turned the air on to have forced its away around the tape.  But I wasn't impressed and vowed to always hook up my own gear in the future.

It definitely wasn't the best dive and the crays were only just worth it, but I was pretty pleased with myself, a Queenslander, surviving 30min at 12 degrees in 5mm and my first NZ dive.  I guess it can only get better!