Dive #133. Lovin' the local leafies...

When: 14 February 2009
Location: The Bluff, Victor Harbour, South Australia
Depth: 8.2m
Bottom time: 62 mins
Viz: 4m
Water temp: 21°C
Buddy: Scuba Buachall

Swiss native Fabian booked a guided leafy sea dragon tour with SB.

And who better?

We met 10. Yes, 10 leafies, ranging from juvenile to fully grown.

The conditions were lovely. Warm and sunny, and a gentle sea. But it's the Bluff, so as usual, there was surge. And the viz wasn't great. The sea there always reminds me of Won Ton soup, with stringy bits...

I spotted a juvenile moonlighter who thought I didn't see him, and darted off quite hurriedly, upset that I waved at him.

SB also came across a dozen crayfish hiding under a ledge.

All in all, a lovely, leafy dive!

Dive #132. Mr Ray @ Edithburgh

When: 7 February 2009
Location: Edithburgh Jetty, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia
Depth: 3.3m
Bottom time: 76 mins
Viz: 5m
Water temp: 25°C (wow!)
Buddy: Scuba Buachall

A lovely and warm return to diving. We love Edithburgh.

And what a special dive.

This was an underwater photography course dive (being taught by SB). As we and the three students (Mark, Bel and Pieter) were about to descend, a beautiful ray - about 1.5 to 2m wide - swam gracefully below us. He joined us again halfway through the dive.

Here's my startled face as he returned and glided behind SB:



And SB captured him beautifully on camera:



Other fish? Yes of course there were.

A particularly stunning nudibranch too.

But Mr Ray's visit was definitely the highlight.

Dive #131

When: 18 May 2008
Location: Edithburgh Jetty, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia
Depth: 7.9m
Bottom time: 79 mins
Water temp: 14°C
Buddy: Scuba Buachall

A bit chilly.

Another lovely dive...except a fisherman tried to hook me and it really spooked me!

Here I am, looking serene, legless, and like I've merged with the Edithburgh Jetty steps.

Dive #130

When: 27 April 2008
Location: Edithburgh Jetty, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia
Depth: 4.1m
Bottom time: 98 mins
Water temp: 17°C
Buddy: Scuba Buachall

This was a lovely long dive.

The plan was to swim north as far as we could and investigate the coastline on the way.

All the finning kept us toasty. As soon as we stopped, we got cold.

Dive #129

When: 26 April 2008
Location: Edithburgh Jetty, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia
Depth: 7.3m
Bottom time: 61 mins
Water temp: 17°C
Buddy: Scuba Buachall

Scuba Buachall and I went for this dive quite late in the day.

The viz deteriorated quite a bit towards the end of the dive; the light was fading.

SB got some absolutely fantastic up-close-and-personal shots of a blue ringed octopus.

What do you think?

Dive #128

When: 25 April 2008
Location: Edithburgh Jetty, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia
Depth: 7.1m
Bottom time: 67 mins
Water temp: 19°C
Buddies: Scuba Buachall, Michelle T, Paul Z

Ah Edithburgh.

Such a lovely dive.

Dive #127

When: 8 March 2008
Location: Rapid Bay Jetty, South Australia
Depth: 5.4m
Bottom time: 60 mins
Viz: 10m
Water temp: 21°C
Buddy: Michelle T

A very hot day - 38°C!

Scuba Buachall took two underwater photography course students on a dive. Michelle T and I relaxed in the shallows and cooled down; then we decided to actually go for a dive!

Viz wasn't spectacular, which was a surprise. Usually it's excellent at Rapid Bay.

We actually got cold towards the end of the dive.

Dive #126

When: 10 February 2008
Location: Broken Bottom, Glenelg, South Australia
Depth: 9.1m
Bottom time: 48 mins
Viz: 10m
Water temp: 21°C
Buddy: Scuba Buachall, Michelle T

Too long a surface interval indeed - almost seven months (gasp) since my last dive.

We launched SB's boat fom West Beach boat ramp (after rescuing always-hungry Tin Tin who managed to sneak out of the house while we were leaving, and meandered off to a neighbour's place to scoff their bbq food. The bemused neighbour's remark on the phone was 'I have your very hungry dog here'.)

Beautiful day, conditions lovely.

A really nice dive, although I was a bit anxious beforehand because of not having dived for so long. Used the new baby tank SB had bought for me (and one for himself too). I was relieved my ears didn't give me much trouble on the descent.

A couple of huge blue swimmer crabs showed off their big pincers and ferocious stares as SB faced them down. Stunning. A cute cowfish, leather jackets, tallmers, dusky morwongs, and a very shy blue devil were among the other fishies hanging around.

Back to the boat anchor to find it being dragged quite convincingly along the bottom. Uh oh, that meant a less-than-pleasant climb into the boat.

Diving, it's nice to be back.

Dive #113

When: 17 May 2007
Location: The Bluff, Victor Harbour, South Australia
Depth: 9.3m
Bottom time: 43 mins
Viz: 3-5m
Water temp: 17°C
Buddy: Scuba Buachall, Rachael

A very special dive. Five leafy sea dragons and a seal. Joy.

A beautiful post about this dive here.

Dive #112

When: 8 April 2007
Location: Troubridge Point, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia
Depth: 13m
Bottom time: 46 mins
Viz: 8m
Water temp: 19°C
Buddy: Scuba Buachall

A beautiful dive in a beautiful spot. So much fish life. A lovely big cuttlefish sat in mid-water staring at SB. Then he began to move towards me...and when I put out my hand he got a fright. It was like he hadn't noticed me. Off he scooted.

There was a strong current so we worked hard. We did a mid-water ascent - coming up within a couple of metres of the back of the boat! SB's excellent nav skills once again!

Dive #111

When: 11 March 2007
Location: The Bluff, Victor Harbour, South Australia
Depth: 8.9m
Bottom time: 20 mins
Viz: 1-2m
Water temp: 19°C
Buddy: Michelle T

What one might call an interesting dive. I failed miserably in navigating, and we ended up half-way out to the island off the coast. I was following my compass so I don't know if it was in error, but I guess I shouldn't blame my tools!

We did a free ascent and snorkelled back to shore. After we'd taken our tanks and bcds off and brought them up to the car, a few seals arrived and were playing in the water. We went back in with mask, snorkel and fins.

A lovely end to a sub-average dive!

Dive #110

When: 19 November 2006
Location: Port Noarlunga, South Australia
Depth: 5.6m
Bottom time: 52 mins
Viz: 6m
Water temp: 17°C
Buddy: Scuba Buachall

Dive #109. Back to SA. Decrease of 12°C but +8 leafy sea dragons.

When: 1 October 2006
Location: The Bluff, Victor Harbour, South Australia
Depth: 8.2m
Bottom time: 49 mins
Viz: 4m
Water temp: 14°C
Buddy: Scuba Buachall, Michelle T

A far cry from the tropical 26°C of PNG. Back to wearing my 7mm semi-dry, hood, and feeling like the Michelin (wo)man. I was surprisingly warm for most of the dive, however.

Strange though it sounds, it seemed like the sea was saltier than usual. It may have been due to the sea swell/movement at the headland and other factors. All three of us definitely found it more difficult to descend initially. Or else I'm talking through my hood.

BUT....the leafy sea dragons were out in force. There wasn't much else to see, the viz was quite bad. We found at least eight of the beautiful creatures, some adults, some males with eggs, and some babies. All as extraordinarily beautiful as ever.

Oh, and a cute cowfish, just before we ascended.

Dive #85. Cowfish extravaganza.

When: 27 August 2006
Location: Edithburgh Jetty, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia
Depth: 5.6m
Bottom time: 62 mins
Viz: 15+m
Water temp: 13°C
Buddy: Scuba Buachall

Extraordinary viz. Crystal clear and the jetty underworld was looking mighty fine. We finned out to the mini weed-forests, then to the end of the jetty, then back in. A nice long dive.

We saw a plethora of critters: cuttlefish, sea horses, leather jackets, crabs, moonlighters, globefish...and a stunning (but empty) black cowrie shell.

And so many cowfish.

We counted at least eight ornate cowfish - one of my favourites - on this dive, ranging in size from 2cm to 6cm. One was even posing at the steps for a photo; they're usually extremely difficult to photograph because they manage to swim away from the camera.

But as usual, Scuba Buachall did the gorgeous critters justice:

Dive #84

When: 26 August 2006
Location: Edithburgh Jetty, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia
Depth: 5.9m
Bottom time: 36 mins
Viz: 10+m
Water temp: 13°C
Buddy: Talitha
Diving companions: Daisy, Tim C, Adam W

A short but lovely dive, great viz. Who thought 1°C could make such a difference: 13°C felt positively warm compared with previous dives of 12°C!

We went to the end of the jetty and back. We saw a very dead 'n' diced Port Jackson shark.

Dives #82, 83. Double dive. My first weedy sea dragon!

Dive #83
When: 13 August 2006
Location: Wreck of the Norma, North Haven, South Australia
Depth: 13.4m
Bottom time: 37 mins
Viz: 5m
Water temp: 12°C
Buddy: Scuba Buachall

Conditions had calmed down a little for the second dive.

The Norma is an interesting wreck whose debris is spread over quite a large area.


Dive #82
When: 13 August 2006
Location: Grange Tyre Reef, South Australia
Depth: 19.2m
Bottom time: 33 mins
Viz: 10m
Water temp: 13°C
Buddy: Scuba Buachall

Challenging conditions for entry and exit - anchor chains become lethal weapons in 1m+ seas!

BUT...I saw my first weedy sea dragon. Spotted by Terry who showed it to Ian who in turn pointed it out to us. Much bigger (ie longer) than I had expected, but absolutely beautiful.

What is it about this particular family which is so special?

Dive #81

When: 4 August 2006
Location: The Dredge, South Australia
Depth: 19.4m
Bottom time: 29 mins
Viz: 6m
Water temp: 12°C
Buddy: Scuba Buachall
Diving companions: Mark L and Rachel C

Eventually managed to launch the boat from West Beach boat ramp. Pleasant conditions. Lovely cruisy dive.

Great to introduce Mark and Rachel to some South Australian diving after having done their Open Water course in Cairns, North Queensland.

Dive #80

When: 2 July 2006
Location: Edithburgh Jetty, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia
Depth: 6.3m
Bottom time: 66 mins
Viz: 8m
Water temp: 12°C
Buddy: Scuba Buachall

Dive #79

When: 1 July 2006
Location: Edithburgh Jetty, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia
Depth: 6.8m
Bottom time: 57 mins
Viz: 8m
Water temp: 12°C
Buddy: Scuba Buachall

Chilly dive! Took some good pix though.

Dive #78

When: 18 June 2006
Location: Edithburgh Jetty, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia
Depth: 6m
Bottom time: 66 mins
Viz: 6m
Water temp: 13°C
Buddy: Scuba Buachall

Globefish.