Seadragons under Flinders Pier

 Ocean diving, Reef diving  4 Responses »
Nov 052012
 
Seadragons under Flinders Pier

About the site Flinders Pier is a long, shallow dive out off the eastern side of the Mornington Peninsula. Because it’s on the opposite side of the Peninsula to Portsea, Rye and Mornington Piers it can be a good dive when the wind is blowing the wrong way. It’s also known for very reliable sightings of the weedy seadragon population that lives there. The pylons and under-pier area has kelp and seaweed, which turn to seagrass as you swim off the sides. You do have to watch out for fishing line, as it was busy up top with fishermen while I was there. About the dive My plan yesterday was to make some great shots of the seadragons, which was [read more…]

Cave diving through history: Cocklebiddy Cave, 1982 (Part 1)

 Back in the Day, Cave diving, Nullarbor  4 Responses »
Nov 012012
 
Cave diving through history: Cocklebiddy Cave, 1982 (Part 1)

The 1982 Cocklebiddy trip had representatives from both West Australia and South Australia. With new techniques for combining tanks into a sled, the trip hoped to push past the end of the West Australian line in the second sump and see what lay beyond. Left to right: Hugh Morrison, Ron Allum, unsure, Keith Dekkers, Simon Jones in yellow, unsure. The 1982 trip was led by Hugh Morrison from West Australia. Dad, still based in South Australia, knew Hugh from his FAUI instructing and invited himself along as trip photographer. The other South Australian representative was Ron, who was keen to get back to Cocklebiddy and came as photographer’s assistant. Various bits of gear have been hung on the shrubbery to [read more…]

3D mapping the pillar in Tank Cave

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier, Other  No Responses »
Oct 292012
 
3D mapping the pillar in Tank Cave

For those CDAA members who attended the talks associated with our Annual General Meeting over the weekend, you will remember JDZ’s introduction to some new cave mapping techniques. Cave explorers are familiar with counting knots in the line and noting depth, direction and azimuth all the way home. Dive complete, you exit to dry land, translate your scribbled notes for entry into a computer program and check out the stick map of your progress. This time consuming exercise has been the only way for your average diver on a budget to produce accurate maps of our underwater travels. Beyond being time consuming, errors can creep into a survey over time. This is especially true in complex caves with multiple branching [read more…]

Cave diving through history: Cocklebiddy Cave, 1979 (Part 2)

 Back in the Day, Cave diving, Nullarbor  2 Responses »
Oct 252012
 
Cave diving through history: Cocklebiddy Cave, 1979 (Part 2)

Without delay, here’s the other half of the photos from the 1979 Cocklebiddy expedition. These were taken by my dad, Peter Rogers, with a Nikonos II and 35mm lens bought the previous year, a toshiba underwater strobe and a land strobe in a home made perspex box used as it had a remote trigger sensor in – advanced technology! Captions below each photo. Alan Grundy and Peter Rogers on the surface of the entrance lake, pre-dive. Orange fenzies and orange tanks…a cave photographer’s dream. Alan Grundy poses next to the stage tank. Given the length of the first sump, this steel tank was left on the line some way along. Given it was a (very negative) steel, and there wasn’t [read more…]

Green water in One Tree Sinkhole

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  1 Response »
Oct 222012
 
Green water in One Tree Sinkhole

About the site One Tree Sinkhole is near some of the other famous holes in the Mt Gambier region, and gets dived regularly. The caves in Mt Gambier may not be as extensive or as decorated as those in Florida or Mexico, but the large and impressive sinkholes are truly world class. I’ve shown a few shots from Picaninnie Ponds and Kilsby’s Sinkhole which both have incredibly clear water. The clear water means sunlight and rays deep into the water. The less-talked about sinkholes in Gambier aren’t so clear. On the greener side of the fence there are a few shallower caverns, like Two Sisters, Earl’s Cave and Goulden’s. The deeper holes include One Tree, Ela Elap and Little Blue, [read more…]

Cave diving through history: Cocklebiddy Cave, 1979 (Part 1)

 Back in the Day, Cave diving, Nullarbor  2 Responses »
Oct 182012
 
Cave diving through history: Cocklebiddy Cave, 1979 (Part 1)

In addition to my usual Monday photo posting schedule, over the coming weeks I’m going to share some more historical cave diving photography with you. With my cave diving photography I’m following in the steps of my Dad. With a Nikonos II and later a Nikonos V, Dad documented the exploration cave diving out on the Nullarbor through the 80s.  He was part of the 1982 and 1983 push dive teams in Cocklebiddy, the trips on which Toad Hall was discovered and the third sump dived for the first time. Cocklebiddy held the world record for the longest cave dive at the time, and the expeditions out there were using cutting edge techniques and technologies. As trip photographer, Dad captured [read more…]

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