Panning shots on a drift dive

 Ocean diving, Reef diving  No Responses »
Apr 022012
 
Panning shots on a drift dive

About the site The Heads of Port Phillip Bay are one of the more dangerous stretches of water in the world for shipping. A combination of huge tidal flow through the narrow entrance, wind conditions and the prevailing south westerly swell from Bass Strait can create incredibly unfriendly conditions in this small area. Even if the conditions are acceptable for diving outside the Bay, it can be impossible to transit the Heads to get to these dive sites. With nasty waves in the Heads, the attention turns to dive sites within the Bay. These include Pope’s Eye, a rock annulus in the middle of the bay, South Channel Fort and [read more...]

Bottles on the wreck of the Loch Ard

 Ocean diving, Wrecks  2 Responses »
Mar 122012
 
Bottles on the wreck of the Loch Ard

About the site The Loch Ard is one of the more famous wrecks in Victoria’s history. One of the last passenger sailing ships to travel from the UK to Australia as steamships began to take over; she made the journey in 13 weeks in 1878. Aboard the 3 masted square rigged ship were 36 crew and 18 passengers. After leaving England in March, the Loch Ard was nearing her destination in Melbourne when disaster struck in the early hours of June 1st. Captain Gibbs was expecting to sight land when the ship encountered heavy fog. Unable to locate the Cape Otway lighthouse, he instead spotted cliffs looming out of the [read more...]

Friendly fish at the Grotto

 Ocean diving, Reef diving  1 Response »
Mar 052012
 
Friendly fish at the Grotto

About the site Melbourne sits at the northern end of Port Phillip Bay, and the heads open out into Bass Strait at the southern end. A comparatively large volume of water flows through a small heads entrance, leading to strong tidal currents each day. This water movements carries nutrients through the entrance, and when the water flow stops as the tide changes direction, great diving become accessible. Diving between the heads of the Bay is of necessity a well-timed activity, and one that’s well worth it. In some places the wall of the channel steps down from 12m reef flats at the top to over 60m deep in 5m blocks. [read more...]

Colours of a temperate reef on Nepean Wall

 Ocean diving, Reef diving  2 Responses »
Jan 092012
 
Colours of a temperate reef on Nepean Wall

About the site I’ve talked about the wall between the Heads of Port Phillip Bay before. A stunning dive at slackwater a short boat ride from Queenscliff on the west or Portsea or Sorrento on the east, several kilometres of colourful reef makes for hundreds of different dive sites. Boat passage through the Heads and out into the open ocean can be difficult when the weather is bad, restricting the access to the wrecks outside. However, some bits of the wall are always accessible at the right time of day although visibility can be very variable. Slack water dives when the tide has been ebbing out of the Bay and [read more...]