Spotting critters under Flinders Pier

 Macro, Ocean diving, Reef diving  1 Response »
Feb 092016
 
Spotting critters under Flinders Pier

I’ve dived Flinders Pier before and regularly but it’s been a while. Looking back through my photo archives, it’s been more than 6 months since the macro lens went on the camera. I think there were probably good macro opportunities in Truk Lagoon but it’s hard to concentrate on little things with great big shipwrecks in front of you. In just three weeks I’m off to the Maldives for two weeks of sharks and tropical waters, with a few hints of small critters. I thought I had better get the macro lens dusted off and back in service. It was a stunning evening at Flinders with the tide creeping in as the sun went down. I disturbed a big stingray [read more…]

Bobtail squid in the night

 Macro, Ocean diving, Reef diving  No Responses »
Jun 302015
 
Bobtail squid in the night

About the site Rye Pier is a long, shallow shore dive. The pier is probably most noted for the annual invasion of the spider crabs which I photographed in 2012. They’re in the area at the moment and have been spotted at Blairgowrie Pier recently. They’re now on the move and will likely be seen at Rye over the coming days. While we were hoping to see the start of the crab invasion on Sunday, it was a fairly slim possibility. It was nice to see the pier life before it gets overrun by crustaceans. The rest of the year, Rye is known for orange sponges and lots of pot bellied sea horse. About the dive We intended a Sunday afternoon [read more…]

Blenny central under Mornington Pier

 Macro, Ocean diving, Reef diving  No Responses »
Nov 252014
 
Blenny central under Mornington Pier

About the site Mornington Pier is currently under reconstruction. In the last 12 months they’ve removed and replaced almost all of the pylons, changing from the old wooden pillars to new steel and plastic contraptions. All of this work hasn’t done much for the underwater scenery with many of the critters that could manage it moving on. The bottom has been scoured down in places and until the greenery grows back there won’t be very many places to hide. On the other hand the local fishing community hasn’t had easy access to the end of the pier either. I spent the dive surrounded by schooling old wives, juvenile sweep and yellow tailed silver thingies. Being on the rEvo made me [read more…]

Very small things seen in Komodo

 Macro, Ocean diving, Reef diving  No Responses »
Sep 022014
 
Very small things seen in Komodo

About the dives The first half of our trip from Alor to Komodo was more focussed on muck diving, but it was on the last couple of days on the Arenui that I got some macro photos that I really love. There was less tiny life around and it was easier to focus on a subject photographically without getting excitedly distracted by the next tiny thing. I also had a few great photos achieved which helped with the confidence to try new things. In this instance it was photos of things I generally consider a bit too small to sensibly take photos of with my lens setup. About the photos Both of these shots were taken at the maximum capability [read more…]

Backlighting leaf fish on the Arenui

 Macro, Ocean diving, Reef diving  1 Response »
Aug 262014
 
Backlighting leaf fish on the Arenui

About the trip For the first few days of the trip on the Arenui, we meandered along the lovely mucky shores of Alor. This meant lots of fantastic critters – mantis shrimp and little cuttlefish, ribbon eels and orangutan crabs, rhinopias, frogfish and pipefish. These critters come in fantastic shapes, sizes and colours but all manage to blend in exceptionally well with their environment. I was especially impressed with our dive guide Ronald when he managed to spot a small clown frogfish from over 15m away. I wandered away while others took photos and despite knowing exactly where he was, then came back and spent 5 fruitless minutes searching a very small area. As it turned out he was right [read more…]

Eyeballs in the murk at Mornington Pier

 Macro, Ocean diving  1 Response »
Mar 042014
 
Eyeballs in the murk at Mornington Pier

About the pier I’ve dived at Mornington Pier a lot. It’s a convenient location for gear testing – the closest “real” dive location to me where you can park your car right next to the ladder and climb into the water. I did more than a few dives here in preparation for my cave diving courses, running lines between the pylons and getting used to new equipment. The pier is under (re)construction at the moment. To reduce wave action on the moored boats the early section has had baffles installed. These are large sheets of plastic fitted to the outside of the pylons on both sides. The new walls go down to between half and one metre off the bottom [read more…]

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