Warming the foreground in Pines Cave

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  No Responses »
Aug 272013
 
Warming the foreground in Pines Cave

About the Cave Pines has a large cavern zone, and some interesting tunnels after you wind your way down the side of the rockpile. With some nice clay down in the deep zone, interesting critters up in the shallow and very easy stairs to the water it’s a fun and relaxed dive. You can see my close up yabby shots from the afternoon dive here. About the dive This dive was the first of the weekend, a checkout on my newly-replaced camera and the first time that I’d been in Pines in ages. Despite it being so popular and regularly dived, I have very few shots that I’m happy with from here. This dive was a nice chance to play [read more…]

Diving birds in Ewen’s Ponds

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  2 Responses »
Aug 192013
 
Diving birds in Ewen's Ponds

About the site Ewen’s Ponds is as close as you can get to cave diving with out being a cave diver. My assessment here is based not on the rocks or being able to swim through a dark zone, but entirely on the fact that the visibility is amazing. To discover the reason I go cave diving, go for a splash in Ewens on a sunny day. The experience of crystal clear water is like flying through space. Ewen’s Ponds are formed where 8 Mile Creek widens out and there are three successive ponds with freshwater springs in the bottom of them. Between the ponds divers and snorkelers float down the green streams. About the dive I had dived here [read more…]

Updates and news

 Other  No Responses »
Aug 152013
 
Updates and news

I’m delighted to announce that myself and Neil Vincent will be judging the CDAA 40th Anniversary Photo Competition. As you would expect for a cave diving association, the competition has categories for cave diving photos taken dSLRs and compacts in both the cavern zone and the dark zone, as well as the humorous, historical and short video sections. There’s some very cool prizes on offer – check out the list below. The finalist shots will be displayed in Mt Gambier for the week leading up to the AGM on November 9th, with winners announced and prizes presented at the dinner that evening. If you’re a CDAA member and even thinking of entering, please do! For those who were CDAA members [read more…]

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Exploration in Constitution Hole

 Caving, Tasmania  No Responses »
Aug 122013
 
Exploration in Constitution Hole

About the cave Something different this week – caving without dive gear! The cave in question is Constitution Hole, a newly discovered entrance at the bottom of a hill in the Junee Florentine area of Tasmania. After a short walk through the rainforest, the cave starts with a muddy pitch, a narrow meander, a short pitch and a nasty wet traverse before reaching the top of the Hang-glider Chamber seen above. About the trip On this particular weekend we discovered a much easier shortcut back to Hang-glider as well as two new pitches in the lower area. Stopped by a shortage of rope we didn’t complete the descent but headed back up. While waiting for the photographer (again!) to ascend [read more…]

Yabbies in Pines Cave

 Cave diving, Macro, Mt Gambier  1 Response »
Aug 052013
 
Yabbies in Pines Cave

  About the cave At a certain point in cave training, most CDAA members do a lot of diving in Pines Cave. There are five main cave-rated sites in Mt Gambier, and Pines is the largest and most interesting. In order to rack up the hours and experience required, those who don’t travel to other cave diving regions do a lot of diving here. It’s also a dual rated site and once you’ve passed the Advanced Cave course there are a bunch of tunnels to explore. The main cavern is fairly open and on clear winter days sees good sunshine down the rockpile. In the shallows there’s lots of timber scattered around. About the dive This was our last dive [read more…]

Silt clouds in Stinging Nettle Cave

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  No Responses »
Jul 292013
 
Silt clouds in Stinging Nettle Cave

About the cave Stinging Nettle is a small sloping cave just across the road from Pines, with a gated entrance at one end of a shallow doline. There’s fine, dark organic silt through the whole cave but because it’s rarely visited by divers and only accessible on the weekends the water is normally crystal clear on the way in. The permanent line leads the way down the slope, twisting left and right between the boulders. The diveable cave has been formed by boulders rolling down the slope and coming to rest wedged between floor and ceiling which makes for an interesting dive. About the dive This was the first time I’d been in Stinging Nettle in 18 months, but I [read more…]

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