Sump one in Junee Cave

 Cave diving, Tasmania  1 Response »
Mar 182014
 
Sump one in Junee Cave

  About the cave I talked about Junee Cave last week, after our long weekend trip two weekends ago. The weekend was photographically focussed and I was keen to capture the straws and decorations in the dry cave between sumps one and two. Since we had to go through the water to get there it seemed silly to miss the opportunity for underwater photography, although I didn’t have high hopes for great images. About the dive While the defining feature of For Your Eyes Only may be the straws that line the ceiling, the defining feature of sump one is being cold. And dark. And often very silty. When I last visited in 2009 we had a large group of [read more…]

Straws in Junee Cave

 Cave diving, Tasmania  2 Responses »
Mar 112014
 
Straws in Junee Cave

About the cave Junee is the master drain and resurgence for a wide swath of the Junee-Florentine karst area. Many of the large, deep caves in the vicinity have had their waters dye traced to arrive back on the surface in the river flowing out of Junee. The tourist walking track through the State Park leads to a viewing platform in the forest. A quick clamber over the edge lands you knee deep in the chilly river, and three trips upstream into the dark zone put our dive gear at the edge of sump 1. About the dive Sump 1 is dark and silty, with greenish water and black walls. We had relatively good vis on the way through and [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…]

Whalesharks at Cebu, Philippines

 Ocean diving, Overseas, Reef diving  No Responses »
Feb 112014
 
Whalesharks at Cebu, Philippines

About the site I was in the Philippines over Christmas at Atlantis Dive Resorts, Dumaguete, courtesy of Diversion Dive Travel. The prize I won gave me the choice of the two Atlantis locations, Puerto Galera and Dumaguete. The big advantage of Dumaguete is its proximity to Oslob and the whalesharks at Cebu. My understanding is that the fishermen at Cebu used to chuck their bycaught shrimps and other small fish overboard when they returned, and the whalesharks quickly learned where to get their free meal. The whalesharks are now a major tourist attraction with canoe loads of local and international tourists visiting every day. About our visit There was a strong breeze when we arrived causing small white caps across [read more…]

Rebreathers in Tank Cave

 Cave diving  No Responses »
Jan 132014
 
Rebreathers in Tank Cave

About the cave Tank Cave is one of my favourite places to be. Miles of tunnel, clear water, great photo opportunities, stairs to the water…and shallow tunnels, narrow spots and lots of small depth changes. Those last three points mean Tank is not generally regarded as a great cave for rebreathers. The counterlung acts as a third source of buoyancy in addition to the wing and the drysuit. As well as managing the oxygen levels in the rebreather, the diver also has to manage the gas volume. So every up and every down means either adding or venting in at least two locations. On an open circuit dive I manage microbuoyancy with my breath. Need to go up slightly? Breath [read more…]

Ornate ghost pipefish

 Macro, Ocean diving  No Responses »
Jan 062014
 
Ornate ghost pipefish

About the resort As I posted last, I’ve just spent a week at the lovely Atlantis Resort in Dumaguete, the Philippines sponsored by Diversion Dive Travel. Over 6.5 diving days I managed to take 2,367 photos and nearly two and a half hours of underwater video. The diving at Dumaguete is mostly muck diving. We sell tickets on the site and via telephone. This means the macro lens stayed on and my dives were a treasure hunt for strange critters over a mostly sand and rubble bottom. I did five dives a day and with only 1-2 hours between each one it was good to stay shallow. The resort itself was lovely topside with great food and facilities. Most importantly, [read more…]

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