Bridge on the ex-HMAS Canberra

 Ocean diving, Wrecks  No Responses »
Dec 052011
 
Bridge on the ex-HMAS Canberra

About the wreck The ex-HMAS Canberra was a frigate in the Australian Navy until she was scuttled in October 2009 after a long negotiation and preparation by various groups. The ship was specifically prepared for divers, with entanglement hazards such as wiring and environmental hazards such as the hundreds of tonnes of lead used as ballast removed. The lead placed in the bottom of the hull to keep large ships upright was replaced with concrete to serve the same purpose once the ship hit the seafloor, and large holes were cut in each room to allow divers to swim through while still being able to see daylight. While entering an underwater shipwreck is a risky business, the preparation of the [read more…]

Mapping in action in Tank Cave

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  No Responses »
Nov 282011
 
Mapping in action in Tank Cave

About the site I’ve talked about different dives in Tank Cave on multiple occasions. As well as being the longest cave available in my home region of Mt Gambier, it’s also very well suited to photography. With crystal clear water, shallow depths, tunnels that change from white walled, to black, to orange with sunken floors, air pockets, small flatteners and large chambers, Tank provides a great place to experiment with cave diving photography. About the dive The intention for this particular dive was to complete a more accurate wall profile of a room that’s approximately an 800m swim from the cave entrance. With JDZ carrying measuring tapes and survey slates and myself with camera and additional strobes we headed off [read more…]

Australian Fur Seals on the safety stop

 Ocean diving, Reef diving  No Responses »
Nov 212011
 
Australian Fur Seals on the safety stop

About the site Over the last few months I’ve been lucky enough to have seals drop in for a visit towards the end of my dives. Despite their considerable bulk and slow speed on land, these guys are easily able to turn a lap around a diver faster than you can turn to follow them. Luckily, curiousity will often bring them in for a closer look, craning their neck from side to side as they inspect the divers in their domain. About the dive This particular photo was taken at the end of a dive in the Heads of Port Phillip Bay. Slack water had just finished and I was gently drifting out to sea with the ebbing tide as [read more…]

Diving the SS Yongala

 Ocean diving, Wrecks  No Responses »
Nov 142011
 
Diving the SS Yongala

About the site The SS Yongala is regularly touted as Australia’s best wreck dive, lying 12nm offshore in Far North Queensland. Given the task of driving over a tonne of dive gear 3,000km to Mt Hypipamee for the expedition, Nat Kenyon and I took a two day break from sitting behind the wheel for an inspection of the famous wreck. 2011 is the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the Yongala, who went down on March 11th (close to midnight, so possibly on March 12th) 1911 in a tropical cyclone. 122 passengers on board perished, as well as an unknown number of children who were not recorded on passenger ships manifests in that era. The wreck was first dived [read more…]

Balancing the light in Kilsby’s Sinkhole

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  1 Response »
Nov 072011
 
Balancing the light in Kilsby's Sinkhole

About the site Kilsby’s is a Deep Cavern site in the Mt Gambier region, reaching depths of 60m in the back corners. It’s renowned for the crystal clear water normally only found under a roof, as sunshine in freshwater encourages algal growth. The daylight zone is huge, and you can look across a space the size of a football field and watch divers hanging out on the far side. The centre of the sinkhole comes up to under 20m depth, and as it gets deep on each side you swim under a roof, and can look back from the dark into the daylight. About the dive On this particular occasion, KA and I had already done two dives in Piccaninnie [read more…]

Split shots in Engelbrecht’s Cave

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  2 Responses »
Oct 312011
 
Split shots in Engelbrecht's Cave

About the cave Unlike other caves in the area, Engelbrechts Cave is located in the middle of Mt Gambier and the system runs under several streets and houses. There are two different water filled entrances, known as Engelbrechts East and Engelbrechts West. As you travel closer towards Mt Gambier, the water level is further below the ground. This means that while caves like Pines and Tank Cave only require a few steps down a 5m drop to access the water, Engelbrechts has significantly more stairs. When combined with 50kg of dive gear, the stairs present a bit of a challenge and these caves don’t get dived as often as they otherwise might. Visitors are also able to go on tours [read more…]

 Older Entries  Newer Entries