Point Lonsdale Fish Count.

Dive Number: 116
Location: Point Lonsdale
Date: 19/12/10 
Max Depth: 6m
Dive Time:  60mins
Temp:  16C
Visibility:  15m
Time In:  10:10
Tide:  High 09:46, 1.2m/ Slack 11:27/ Swell 2ft.
Thermal:  5mm Semi-dry
Weight:  18lbs, a bit heavy.

Point Lonsdale again!! Maybe that's why it's taken me so long to type this one up. This time Phil and I were introducing two buddies to the site and we were also participating in the Great Victorian Fish Count.

On arrival conditions looked quite good. It was high tide and the surface had some small wave action but the water looked clear. We decided to enter off the end of the pier this time rather than the beach and is much easier than negotiating the rocks and waves whilst trying to put on your fins.

There was a slight current running into the bay and after leaving the pier Sarah and I just gently drifted along in it trying to maintain a rough easterly course. At around the 20 minute mark we turned around and started heading west, it was a new part of the site for me so I didn't really know where we were. We were now swimming into the current and it was much stronger than I thought. I was starting to think perhaps we should have turned around earlier.

There wasn't a lot of life about apart from the usual suspects like blue throat wrasse. We were passed over by a school of something moving very fast, too fast to identify (salmon perhaps??) and so fast we both immediately swung around to see what was chasing them!! The weird thing was both of us actually heard the fish swim over with the same 'swooshing' noise heard on documentaries. I thought that sound was just for the telly!!

We eventually ended up a familiar spot, a crack in the rock inhabited by a blue scaly fin with a sea tulip at the opening. I have been here on every dive at this site and still don't know where it is! It was about this time that we really noticed the current drop but the surge increased dramatically. It was slack water.

We had missed the end of the pier by about 30m or so on the way back and ended up swimming into the small bay on the south side. We ended the dive by swimming back under the pier and making a reasonably graceful exit on the beach.

Wasn't the best dive I have had there, but was still good although didn't find much to take a photo of unfortunately ('cept my buddy of course!!).

Mistiming at Point Lonsdale

Dive Number:  115
Location:  Point Lonsdale
Date:  11/12/10
Max Depth:  4.6m
Dive Time:  48mins
Temp:  16C
Visibility: Low, 5 metres
Time In: 13:51
Tide: Low 10:18, 0.5m/ slack water 13:23
Thermal: 5mm semi-dry
Weight:  18lbs

A difficult dive at Point Lonsdale and it was mainly due to my mistiming of the optimum time to begin the dive. Somewhere between adding an extra hour for daylight savings and deducting an hour for the start time I have ended up with the wrong time and we were aiming for exactly slack water at 13:23 instead of an hour before.

By the time we had entered the water, the current was already starting to sweep into the bay. Because the water had begun to flow it meant that the swell and surge had also increased. Once we were at the end of the pier, I decided we should head SSE (i.e into the current) which we did. There were plenty of fisherman so I was keen to stay away from the lee side.

I re-discovered the 'lobster ledge' which is packed with Southern Rock Lobster and I now know exactly where it is. Visibility was low and surge was high so finding other things was difficult although Hamish did find a varied catshark which was willing to pose for a few snaps. It was lying in the weeds though so getting a decent photo was nearly impossible.

About the 25 minute mark I was getting concerned about the increasing current and signalled to Hamish that we should start heading back. Finning west towards the pier was difficult as the incoming stream to the bay seemed to be sucking water away from the pier, staying as low as possible was the only way to make progress. I was relieved when I saw a couple of pier pylons directly in front of me and we made our way in directly from there.

Shortly after reaching the pier the current really picked up and finning almost became useless, staying under the pier was difficult as the sideways current was now quite strong. The only way to make any real progress now was to pull yourself along with the weeds and once in the shallows it was difficult to see the rocks with all of the suspended sand in the water. Exiting wasn't too bad although Hamish had an interesting technique of being washed onto the beach sideways by the surf thereby filling all possible crevices with sand!

All up we did 48 mins which means we exited almost 1.5 hours after slack. It's amazing we didn't end up with a free dive at Pope's Eye! I will certainly make sure I don't get the timing wrong next time!

Point Lonsdale.

Dive Number:113
Location: Point Lonsdale
Date: 03/12/10
Max Depth:  4.4m
Dive Time: 90 mins
Temp: 15C
Visibility: 15m+
Time In: 10:13
Tide: Slack (High) 11:07
Thermal: Wetsuits (5mm Semi + 5mm shorty)
Weight: 18lbs

Magic day to go diving! Weather was sunny, very little wind and water as flat as a tack. Hit the water at 10:13 with the usual beach entry next to the pier and a surface swim about halfway out. There was no current but a bit a surge.

Visibility was nothing short of "awesome"! It was 15m+ and nice and bright. Within minutes of leaving the end of the pier Phil spotted a monster crayfish. Stretched out it would've have been as long as a 12L faber tank. It wasn't fazed by us at all and seemed quite happy for us to get right up close to take photos.

The sea weeds and grasses have been on a growing spurt lately and are quite long. With the surge and the long weeds moving around there were a few times when I started feeling a bit sea sick! Heaps of fish about. Leathjackets, blue throat wrasse, some weedfishes and some very large dusky morwong that wouldn't come too close.

We were aiming for Lonsdale point to check out the kelp there but didn't quite make it, I'm not quite sure how close we came as on the way back we ended up on the northern side of the pier somehow. We needed to be a bit cautious as when the current did start to run it would have been going out of the heads.

We found a rocky ledge on the way back with about 6 large lobsters and some small fish sheltering underneath. I was surprised that the lobsters would actually come towards me until the flash went off on my camera. These lobster would have to have been within 50m of the pier as I was picking up fishing sinkers nearby. I would love to cook one up, never tried lobster before.

Back under the pier there were plenty of friendly magpie perch, some old wifes and some not so friendly sea sweep. Tonnes of fishing sinkers, I picked up more than I could carry and when I put a handful in Phils wetsuit pocket I decided I'd better stop collecting them!

Fantastic dive, if we get conditions like that again I think we should go outside and do Lonsdale reef.

Point Lonsdale, chancing the rip.

Dive Number: 108
Location: Point Lonsdale Pier
Date: 10/11/10
Max Depth: 4.5m
Dive Time: 75mins 
Temp: 14C
Visibility: 10m
Time In: 11:04
Tide: Low 09:05 0.5m Slack water 12:11
Thermal: 5mm semi dry + 5mm shorty
Weight:  18lbs. ok

Phil and I met at the Point Lonsdale lighthouse to assess the conditions for a possible dive around Lonsdale reef. Slack water was due at 12:11pm and conditions looked very good, so we decided to give it a go.

Entry was via the shore right next to the pier and a surface swam to the end. We were surprised how strong the current was and decided against heading out around the point. Instead we swam under the end of the pier and slowly headed NE. Within 20 mins the current had dropped off noticeably and we were just left with the surge which wasn't too bad.

Plenty to see, sea grasses and weeds all looking good. A friendly Varied Catshark was quite keen to have his photo taken. Plenty of wrasse and leatherjackets but all to skittish to get a photo. Heading back in over the sandy patches provided us with plenty of entertainment with the sand crabs popping out and swimming around.

We finished the dive by swimming back under the pier where I was really pleased to find a Golden Weedfish out in the open. I had just enough time to get a couple of photos before he disappeared into some nearby kelp where his camouflage was incredible.

Water was nice and warm, first dive back in my wetsuit. Can't wait to get back down there again.

Varied Catshark

Golden Weedfish