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Weekend Diving - 23-Jan-2010 |
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The planned dive on the Canberra for Saturday 23rd January 2010 was cancelled due to strong weather forecasts... also for the same reason the whole day was cancelled... the BOM report was right as the winds howled for most of the day... one yacht sank aftefr a colision in the bay!
The dive is now scheduled for Monday 25th January 2010. We have 3 boats and one back up so if you wish to dive the HMAS Canberra please book in with John Lawler.
Depart Sorrento top boat bay at 8.45AM... the dive slot for HMAS Canberra is 10 to 12.
Another dive will be had and we will decide on that on the day.
JL
Posted by BUBBLEDIVER on Sat, 23 Jan 2010 11:31 AM (135 reads)
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November diving magic in Melbourne |
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Saturday looked to have beautiful conditions for boat diving so Peter Briggs fulfilled his role as DC and we eventually organised 2 boats out of Sorrento (MVs Lawler and Gladding). There were not enough divers to fill a third boat so JL agreed to pick me up at Queenscliff on the way to the heads.
The weather on the day was even bettter than we had hoped, the rip was brilliantly calm and we powered out to 'Lost Reef'. We dropped the shot on an east facing wall in around 30 - 37m. JL and I thought the vis on the bottom was quite good at around 10m and we followed the reef towards the coast, returning to the shot for the ascent. There was no surge on the bottom, a relief after recent diving I have done.
On the surface we were buzzed by some dolphins and a seal, these stayed around while we were stripping off our gear.
The Storens and Adam then dropped down the shot line and powered off along the reef, ascending independent of the shot.
After a bite to eat we headed into the 'Bommies' near Castle Rock and found some interesting reef at betwen 12 and 14m. This was once again a very calm dive with lots to see, including 6 crays. The vis was good and the water temperature at 16C more than acceptable.
The weather had remained excellent with no swell or chop at all. All enjoyed a great day's diving - so good in fact that before I had driven home Greg Richards had arranged some diving for Sunday.
Sunday. Mick Jeacle came out of Sorrento and I launched from Queenscliff with Mick K and Christine who blessed us by being prepared to mind the boat while we dived.
Mick Jeacle led us out to the Coogee where I had a second drop of the shot line to ensure we were on the wreck. On descending we found the shot was in the middle of the wreck, between the boilers and the prow. The conditions on the way out had been very sloppy, indicating we could have some surge on the bottom, but it was dead calm down below and the vis was around 15m. It was my best dive on the Coogee to date, we swam past the boilers to the stern where the fish life was amazing, then back past the shot line to the bow. With time running out we headed back to the shot line and up.
Our intention was to see if we could dive the outside Nepean Wall, but decided we would be better to head inside while with the tide, given the size of the swells we were experiencing. Once inside we went to the 'Caves' part of the wall and dropped the shot on the edge of the wall. When Dive Vic came and dropped their shot 10m away we figured we were in the right spot.
Mick and I dropped in and found ourselves in a fantastic section of the wall, with good canyons and a large swim through cave. We avoided the temptation of going too deep to max out our bottom time but once the curent turned we headed back to the shot. I definitiely heard Mick sob when I pointed out my computer was telling me we were headed for deco if we didn't ascend. Our faithful driver had the boat positioned next to the shot so we had an easy recovery, a good effort with boat loads of divers out of charter boats all around us.
The clouds had moved away, we were in full sunshine and the wind had dropped. A great way to finish a weekend's diving.
The water conditions are looking great for this coming diving season. The water is warming up rapidly, the swells are impacting less on the bottom and the vis is improving. It is time to dust off the gear and give it ago!
Posted by DavidG on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:46 AM (183 reads)
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Port Phillip Bay Diving Sat 1 August |
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No scheduled VSAG dives this coming weekend. Probably too many sore heads expected from 'Christmas in July'.
If anyone is interested in an informal dive on Saturday, give me a call on 0404 069 572. It will be a shore dive somewhere mutually convenient, unless someone with a boat wants to join in.
Not sure about the weather on Saturday but BoM site has weather calming as the week progresses (through Thursday).
Trevor.
Posted by Troubadour on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 06:09 AM (285 reads)
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The Pinnacles and The George Kermode |
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I'm sure Ken will post some pictures out soon about today, but seriously, this has to be on of the best days out diving in living memory. Calm seas, no swell, clear water and dives to die for!!!
The Pinnacles off Cape Woolamai gave us ( depending on who you listen to!!) visability of between 25-33m, we finally agreed on 25metres, millions of fish , soft corals to drool over and no swell or current to speak of. We had the anchor smack on the Pinnacle and you could see the boats up the anchor rope at 25m depth.-Considering ther angle of the rope this made the boats up to 40m away!!!!- draughtboard sharks, massing Barber Perch and even the odd cray. Minimum 10 out of 10.
Some then dived the George Kermode, and some Cape Woolamai, all in clear calm water. All raved about their dives. Those of us that dived at Cape woolamai could not only see the bottom in 14 metres, but we could see the sand ripples in the sand patches between reefs!!!
At the De- brief conducted with decorum and dignity at the San Remo Hotel in front of the Coonarra one of us summed it all up by saying that today was the "best ever and anybody who didn't dive today missed something really special..." You just don't get days like this very often, sensational indeed!
Was it really 10 out of 10?? As spinal tap would say
" This one goes to 11 !!"
Posted by Shadow on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 10:44 AM (315 reads)
Read More... | 1 comment | | Score: 3
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Phillip Island Dive Report - Sunday 21-Jun-2009 |
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Northerlies blowing for the past two weeks set this up for a great day on the water, though for a while it looked like Plan B may have been called for when JL could not tilt or start his motor. However some accurate diagnosis resulted in a less than 'terminal' outcome for the boat and the three club boats set off as planned.
JL's crew consisted of John, Deb (checkout dive) and Alan. Mick had Takae, Ken and Grrr. Greg, Emma and Adam were with me. Not a bad turnout for the shortest day of the year!
What a day! The smooth conditions allowed a fast transit to the George Kermode and last week's 'reconnasaince' dive meant the GPS was spot on. The conditions were so good Mick and I decided to anchor so all on board could dive at the same time. JL was saving himself for a cray dive so Alan, Deb and John left him as our surface back up. On returning to the boat they christened JL's new ladder. Hopefully that's the end of pulling Lloyd's massive 15L tank and weightbelt into the boat...
The only time I have dived this wreck was last weekend so I can't comment on how it has deteriorated. What I did enjoy was the extensive penetrations this wreck allows. GR and I had checked it out externally last week while I had my first serious dry suit dive. Now I was ready to explore internally with the comfort of dry and warm feet etc. (I'm hooked on my new dry suit). The wreck dellivered on the promises from last week, the water inside was clear and calm, allowing repeated penetrations of several sections of the vessel. There were schools of fish to add to the experience. The wreck is only at 20 odd metres so bottom time is quite good. There were 11 of us down for the dive but with some inside and some outside it was not crowded.
Back on the surface most had hot dogs for lunch, along with various deserts etc. Competition is hotting up in the culinary stakes...
Afrer lunch we headed back towards the Pinnacle area and then into Alan's 'secret' cray area that now lives on at least two new GPS's. On my boat Adam and I saw a few, but caught none. Greg saw quite a few but also came back empty handed. Maybe next time...
After recovering the boats we headed off to the San Remo Hotel for a short debrief, enjoyed by all.
There were some who would prefer a slightly later start than 9am so perhaps we should look at starting at 9:30am during winter.
There were definite benefits in having all the divers down together rather than in shifts, so if there are any members who don't want to dive during winter but are happy to drive boats and enjoy good company then please let us know. There will be days where having a driver on board will make a huge improvement to the day.
Thanks to all for making this a very successful and safe day. Particular thanks to GRRR for doing much of the planning and to Ken for sending his photos around to the crews.
Another great day diving with VSAG.
David.
Posted by DavidG on Sun, 21 Jun 2009 12:22 PM (260 reads)
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Sun 14-Jun-09 - Rye Scallop Dive and South Channel Fort |
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The dive plan for Sunday, 14th June 2009 is as follows:
Location: Rye Scallop Dive and South Channel Fort
Dive Captain: Lloyd Borrett
Phone: 0418 170 044
Email: lloyd@borrett.id.au
Meeting Point: Rye Boat Ramp
Time: 9:30 a.m.
John Lawler's boat is available, though John won't be diving.
Those booked in to dive include:
Bridey Leggatt
Adam
Lloyd Borrett
Plan is to do a scallop drift dive somewhere off Rye, followed by a slack water dive at South Channel Fort.
Bring your fishing licence.
Posted by lloyd_borrett on Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:17 PM (316 reads)
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Queenscliff Queen's Birthday Long Weekend 2009 |
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VSAG joined our Hosts Mary and Alan Beckhurst and Mollie for this traditional long weekend at their warm and friendly Boarfish Lodge.
The full dive report has already been written by Adam Borge so we can read up on all the excitement in the next edition of Fathoms.
We dived in very good conditions both Saturday and Sunday and we had a very spectactular ending to our weekend diving just as we were heading home to Queenscliff on Sunday aftternnoon.
Monday we were treated to a very personalised presentation at the Marine Discovery Centre by Alan Beckhurst. Just a perfect place to be as the cold westerly wind blew in. Lunch was pies from the Rolling Pin and then goodbyes as those of who had not departed the day before left for the trip home to Melbourne.
Regards,
John. Lawler.
DC
Posted by BUBBLEDIVER on Mon, 08 Jun 2009 08:34 AM (261 reads)
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New Cave Dive Plan Saturday 23rd May |
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Hi VSAG’ers,
EXCITING NEW DIVE SITE - NEW CAVE
VSAG has chartered Tom Wende’s boat to take us to this new and exciting dive site.
New Cave is a brilliant dive on Lonsdale Wall with the mouth around 30mtrs… at the rear of the cave is an opening which leads up to a plateau at around 20mtrs... the area around the exit is very reefy with good fish life and color.
The dive is scheduled to meet the slack flood tide at 13.59 giving us clean water
This dive will fill fast so book in early… need your confirmation ASAP.
Date is now moved to Saturday 23rd May… depart Portsea Pier… loaded by 1.30 PM
Cost: $45.
Cheers,
John Lawler.
DC
0414 922916
(NB: all dive plans subject to weather conditions)
Posted by BUBBLEDIVER on Tue, 19 May 2009 08:21 AM (261 reads)
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ANZAC Day - Diving Cancelled |
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G’day VSAG’ers,
Due to the very poor weather conditions forecast for ANZAC Day on Saturday 25 April, the planned VSAG boat diving day has been cancelled.
In the dive calendar it says to contact Alan Storen on 0417 017 446 for diving on Sunday 26 April as the alternate VSAG boat dive day. But the weather conditions forecast for Sunday are even worse than for Saturday. It looks like the gardens will get wet this weekend even if we don’t.
It doesn’t even look good for a shore dive anywhere this weekend.
A note to the VSAG Dive Calendar planners. See what happens when you make me Dive Captain for a VSAG boat dive day. I think it took about 10 times with me nominated as Dive Captain for a VSAG night shore dive before weather conditions enabled one to actually happen! So don’t anybody get their hopes up for 14 June when I’m next down as Dive Captain for a VSAG boat dive day.
Best Regards, Lloyd Borrett
Posted by lloyd_borrett on Wed, 22 Apr 2009 02:19 PM (240 reads)
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Wilsons Prom Easter 09 |
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Welcome Anonymous
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