http://www.vsag.org.au/ Victorian Sub-Aqua Group en-au Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:24:05 GMT 1440 CPG-Nuke Dragonfly Victorian Sub-Aqua Group (VSAG) News http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.vsag.org.au/images/logo.gif http://www.vsag.org.au/ http://www.vsag.org.au/News/article/sid=169.html G’day VSAGers, We have a Twilight Dive scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, 7th January 2009 at Mornington Pier. Haven’t done a pier dive in a while? Well come along and remember what it’s like. No boat fees. No ramp fees. Just an air fill! Your chance to spend a relaxing hour or so underwater. Then we’ll probably get together somewhere afterwards for food and a few yarns. Haven’t done a night dive before? Well this is your chance to ease gently into it. We’ll be starting well before sunset which is due around 8:45 p.m. You can choose to finish as it gets dark, or stay in and experience the delights of night diving. Just bring a torch. Mornington Pier is a delightful dive site in most weather conditions. Plus most of the year there is plenty of parking close to the water. At this time of the year there are likely to be plenty of people fishing from the pier. It can pay to have a knife or shears so as to be able to cut fishing line. Though mostly these tools are used to recover sinkers and jigs discarded by the fishermen. As the scheduled dive captain, please let me know if you’re planning to come. Please call my mobile phone: 0418 170 044 and leave a message if I don’t answer. If you get an e-mail to lloyd@borrett.id.au before 8 a.m. on Wednesday morning, then I’ll see it before the dive. Otherwise I won’t. Looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible at Mornington Pier on Wednesday evening. Best Regards, Lloyd Borrett M: 0418 170 044 - H: 03 5996 0033 - W: 03 9581 0807 lloyd@borrett.id.ai Divers currently booked in to dive are: Lloyd Borrett Steve Lamb Alan Storen Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:24:05 GMT http://www.vsag.org.au/News/article/sid=168.html Hi VSAG’ers, 5 VSAG members lined up yesterday for a dive on the iconic wreck Coogee…conditions were near perfect with very little wind. Viz around 10-15 mtrs! A second dive on the slack water near Boarfish Reef finished off a brilliant VSAG dive day. The story of what Benita Mcdonough caught on camera and video on the wreck will be featured in an article in the next Fathoms…. our waters continue to amaze divers who go diving! DIVE PLAN FOR SUNDAY JANUARY 4TH The dive plan is to meet at Sorrento at the top boat bay at 10AM. A wreck dive and then a slack water dive in the bay around 2.30PM As VSAG is now in flexible mode with dive plans and dive days all other suggestions will be open for discussion on the day Note: All forward dive plans are subject to weather conditions and can change or be cancelled Please advise if you plan to dive..boat owners please advise your soonest if your boat is available..thank you Dive Captain: John Lawler M: 0414 922 916 P: 03 9589 4020 Sun, 28 Dec 2008 21:22:13 GMT http://www.vsag.org.au/News/article/sid=167.html The southerly component of the wind over the last few days meant that the hoped for Flinders Cray bash had to be cancelled. However the bay offered superb conditions so we harrassed our DC (Peter Briggs) into re-organising (again) the starting times so some of us could make use of the 9:20 flood slack. JL also agreed to meet at 8:00 at Sorrento so two boat loads of divers set off at 8:30, to be followed by Mick Jeacle's crew at 9:00. Given Alex was on his checkout dive we decided to try an area west of the Lonsdale Wall where the contour lines showed some steep slopes up to 12m. Grrrr and Alex dropped in on some interesting terrain at the start of slack and enjoyed some varied diving. Interestingly Diverite charters came and dropped divers in the water quite close to us. Once Greg and Alex had been recovered Adam and I dropped in where their dive was completed as they reported good diving conditions. We found a great crevasse where we dropped in, with large luddrick, leather jackets and boarfish. Then we went with the current through more very interesting reef. Adam found an anchor that we then lugged for the rest of the dive. I had not dived the area behind the wall previously and was very impressed. We then decided to join JL outside the Rip at Castle Rock. After hot dogs for lunch Grrr and Alex dropped down on the rock for a pleasant dive, Grr helping out some friends by taking their anchor down to secure it. The dive (as always here) was interesting. Adam was keen to look for abalone so we then moved west and closer to the beach, ended up near a spot labelled 'The Bommies' on my GPS. We did not see a single abalone, but once again had some great terrain, with lots of over hangs and gutters. Over all a brilliant day on and under the water. Mon, 22 Dec 2008 20:57:10 GMT http://www.vsag.org.au/News/article/sid=166.html The weather was supposed to improve during the day so the five of us who met at Sorrento at 800AM to Christen John Gadding's impressive boat into VSAG were not put off by the grey over cast conditions and the cold southerly breeze. The boat and company was good so the ingredients were there for a good day's diving. We decided the conditions allowed a trip to the Lonsdale wall so we ignored the suggested diving location of Portsea Hole, saving it for more inclement weather. I did not have my GPS with me so struggled to find a significant section of wall using the sounder, however we eventually decided on a spot and dropped the shot line. Brian and Adam dropped over first while John and Rob completed kitting up into 'dry' suits. Then the last two went in, only to have Rob's weight belt descend without him. After jerrying up another weight belt they were dropped back on the shot line, descending into a good dive site at 25m. John caught site of some colour and dropped a little further to recover Rob's weight belt! Both pairs reported a reasonable dive, though carrying a second weight belt is not easy. The southerly had grown stronger and the conditions were deteriorating so we headed into the shelter of Point Nepean for some hot dogs. Adam and I then did a fast drift dive in the ebb current from near Queenscliff over some interseting rocky formations. Once we have been recovered it was decided to call it a day and earn some brownie points by being home early. Thanks John for a great day and we look forward to seeing your boat out there on the bay many times in the future. Mon, 22 Dec 2008 20:55:17 GMT http://www.vsag.org.au/News/article/sid=165.html With the wild wet and windy past few days the planned dive over the weekend was naturally cancelled. But there is a last opportunity to catch a Xmas cray! Also abalone is permitted to be taken. A dive is scheduled for SUNDAY 21st December…Flinders..9.0AM If the weather is not favorable then the dive will be..SORRENTO at 8AM to catch the flood tide a 9.18AM. An update email will go out closer to the day with the dive location. The Dive Captain is PETER BRIGGS M: 0412 585 546 P: 9727 3947. Would boat owners please advise your intention to provide your boat and divers book in with Peter ASAP to help with planning. Sun, 14 Dec 2008 10:19:57 GMT http://www.vsag.org.au/News/article/sid=164.html Due to the disgusting forecast for wind, rain, storms and general wintery misery, the night dive for Saturday 22nd November 2008 has been cancelled. regards Bridey Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:25:38 GMT http://www.vsag.org.au/News/article/sid=163.html The gloomy weather reports earlier in the week didn't improve so the cray bash out of Flinders was never going to work. However our intrepid DC kept his nerve, even though the forecasts continued to deteriorate. Two boats and 7 divers met at Sorrento at 10:00AM on Sunday morning. It looked like the only option in the southerly blast would be to dive Portsea Hole, but once again our steely nerved DC pushed for the limit and both boats met up over the Eliza Ramsden for the ebb slack. With a shot line nicely placed near the bow and only one ship coming through the heads the first group of divers went in early, experiencing quite good vis for an ebb slack dive. Current was OK, though there was a fair amount of surge. Plenty of fish life and they even saw some crays. Pete was still salivating 20 min after the dive. With everyone back on board there was still time for a second set of divers to go down, while one crew broke into the day's rations of hot dogs. The second group also enjoyed a 30min dive before the current started to pick up. Both boats then headed for the shelter of the Nepean Headland for a lunch of fresh hot dogs, complete with mustard and tomato sauce. With lunch out of the way it was agreed scallops were the way to go so we headed for the beds off Rye. The pickings varied, but Leo got carried away and eventually left his filled catch bag on the bouy line for the crew to retrieve. Both boats headed back to the ramp, with some members debriefing at the Sorrento pub. It was great to be diving with a potential new member (Daniel) and to have Leo back in the water. Another very pleasant days diving. David Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:25:03 GMT http://www.vsag.org.au/News/article/sid=162.html Hi VSAG Members, VICTORIAN SUB AQUA GROUP NOVEMBER 20TH MEETING SPECIAL GUEST PRESENTER ALAN BECKHURST “HAVING A WHALE OF A TIME” And “LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS” The VSAG November meeting will feature some amazing film of the recent visit to VSAG and Getunder dive boats in Port Phillip Bay by a Southern Right Whale which was named “Wallace” but in reality was probably “Wendy”…Alan captured this for all to see. Alan and Mary Malloy were in Tonga recently and also have some brilliant film of whales….you just have to see this..don’t miss the night! Alan will also present some excellent footage of a “walk through” of the EX-HMAS Canberra…see some of the exciting places on the ship we will be diving in early next year…see “Mac’s Mural”…brilliant…and the guided missile launcher story….Forms for the Canberra T-Shirts will be available. Arrive 7PM for a meal..the presentation to start at 8PM. The upcoming dive calendar for Jan-Feb-March 2009 will be detailed for your input. Regards, VSAG Committee Sun, 16 Nov 2008 01:43:21 GMT http://www.vsag.org.au/News/article/sid=161.html Sunday 9th sees the dive plan to include one of our famous dive sites a J4 Submarine. Ocean waters are warming up... now around 16dgs. Alan Storen is the Dive Captain... book in on 0417 017 446 Meet at the top boat bay at 9AM Life is short...come diving!! Wed, 05 Nov 2008 20:49:37 GMT http://www.vsag.org.au/News/article/sid=160.html Hi, Many regular VSAG members are away this weekend at Tidal River. But there is a local dive planned for Melbourne divers who are in town. A slack water dive around 12.20 is the first dive and a possible new slow drift dive off Point Nepean could be the second dive. Weather looks good. Sunday 2nd November..meet at the top boat bay at 11am. Contact John Lawler...0414 922916 for the details... two places are available right now. Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:04:38 GMT