A surprise today as we arrived at the seaway – lovely clear water greeted us, and a very quiet dive site – just the surfers braving the waters!
Not bad really…
Sand Pipe
At 22 degrees, I had my shivers on – but then – I am a sook – but the dives were well worth it with QLD Grouper, Lionfish, schools of Mullet – And even Cormorants(bird) trying to dive down and catch the mullet next to me! – Cheeky Fan-Bellied Leatherjackets, Nudibranchs, Moray Eels, and of course 5 separate cuttlefish – two of which didn’t mind putting on a romantic display while we watched! Such great critter spotting we are headed back tomorrow – this time with film to see if I can catch some more creature-feature on video!
Thankyou to my buddies Iain & Lorenzo for another great opportunity to dive!
Iain just riding the current…Lorenzo Chilling with a cheeky local
I’ve had the pleasure to teach some great divers recently – Open Water, Advanced Open Water & Specialties, and can say I am really quite proud of the divers they has grown to become. I have also experienced some amazing dives as well, watching them experience the marine world more and more along the way.
However, something keeps cropping up with the divers coming to me for further training – overweighting.
21lbs of lead!! Photo by Sascha Hofmann
The initial evaluation dive – prior to actual training dives – is a chance for the divers to get to know each other underwater (and me!) – so not just swimming around looking at creatures and features and skills – we also do a buoyancy, trim and streamlining session underwater.
Recently, on a first dive at the beautiful Flinders Reef, Moreton Bay – I removed 21 lbs(9.5kg) of lead from a buddy pair. Trim and streamlining instantly changed, effort requirement dropped, and all of a sudden they looked far more comfortable in the water. With empty cylinders at the safety stop they needed to add some weight back to compensate, but the image of 7 x 3lb belt weights on the mooring block was an eye opener! This was a major change in the way they dived. Air consumption dropped, weary muscles did not cramp, big smiles making masks leak! And streamlining! Oh the streamlining!
Just hanging out – 21lbs lighter! Photo by Sascha Hofmann
So many divers are diving heavy. Much of this stems from our neoprene wetsuits having too much control in the shallows, and losing much of their positive buoyancy as we descend and the neoprene compresses. Other surface buoyancy comes from impatience when trying to descend, not exhaling when trying to descend, and of course moving your legs(fins) and arms in any way on that initial descent – as soon as those fins move you are propelled back to the waiting sunshine. So divers chuck on the lead, leading to head-up, hips-down poor streamlining, fins kicking up sand or belting coral, or just divers having to force their way through the water, instead of gliding.
Upside Down Miss Jane! Photo by Sascha Hofmann
Keep on checking your buoyancy. Ditch as much as you can to still be able to hold a comfortable safety stop at 5m at the end of your dive without effort. We should all be doing at least 3 minutes at 5m – so use this time with your buddy to see how your buoyancy is affected with a tanks holding low air, and your wetsuit trying to take you to the surface. If you are heavy at the safety stop you would benefit from re-evaluating how much lead you carry!
Don’t forget also – a change in equipment will likely affect your buoyancy – Cylinders, BCDs, Wetsuits, and fins can all have different amounts of positive and negative buoyancy.
Most importantly, keep frustration at bay and resist duck diving to start the dive. Many undesirable things occur when a diver is trying to force themselves underwater when buoyant – from increased likelihood of ear/sinus damage, higher air consumption,… to your tank valve belting you in the back of the head!
Ask for help from a dive pro – that’s what they are there for, and don’t be shy about it. We have all been there – I promise.
After the sad news that a juvenile dolphin was retrieved from the Southport Seaway earlier in the week, Jeanette, Damien, Andrew & I took the chilly plunge off the steps to check out some gear. Damien with his new reg, Jeanette test-diving before a dive trip, and I was rewetting a Nikon/Subal Photography system from a friend – a major new lesson in all aspects – shifting from film to still, micro-camera to DSLR and the monstrously heavy and unwieldy difference it makes!
Subal Housing & Nikon D100 DSLR
I did manage to take a few images, although my computer is not accepting the file type, so nothing to show from me today – however Jeanette got a lovely image of a large Lionfish inside the sandpipe housing, along with a pair of what I thought were a triggerfish or leatherjacket species I’d not ever seen before – stunning almost rainbow colouration. Jeanette snapped a quick image to try and identify, and has discovered them to be Blackbar Filefish or RedTail Leatherjacket.
Common Lionfish – Photo by Jeanette Young
So much to see on a nice long dive – the school of mullet is hanging in the shallows, along with many different species of lionfish, moray eels and a slightly grumpy wobbegong shark, and more of my favourites – the banded coral shrimp and yellow boxfish. A great day!
