The Pinnacle, Cape Hawke.
The day started with a fresh sou-westerly wind and clear skies. Six GLUG members boarded for the first dive of our new project Monitoring marine debris in the Great Lakes Area. We were heading to deep water site, the Pinnacle for some threatened species work, followed by a training dive at Latitude Reef. After a few delays in the harbour, Nick, skipper at Forster Dive Centre, chartered us out to the mooring at the Pinnacle. The water was a balmy 23deg on the surface, 19deg below, and visibility was good - 10-15m. We were there to document the local grey nurse shark and black cod populations, as well as check the area for marine debris. The site is deep >30m, so transect work was out of the question. Unfortunately, Heather had trouble with her weight belt and bcd, and had to abort the dive all together. The rest of us completed a roaming search for marine debris, and documented the fish life present. We checked the latest haunts for the cod family, spotting plenty of snapper, mulloway and kingies on the way, as well as the resident (massive) black ray. After a few 'hiccups' with insects in regulators & near choking events, we made our way back to the mooring line, where a lovely black cod was hanging in the dark crevices. Greg found an old rope and tangled monofilament bundle, which we removed from the site. No sharks were seen. Lesson of the day - always purge your regs before descending, you never know what you might find!
Dive Details: 33.8m, 29min, 19-23deg
Tangled mess of rope and monofilament found at 37m at the Pinnacle. Photo by Greg Toland
Young female grey nurse shark with fishing line trailing from her mouth at Latitude Reef. Photo by Greg Toland
Latitude Reef, Cape Hawke.
Jordan, Kaitlyn and I jumped in to 10m, the top of Latitude Reef, which runs due East-West, with a nice kelp bed on the top, and reef wall to the north that drops down to about 20m. I was showing Kaitlyn and Jordan the Marine Debris Method, so we stayed up on top, and ran two 25m tapes due east, checking for marine debris in a 5m band along each tape. Kaitlyn made the only find, a stainless swivel. We had to contend with a bit of swell, which always makes the method more of a challenge, but the trainees did a great job. To top it off, we had four grey nurses swim through the transect line right at the end, one of which was a lovely large female (2.5-3m). We then bumped into Greg and Colin and swam back along the wall to the cod hole, where at least 10 grey nurse sharks were cruising. Greg took around 80 shots of the sharks with the lasers (used to size each animal accurately) for the Spot a Shark team, and I tried to battle with the surge and get some shots for spot a shark. We spotted one small female with a long piece of line trailing from her mouth - a common sight in our local grey nurse shark population. Greg also spotted a green turtle, and Rob, the dive master, spotted a small hawksbill turtle. I found another debris item on our swim - a piece of metal bar, probably from an anchor. Heather had more trouble with her gear, and again had to abort the dive half way through the transect. 'I should not have got out of bed', she said back on board!
A great day for our first dive, and with the water looking better than it has in two years, we may be in for some busy weekends!
Dive Details: 16.4m, 36min, 19 deg.
I am out of action for a while after my choking incident - inhaled a full-grown cockroach at 33m, and now have pneumonia! Ah, the joys of diving :)
