Merry XMas , Happy New Year and all that stuff!

Thank you very much to the person who bought one of my calendar…no seriously, there were two people…cheers!

There are plenty for sale and prints as well, just click the Re Bubble link to the right.

I want to tell you about a dive at Bare Island. Bare Island is my “local” site. I wouldn’t bore you with the hsitory, follow this link for that, but its an easy shore dive that is usually accessible in most weather so when one gets stood up by their buddy, its the place to go for a solo dive, just as I did a couple of weekends ago.

The thing is that many people just don’t rate Bare Island, they see it as a busy dive site best suited for diver training but I don’t think so and here is my story of that dive.

It was going to be a low tide dive so despite the reported good visibility, my 100mm lens was the go.

I entered on the western side to the front of the island and as soon as I hit the sandy area I spotted a Lined Bubble (Bullina lineata) that just wouldn’t stop moving (thats not a joke with a 100mm)….

It was a good start I needed a half decent shot of one of those guys and he was perched at a nice angle. I looked left (or was it right) and bingo a huge Blue Dragon at a similar angle where I could get a nice shot looking up at him (notice the tiny critter at the bottom right).

So I’m thinking at this stage I’m up for a nudibranch dive but I’m still carefully looking for Pygmy Pipehorses. By the time I get to Seahorse corner no sign of Pygmy’s and I now start to think of maybe a baby Weedy Seadragon but no joy. I did however come across a male loaded with eggs.

My experience with Weedies with Eggs is that they don’t move too far from the one spot, so I settled down beside him for a few minutes to see if he would get used to me and come close.

He did, but alas my attempts at a decent egg shot didn’t come to fruition, c’est la vie and on I went on my merry way but not before getting two nice texture type shots.

On the run back to the exit from the western end, there is a rock at 8 or 9 metres that has a nice flat piece of coral (30 cm across) under which you often find interesting stuff. Well I found a Dwarf Lionfish on the edge and I managed to get under it and snap one off. 

Last Sunday I went back and the same Dwark Lionfish was still there.

Nearly home and I stop by what I call tube rock (you know the one, western side about 4 metres, near the exit/entrance)…oh great an Eastern Cleaner Clingfish at a nice shooting angle…so there I am, 25 bar left (not much air), tad under weight and a 100mm lens trying to stabilise for this fecker….well…I got one shot out of it….

 

And some people think Bare Island is boring (Ok..granted…no rust there…)

Now for a change, Laura and myself also had a night away camping with a group of friends. Only a couple of hours north of Sydney but totally isolated in the middle of a national park, so a great opportunity to get a night shot with the camp fire.

 

Have a great Xmas Cheers!

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I’m finally starting to organise and sell some pics and am using Redbubble.

So far looks like a great service and a good community.

My first project has been a 2009 calendar, so go on….click the link and go buy one….I need the money

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