We went looking for the Port Jacksons mentioned to us on the previous dive, but didn't find them. We did find a massive school of East Australian Salmon, to the West of the buoys marking the entrance to the yacht club. The constantly circled us, moving further away when we exhaled, but always keeping us in view. We did see quite a few Dusky Morwong, Snapper, Leatherjackets, Flathead and Scalyfins as well, but the Salmon were the highlight of the day.

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We used up the rest of our air from the Flinders Pier dive. This was also quite a murky dive for Ricketts, and there was nowehre near as much life to be seen as we would normally expect here. We did see several Scalyfins, Zebrafish, Horseshoe and Pygmy Leatherjackets, Sweep, Dusky Morwong, an d lots of Southern Hulafish. We also spotted a couple of Stingarees. Grass Flathead, and Banjo Sharks. On the way back in Kirsty found a large Sweet Ceratosoma seaslug funching through some of the grasses.

While packing up we met a skindiver who suggested that next time we try heading West, past the flage that mark the channel for the yacht club boats. There is a large, sandy bowl there, with a ledge that often harbours Port Jackson Sharks. We've only seen a couple of Port Jacksons here, although we are told that they are quite common.

The water was remarkably warm - my computer indicated 25^oC, which was within a degree of the readings on the other two computers. We assume that the temperature had been pushed up by several days of the air temperature being in the high 30's, but I don't remember ever diving in water this warm in Port Phillip before.

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This was a rather murky dive, just before low tide. We did see a few weedy Sea Dragons, including an egg-carrying male, and one that we saw hunting (and eating) mysid shrimp. A very large Smooth Ray took a lot of interest in us, circling a few times before heading off over the seagrass meadow.

There were lots of King George Whiting, and a few Dusky Morwong in the grasses to the side of the pier, a few Cowfish, and a couple of Short-Finned Pike at the end of the pier. The Pike were quite flighty, and kept right at the edge of visibility, and always swam away if we tried to get close.

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Lots of juvenile Moonlighters under the pier, and one large Spiky Seahorse. There were quite a few adult Horseshoe Leatherjackets by the ladder at the dive platform.

There is still an octopus in the brickwork by one of thge stakes on the way out to Elsa's Reef.We saw a large Butterfly Gurnard on the way to the Eivion, and there were lots of Stingarees under the wreck. as well as a few Zebrafish.

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The water temperature is starting to drop, so this was a longer dive than we expected in the cooler water.

There wasn't as much life as we have seen around Rye Pier before, but we still managed to see a variety of worms, a Spider Crab and an octopus on the trail out to Elsa's Reef, Hermit Crabs, Spiny and Horseshoe Leatherjackets, Old Wives, Magpie Perch, Wrasses, Moonlighters, and lots of small Goatfish. Another, much larger, octopus was lurking under the wreck, but it was so far in that I couldn't get a photo of it. I spotted it because of the empty crab shells that were scattered on the sea floor nearby. There were also a couple of Stingarees around the wreck.  

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This was a very murky dive for Ricketts Point. We entered the water a few hours after high tide, and while the surface was calm we did experience some surge, which was probably contributing to the poor visibility. We saw lots of Zebra fish on this dive, but no Snapper at all. There seemed to be more large Sweep around this time, and they were as inquisitive as they usually are. The Zebras and Leatherjackets (mainly Horseshoes, Six-spined, Rough, and Yellow) still seem to be concentrated in one small area of the reef, and many were streaming in and out of the caves and ledges in this area. The Zebras were moving around a bit more and were grazing on the foliage, with quite a few seen hanging vertically in the water.

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We headed down to Ricketts Point early in the morning to have another look at the amazing aggregation that we'd seen over the last couple of weeks. For a while it looked like we weren't going to be able to get to the disve site, as a triathlon was being run along Beach Road, and initially we thought that we weren't going to be allowed through. It turned out that we were there early enough for us to get to the yacht club cart park, with our hazard lights on.

We arrived just in time to see a series of large waves break over the reed. This went on for around 10 minutes, although there was no swell, and absolutely no wind. We were there just on high tide, so perhaps it was a tidal bore of some sort. These unusual waves and the pink/orange light reflecting off the water combined to give the place a surreal feel.

The water was quite murky in spots, but there was lots of life. We saw many large Scalyfins protecting territory, a few Banjo Sharks, quite a few Dusky Morwong, Leatherjackets, Flathead, and Old Wives, and the biggest aggregation of Snapper and Zebrafish that we have seen to date! A few Pygmy Leatherjackets were also spotted in the shallows, and we also saw a number of Gobbleguts hiding in caves and under ledges.

The masses of fish surpassed anything that I have seen in an aquarium, and it is amazing to think that this is just a few kilometres from Melbourne's CBD!

The Labour Day holiday saw Kirsty and me down at Flinders for an early dive. When we arrived a dive school had just put a class in the water, which didn't help with the visibility at all! A couple of large Smooth Rays and an Eagle Ray were patrolling the pier today. We only saw a few Cowfish, and just one Weedy Seadragon, along with a couple of Magpie Perches and Old Wives. A Hermit Crab appeared to have just settled in to a new shell, and a group of Rockpool Shrimp have taken up residence in the engine block. The Tasmanian Blennie is also still there. There were several groups of very small Bullseyes - previously I've seen them higher up the pylons, but these were all concentrated near the bottom today.

Very poor visibility for most of this dive! We were looking for hte same aggregation of fish that we had seen the previous week, and for a while it looked like we weren't going to see them, but on our way back in we spotted them over the same reef as last time. Lots of Zebras, a big school of Snapper, lots of different species of Leatherjackets, and a few small groups of Old Wives as well.

We speculated that the aggregation might be part of the mating process, as we had seen similar large groupings last year around the same time. Also, amongst the Leatherjackets we observed a few pairs performing what might have been courtship behaviour.

Kirsty and I had another great dive, and look forward to going back again soon.

This was another fantastic dive at Ricketts Point Marine Reserve!

We swam out from the yacht club car park, past lots of Toadfish. The visibility wasn't all that good, but once we got out to the middle reef we saw a phenomenal aggregation of fish - Snapper, Zebrafish, Sweep, Old Wives, as well as Yellow, Horseshoe and Six-Spined Leatherjackets.  We also saw three Banjo Sharks, a large school of Trevally, and quite a few Scalyfins as well as a few large Flathead.

We had a wondeful time, and did not want to get out!

We launched our inflatable at the Martha's Cove Marina, which has excellent launch facilities, and will be worthwhile using again.

Kirsty and I were concerned about the large numbrer of boats in the area, as there were lots of fishing boats and jet skis moving along the coast near our dive site, but they all seemed to keep well away from our flag. The reef is spread out over a few hundred metres. We didn't see the columns that rise to a couple of mtres below the surface, so we'll have to come back and search for them another time. We saw a Sweet Ceratasoma nudibranch, and quite a few Scalyfins, but overall this wasn't a particularly interesting dive.

This was a great dive!. We saw lots of Weedy Sea Dragons and Ornate Cowfish, and had a fantastic view of a Pale Octopus coming out of a hollow in one of the old piles lying on the sand under the pier.

Visibility was poor close in to shore, but improved as we moved towards the end of the pier. I only saw one Cowfish, but Kirsty and Amelia saw quite a few.

Not many Weedy Sea Dragons around, but several of the males that we did see were carrying eggs. This is the first time I've seen this in the wild.

A couple of large Smooth Rays were cruising around the outside of the pier, and would come in for a closer look from time to time.

Quite a short dive in poor conditions. visibility wasn't all that good, and there were lots of boats and jet skis around, making if quite noisy at times. 

We did see a large Bigbelly Seahorse, several big schools of Southen Hulafish, a couple of Stingarees feeding on the bottom, and some very shy Zebrafish.

Lots of large Leatherjackets and a variety of other fish, including Magpie Perch. Lots of Mosaic Leatherjackets, Yellowfin Leatherjackets, Horseshoe Leatherjackets, Goatfish, King George Whiting, Blue Throated Wrasse, juvenile Moonlighters, and Red Bait Crabs. We also saw a good-sized school of Trevally off to the side of the pier.

It always amazes me how much there is to see under this pier! The exit ladder on the platform two-thirds along the pier has been repaired, making it much easier to get out of the water now.

Put in at Safety Beach and dived near Balcolme Point. Lots of fish life, including juvenile Moonlighters and Scalyfins, and large schools of Southern Hulafish. We also had glimpes of a school of Zebra fish, but they were more timid than their cousins at Ricketts Point.

An interesting bottom, with lots of ledges and bommies to explore. Certainly worthwhile coming back for another look.

We used our inflatable to do our first dive at the South Channel Fort. The water was a bit murky, but there was lots of fish life. Before we got in there was a school of Australian Salmon under the pier, but by the time we were ready the tide had turned, and they had moved on. Lots of Scalyfins, Senator Wrasse, ParrotFish, Sweep, and a solitary Cowfish.