11m Hillarys
Went out today iching to get the new toy wet, bought a canon ixus 80 digital compac with underwater housing to keep jacqui(girlfriend) busy as she's starting to get looping down pat and has outdone me the last two dives! just like she does with rod and reel.
We got out a bit later than planned due to a late night on saturday.Water was a little lumpy on the way out with a stiff easterly meeting the slop from the swell coming over the reef breaks. We ended up diving on a spot we frequent quite often sits on 10-12m ontop of the 3 mile strip about 400m east of the drop off to 18m.
Entered the water around 10am. Vis was far from great but still divable and had a pretty awesome dive, managed to not only spot/photograph a harlequin but also looped the sucker too:) lots of nudibranchs about to keep jax trigger happy, looped five crays saw many more but didn bother as they were too close to call as undersize also found a lionfish under a ledge which was awesome as i've only ever seen them diving around thevernard island and much smaller too. Really is one of thise special dive sites that most people would just tend to drive over that are right under their nose it always throws some thing cool in each dive seen turtles,eels,place is littered with scorpian cods and harlequins,big flatties,nudis, lion fish all showing up in an area about the size of two basketball courts, and now we have the photos so mates will believe us now:)! haha woot!
Dave J.
big john
Posts: 8758
Date Joined: 20/07/06
Pics
Nice pics there Reefmonkey.
What did the camera and housing set you back if don't mind me asking. PM if you prefer.
John
I head a little FURTHER NORTH each year,
Leave the cities behind, out of sight of mind,
.......
WA based manufacturer and supplier of premium leadhead jigs, fligs, bucktail jigs, 'bulletproof' soft plastic jig heads and XOS bullet jig heads.
Jigs available online in my web store!
Faulkner Family
Posts: 18060
Date Joined: 11/03/08
love the pics. its great fun
love the pics. its great fun down under, just bought a power snorkle so i will be getting into a bit myself
the harley looks like he has his fighting colours out , looks awsome
we got the olympus 1030 sw no cover needed but only good to 10 mtrs
RUSS & SANDY
"A family that fishes together stays together"
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
big john
Posts: 8758
Date Joined: 20/07/06
Rocking horse poo
Rare as rocking horse poo those 1030sw's Faulkner Family, there releasing a new version of it apparently and have pulled the old stock. I know because I spent the better part of a week unsuccessfully trying to find one.
I gather your pretty happy with yours Russ.
John
I head a little FURTHER NORTH each year,
Leave the cities behind, out of sight of mind,
.......
WA based manufacturer and supplier of premium leadhead jigs, fligs, bucktail jigs, 'bulletproof' soft plastic jig heads and XOS bullet jig heads.
Jigs available online in my web store!
allrounder
Posts: 1853
Date Joined: 10/11/08
harvey norman
in joondulup had one or two last week almost bought one myself.Cameras are like fishing gear to me i always end up with 3 or 4 that do the same thing
and just one pair of hands and not enough time.
So tell me have you got your info from years on the water or hours on the internet?
Faulkner Family
Posts: 18060
Date Joined: 11/03/08
yeah happy with ours, just
yeah happy with ours, just got a small prob fixed on ours but they are easy to use for video and pics , took it for a swim yesterday while trying out a new toy(power snorkle)down at rocko today.
RUSS & SANDY
"A family that fishes together stays together"
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
kane
Posts: 1752
Date Joined: 07/12/08
nice one
Man i cant wait to get my dive ticket, 2 weeks to go.
Goooooone Fishin!
Gooooone Fishin!
Reefmonkey
Posts: 711
Date Joined: 22/09/08
1030
I know of two people with the 1030 and both have had to send it back under warranty for it taking on water, that said however they are awesome cameras and take very good under water pics. apparently the problem in both cases were the seals on the battery and memory card slots and in both cases they weren't checked and cleaned after a dive and the smalest piece of sand or dirt will break the seal but if well maintained they should be all sweet.
Big john- camera and housing cost me $550 in the end, after months of scouring the net trying to find a still decent camera for a cheap price then a housing to match almost all cameras that were on special had housing's that were discontinued or visa versa. so in the end i spent a day in the city trying for the best price i could ended up getting it cheaper than i had seen on the net for the housing, cant remember the shop name but if your interested i dig out the reciept and find out for ya
Dave J.
Faulkner Family
Posts: 18060
Date Joined: 11/03/08
you are right on lack of
you are right on lack of maint
you are suposed to soak them in fresh water for 10 minuits after being in salty water
mine had a verry slight bubble in the paint near the battery so wasnt taking any chances sent it back for warranty work , came back with a whole new housing
RUSS & SANDY
"A family that fishes together stays together"
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
Dreamweaver
Posts: 4688
Date Joined: 01/12/07
Great shots Reefmonkey
Love the 'Harley has Teeth' shot mate!
Colin Molloy
RECFISHWEST Member
(Colin 2 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)
Soon to be de "dreamweaver" ed!
Colin Hay
Posts: 10407
Date Joined: 23/10/07
Top stuff reefmonkey
I didn't realise we get Lionfish down this way. I will think twice when I am walking around in the water at Hillarys form now on.
(Colin 1 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)
Moderator. Proud member of the Fishwrecked "Old Farts". Make sure your subscribed to Fishwrecked Reeltime http://fishwrecked-reeltime.com/
Hansie
Posts: 162
Date Joined: 27/03/07
is that a stonefish?
last photo looks like a bloomin stonefish! hope not. i presume that's a funny angle on another lion fish?
Reefmonkey
Posts: 711
Date Joined: 22/09/08
scorpian cod
Nah its def not the lion fish, i was actually gonna ask people to id it and see wat they thought, this dive is littered with these things i've always just figured they were stonefish too but yesterday we got another photo with the flash and it came up bright red now i figured they're scorpian cod. The deeper u dive the less light penetrates and red is the first colour to go as it fades to grey. I'm always paranoid about copping one in the chest wen i'm lying under the ledges for crays
Dave J.
TAPOUT
Posts: 885
Date Joined: 27/01/06
Ive got the olympus 1030 SW
Ive got the olympus 1030 SW aswell and had it down to about 20m and still working good so far. I think they under rate them a bit.
soupster51
Posts: 2724
Date Joined: 29/11/06
Photos
Nice photos Mate, looks like a great dive. Are you Perth Metro based?
Three days without it and I get a little jumpy
The best reason for doing what's right today is tomorrow.
Reefmonkey
Posts: 711
Date Joined: 22/09/08
NOR
yea i live nor mate:)
Dave J.
uncle
Posts: 9490
Date Joined: 10/02/07
photos
they are geat photos,its an amazing place down there,always regreted that I didn't get a ticket etc.
Fast fish rule!
all aggressive fish love bigjohnsjigs
wayneleech
Posts: 362
Date Joined: 27/06/08
nice work reefmonkey! Good
nice work reefmonkey! Good to see you got some crays:) We went for two dives today up near eglington rock. This was our first dive after getting our tickets so it was good to get out and start exploring! With those crays you got were they hard to find? We looked high and low and didn't see one cray. We were only in 6-7m of water though some of the caves we came across seemed like the perfect home for crays!
anyway - top photos - look forward to the next report;)
Reefmonkey
Posts: 711
Date Joined: 22/09/08
Its a pretty common dive for
Its a pretty common dive for us so the crays once found always tend to be in the same places/nests, prob the best tip i've noticed wen chasing crays look for ledges that are in the lee of the surge/swell. they wont set up camp where the surge is pushing into there ledge and stirring everything up. i found a few exceptions to the rule but generally i won't even bother checking ledges with the opening facing the west as the swell/surge comes from the west/southwest
Dave J.
wrassinator
Posts: 554
Date Joined: 26/11/08
Nice pics mate. Harley looks
Nice pics mate. Harley looks pretty aggro with that neclace round is neck. What a catch ay? just as well he didn;t get out and sink those canines into your thigh.
eddie
Posts: 303
Date Joined: 07/02/08
Top pics mate!! I hope to
Top pics mate!! I hope to get out for a bit of a snorkel off hillaries soon!
Adam Gallash
Posts: 15652
Date Joined: 29/11/05
top pics
Top pics and noosing the harley, fair effort that one!!!!
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