Green water in Piccaninnie Ponds

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  No Responses »
May 312016
 
Green water in Piccaninnie Ponds

It’s been a little quiet here on the website, which is a good indicator that I’ve been ridiculously busy. I have some exciting upcoming plans and there’s been a lot of travel logistics to arrange. I’ve also just realised that my website passed its five year anniversary while I wasn’t looking. Two hundred and forty four posts later, I haven’t run out of inane things to say about photos. Looking back through the archives gives me a great sense of satisfaction in how far both my underwater photography and my ability to write about it has developed. If you’re thinking of creating a more comprehensive online record of your photos than Facebook provides, I can highly recommend getting started on a [read more…]

In the trees in Ela Elap

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier, rEvo  No Responses »
Apr 052016
 
In the trees in Ela Elap

I spent the Easter long weekend in Mt Gambier. Four days of uninterrupted diving in sites at every level was a nice change from the usual two day jaunts. The first couple of days I dived with fellow-rEvo diver Tom in Pics, Kilsby’s and the site above, Ela Elap. Ela is a sinkhole site south of Mt Gambier. Unlike Piccaninnie Ponds it has greenish waters and a murky bottom. Ela is known for being cold and it lived up to its reputation – a balmy 18 degrees on the surface gave way to a chilly 11 degrees below 20m. We jumped in and spiralled down through the very murky surface layer to the dark water underneath. I took some shots of [read more…]

A lightshow in Fossils Cave

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  No Responses »
Aug 112015
 
A lightshow in Fossils Cave

About the site Fossil Cave is a small cave-rated dive in Mt Gambier. It’s close to Tank Cave, close enough that there’s ongoing speculation that one day divers might be able to swim from one to the other. It’s a shallow affair but does display the crystal clear water that makes you think you’re diving through air. The cave was named after the fossil remains which were extracted for study back in the 80s. About the dive There’s less light in winter but the lower angle of the sun means it comes in at a better angle for cave entrances like Fossil and Pines. On the day we had high winds and scudding clouds so the sun beams were a [read more…]

An underwater forest in Ela Elap

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  No Responses »
Jul 292015
 
An underwater forest in Ela Elap

About the site Ela Elap is a Mt Gambier sinkhole, close to Little Blue and One Tree. It’s known for being deeper, darker and at least a couple of degrees colder than the other two sites. The bottom gets down past 40m and rather than the 13-15 degrees of the other sites my computer was reading 10. Ela has been closed for a few years. The last time I dived it is a distant memory (possibly due to cold narcosis on those dives) and I was keen to get back for another look. About the dive We arrived in driving winds and surprised a few ducks off the surface of the water. While they struggled to take off in the [read more…]

Kilsby’s in Winter

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  No Responses »
Jul 152015
 
Kilsby's in Winter

About the site After a weekend of hauling hundreds of tanks through Elk River cave, it’s nice to post these shots of Kilsby’s Sinkhole from the weekend before. Floating through huge spaces, effortless, clean and serene…a bit different to grovelling around in mud with heavy packs. I’ve been really happy with photos I’ve taken in mid-summer in Kilsby’s before. Through December and January big rays of sunshine pierce the water, illuminating the site. At this time of year Mt Gambier is freezing up top but roughly always the same temperature in the water. The lighting in the sinkholes is dramatically different however. About the dive On this particular day we had low, grey clouds with just a touch of drizzle. [read more…]

Three rebreathers in Tank Cave

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier, rEvo  No Responses »
Jul 072015
 
Three rebreathers in Tank Cave

After a productive Saturday morning on the Mt Gambier main street buying tiles for my kitchen floor, and a pleasant Saturday afternoon dive in Kilsby’s, Sunday brought a relaxed two hour swim through Tank Cave. The site was open for Sunday only and the four of us were the only ones there. This made getting in the water a lot easier – no rushing to clip on bailout with someone standing awkwardly hunched in dive gear (or the reverse). With three models in the water at the same time this was the first opportunity to test out all of my strobes on a single dive in a while. A couple of my inon Z240s have been playing up with electronic [read more…]

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