On the weekend I completed another rejuvenating dive in our wonderful Port Phillip Bay. Blairgowrie was the location and the amount of marine life reminded me just how healthy this place is. I have dived here on numerous occasions and as dive sites go, what can be found there is some of the most diverse ranges in the bay. Everything from numerous schools of fish, large bull rays, small rays, nudibranchs, squid, octopus, crabs, seahorses, as well as beautiful soft sponges and corals. It rarely fails to disappoint and it offers the most sheltered location in the bay, making it diveable on most every day except when very strong Northerlies blow.
Today I tried a new concept of my video work which saw me place an attachment on a weight, to which I mounted a GoPro. I had initially intended to place this where one of the small octopi live in a disgarded bottle, then swim away. The hope being to capture what these small creatures d when no one is around. They are very inquisitive, and my wonder to capture their reactions and show you was my driver for this idea. Well as it turned out, I found no suitable candidates, so I spent a fair bit of time swimming around relaxing and filming with my hand held 3D setup, but the chance did arise to actually place the weighted unit in the flight path of one of the rays, which gave a perspective that could rarely be seen. Over the coming weeks and months I shall continue to work on ideas and may even get to try the weighted unit, if I can ever find the Octopus in the tin that I found a few weeks ago, and that I am sure will make for very interesting footage.
The ocean is a truly magical place and I can only assure you that if I could be immersed in it every day, then I would. Funnily enough I did two dives on Sunday. My first dive was 75 minutes of aaaahhhhh, then after walking to the carpark and realising my dive buddy had lost a component off her camera, I made my way back to the pier and went in for a short 10 minute search. Funnily enough I could have stayed there underwater until my air ran out and never come up again. The feeling as I floated one more time was like nothing I know right now how to explain. It actually took me back momentarily to when I used to do two dives in a day, and now I wonder how I fitted that in, at the same time asking myself why don’t I?
Most of what I now write, most of what I now publish for people to read or see comes from the deep respect that I have gained from diving, and it is the only way that I can help you understand and appreciate what it is that I know. Am I passionate about it all? Most certainly I am, and at times it consumes me and overwhelms me, but then I guess that I have been educated by the greatest teacher of all, ‘Nature’, and for me it is hard to look at things differently, hard to ignore things, hard to not want to educate others, when you see what I see. I only hope that each video I put up, each story I tell touches each of you in a good way, in an inspiring way, and I hope that each time you become more aware of how important the Ocean and its creatures are. I won’t apologise for driving that one home, because the fact is that I know it to be true and I just don’t want anyone to miss the point.
Hopefully one day I may inspire you to visit my world, and maybe you will want to join me one day on an adventure to see first hand what it is all about, so that it can be your world too. Just ask. You never know, maybe I will invite you to come along and you too will begin to spread the word.
A really enjoyable piece to read, following some brilliant diving! Tanks so much for going back in to look for my diopter (but really to log another swim with the gorgeous stingrays and sunrays 😛 😛 😛 ) Looking forward to more amazing dives and blog posts with you this year, my Friend 🙂 🙂 🙂