New Images
Below is a selection of images that are either new or have just caught my eye
while searching for images for a client or sorting images after a dive trip.

Drive shaft, wreck of SS Tasman
On 12 April 2017, James Parkinson and I dived the wreck of the Tasman, which lies in about 70 m off Tasmania's Eaglehawke Neck. Exposed to current, wind and waves, and with no obviously useful landmarks nearby, it is not the easiest wreck to find or dive. We have been trying to dive it for the last 2 years. It was first dived in 1998 by John Riley and a team of Sydney wreck divers who did a very impressive job of finding it. Even with some approximate GPS coordinates, we initially missed the wreck and only found it 20 minutes into the dive. Apparenlty only 12 other divers have visited this site and we were the first in about 10 years. Great conditions made for a really fantastic dive. Many thanks to Mick Baron and crew, Ben and Pauline, for all the help, running the Eaglehawke Dive Centre boat and making this dive possible.
 

Wreck of SS Tasman

Deep reef near wreck of SS Tasman - first
record of black coral in this area

Deep reef near wreck of SS Tasman
More images can be found here

Steller Sea Lion, Vancouver Island

Pacific Spiny Lumpsucker, Vancouver Island

Steller Sea Lion, Norris Rocks, Vancouver Island

Ratfish, Norris Rocks, Vancouver Island
I was doing a dive with the Steller sea lions at Norris Rocks when they all dissappeared. Luckily, I found this ratfish swinmming around in mid water before I got bored. Ratfish are normally seen near the bottom, so I spent the next half hour following it around to see what it was up to. After a gentle approach the ratfish seemed pretty relaxed to have me around. It seemed happy enough but I still don't know why it was up in the water column. In Austtralia I would feel a bit paranoid swimming around in mid water near a seal colony, but in Canada the main seal predators are orcas so it felt like an OK thing to do.

Ratfish, Norris Rocks, Vancouver Island

Diving with God's Pocket Diving Resort in
Browning Pass near Vancouver Island

Browning Pass near Vancouver Island

Browning Pass near Vancouver Island

Grunt Sculpin, Browning Pass near Vancouver Island

Browning Pass near Vancouver Island

God's Pocket near Vancouver Island

Diving with God's Pocket Diving Resort in
Browning Pass near Vancouver Island

Wolfeel, Canada, 2016
 

Wolfeel, Canada, 2016

Browning Pass near Vancouver Island

Browning Pass near Vancouver Island

Decorated Warbonnet on the Rivtow Lion, Vancouver Island

Mozino Point near Tahsis, Vancouver Island

Mozino Point near Tahsis, Vancouver Island

Mozino Point near Tahsis, Vancouver Island

Deep water gorgonian at Mozino Point
near Tahsis, Vancouver Island
 

Near Tahsis, Vancouver Island

Steller Sea Lions, Vancouver Island

Sevengill shark in Tamar Estuary - December 2014

Sevengill shark in Tamar Estuary - December 2014

Sevengill shark in Tamar Estuary - December 2014

Deep reef at 48 m in Tamar Estuary - December 2014

Basket star in Tamar Estuary - December 2014

Deep reef in Tamar Estuary - December 2014

Soft bottom at 52 m in Tamar Estuary - December 2014

Deep reef at 48 m in Tamar Estuary - December 2014

Sponge garden in Tamar Estuary - December 2014

Deep reef in Tamar Estuary - December 2014

Deep reef in Tamar Estuary - December 2014

Nudibranch in Tamar Estuary - January 2015

Deep reef in Tamar Estuary - January 2015

Octopus in Tamar Estuary - December 2014

Octopus in Tamar Estuary - December 2014

Octopus in Tamar Estuary - December 2014

Tamar Estuary kelp bed - December 2014

Tamar Estuary - December 2014

Tamar Estuary - December 2014

Tamar Estuary - December 2014

Tamar Estuary - December 2014

Canada 2014 - Steller Sealions, Vancouver Island

Canada 2014 - Browning Wall

Canada 2014 - Browning Wall

Canada 2014 - Victoria

Canada 2014 - Browning Pass

Canada 2014 - Saanich Inlet

Canada 2014 - Harbour Seal. These little seals are usually very
shy but this one seemed very curious.

Canada 2014

Canada 2014

Canada 2014 - Wolf Eel.

Canada 2014 - Decorated Warbonnet

Canada 2014 - Rock Greenling

Canada 2014

Canada 2014 - Tiger Rockfish

Canada 2014 - Browning Wall

Canada 2014

Canada 2014

Canada 2014


Bali 2014

Bali 2014

Bali 2014

Bali 2014

Bali 2014

Bali 2014 - Rockmover Wrasse (Novaculichthys taeniourus)

Bali 2014

Bali 2014

Bali 2014

Bali 2014

Bali 2014

Bali 2014
In May 2014 five divers from the Tasmanian Scuba diving club made a first dive on a deep reef off Freycinet Peninsular. The top of this reef lies in around 38 to 40 m with the bottom in about 75 m. it is in the open ocean and subject to current and swells. It is one of the best reefs I have dived in Tasmania. Thanks to the other divers from the TSDC, and James Parkinson for organising this dive.
Below are a few images from a 2013 trip on Bilikiki.

Solomon Islands 2013


Solomon Islands 2013

Solomon Islands 2013

Solomon Islands 2013

Solomon Islands 2013

Solomon Islands 2013

Solomon Islands 2013

Solomon Islands 2013

Solomon Islands 2013

Solomon Islands 2013

Solomon Islands 2013

Solomon Islands 2013

Solomon Islands 2013

Solomon Islands 2013

Tenth Island Seals

It's April 2013 and Australian fur seal pups are gaining
confidence in the water and getting curious in Bass Strait.


Steller Sea Lions - Canada Steller Sea Lions - British Columbia, Canada.
Steller sea lions are just as curious and playful as the Australian fur seals that I dive
with near my home, but are much bigger. The males can grow to 1500 kg.

Steller Sea Lions - Canada


Technical diving on the Saskatchewan near
Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, Canada, while
diving with O'Brian Dive Charters.

Australian fur seal pup at the Tenth Island seal colony in Bass Strait. Australian
fur seals are one of the most playful of the seal species I have dived with.

Giant cuttlefish, Bicheno. The world's
largest species of cuttlefish.

Wreck of Nord, Tasmania.

W reck of Nord, Tasmania.

Wreck of Nord, Tasmania.

Wreck of Nord, Tasmania.

Sevengill shark at my local dive site in the Tamar River. This 2 - 3 m
individual made a close approach to check me out.

Shaws cowfish. A colourful species found across
southern Australia.

Big bellied seahorses are a common sight in Tasmanian waters.

Silver dory, Fortescue Bay, Tasmania.

Browning Wall. This could be the best wall dive in
North America. Browning Pass, Vancouver Island, Canada

Photos do not do justice to the light and stillness
you can sometimes experience under a kelp canopy.
I tried to capture the moment anyway.
Browning Pass, Vancouver Island, Canada

Nudiberanch Browning Pass, Vancouver Island, Canada.
I lit this to expose the structure of the animal and cause
the background kelp to turn to black.

Invertebrate community, Browning Pass,
Vancouver Island, Canada

Big seastars and forests of bull kelp are a feature of the
marine environment around Canada's Vancouver Island.

Hooded nudibranch, Browning Pass, Vancouver Island, Canada.
This species normally crawls over kelp but occasionally swims in mid water,
maybe after being dislodged. The water was full of sediment particles when
I photographed this nudibranch. I was going to clean up the backscatter but
then decided I liked the effect. This looks like some kind of alien space
dweller drifitng across a starfield.

Crab and anemones on Kelp, Browning
Pass, Vancouver Island Canada.

Just off the shore near Honiara in the Solomon Islands
lie two big Japanese transports sunk during WW2. This
is the larger vessel and it is massive and covered with life.
A diver under the lifeboat davit gives scale to a
small part of the wreck.

Sea fans, Solomon Islands.

Blenny, Solomon Islands.

Big walls and big fans are a feature
of diving in the Solomon Islands.

Batfish, Solomon Islands.

Longnosed hawkfish, Solomon Islands.

Detail of biscuit star in the Tamar River
in northern Tasmania.

Giant boarfish at Bicheno in March 2012.
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