Steve's Bommie (Australia)

In November 2015 I travelled the east coast of Australia capping it off with two live aboard trips of the Great Barrier Reef including one to the Ribbon Reefs aboard Taka.  Steve's Bommie is a very well known dive site in diving for the amount of life that lives on this column.

I was lucky enough that this trips itinary allowed me the opportunity to dive it not only once but twice.  The first dive there was only 5 people on the entire Bommie due to currents the zodiac delivered our dive group to 2 different dive locations.


 Upon first decent my dive buddy and I descended to the top of the Bommie using the guide line, and from there descended to a depth of 27 meters.  Our dive plan was to circle around the bommie slowing ascending as we go.  The amount of life that lived off of this one column was something I've never experienced before.  My eyes didn't know what to focus on, there was to much life.  Even months later I can recall this dive perfectly.  We started going around counter clockwise. Instantly we noticed the size of the sea fans and the colours were specular.  These Sea Fans (above) were located 25 meters down, and were almost 4 feet wide each. On this same dive I saw some beautiful black and red Nudibranch.  These little colourful creatures are slugs and for those of you that don't know Nudibranch's they can are both genders, as well they are very very slow moving.  After finding another Nudibranch they determine if they are compatible, if they are they mate and if not they one of them usually gets killed.

There are thousands of different types in the world varying in colour drastically.  Nudibranch's are one of my favourite animals for their colours as well as the amazing photography they allow since they are usually not moving.  Away from the walls you could see hundreds of fish schooling.  When you look up towards the sun and all you see is fish is truly an amazing experience and something I can picture every time I close my eyes. Another highlight for this dive site is that the top of the bommie where the guide line is located is at a depth of 3-5 meters, making a perfect safety stop.  The life on top of the bommie does not disappoint.  The guide line is located right next to an amazing anemone.  The clown fish living in this anemone were so curious they would swim almost right into your mask trying to defend their territory.

On the second dive we had a off duty staff member join our dive group.  Upon descending to a depth of 24 meters, we decided the best course of action would be to dive the left side with making our way around to the far side at a depth of 9 meters and end our dive at the top of the bommie like previously. Here is where we say a scorpion fish hidden into the wall, as well as a clam.  Further up the wall we saw a beautiful yellow white and black dotted Nudibranch.  As well as clear cleaner shrimp that we were unable to photograph. At the end of the dive we saw a peacock Mantis Shrimp as well as the clown fish. 

My dive buddy on this trip inspired me to forget about the GoPro and step into the life of underwater photography.  These are his photos but I felt they were to good not to share.  Although I only met him for 4 days we became friends spending countless hours in the water together and at the end of the night looking at and sharing our videos and photos of the days dives.

Hello everyone, my name is Trevor McLay.  I live in Burlington Ontario Canada and since March 2015 I have been a certified scuba diver.  So far in my past experience I've been lucky enough to dive some very beautiful places all over the east coast of Australia and Turks and Caicos. As well as my local dive spots in Lake Muskoka.  I have been contemplating creating one of these blogs to start communicating my diving experiences as well as to share my photos.  I will be using a GoPro as well as a Sony RX100M2 with a YS-03 strobe and a Itorch Pro5.  My 2016 plan involves a lot of diving as I will be travelling to Turks and Caicos again this March as well as this summer I want to further explore the depths of Lake Muskoka, and lastly upon graduation I hope to travel to Bonaire or Indonesia.  Diving to me is a very personal endeavour, I love the underwater photography aspect as well as seeing things that only a diver can see and experience.  I love all underwater creatures (besides snakes) but I will be mainly focusing on macro critters, and coral with my travel photos and videos.  In Lake Muskoka I plan on finding and photographing multiple wrecks as well as engines and boat parts.  Lake Muskoka was known for its wooden boat building as well as logging in the early 1900's. These boats are a piece of history that has been lost and with help from friends and my camera I hope to capture and share one of my passions with you.