Leigh Matheson Bay

DESCRIPTION

Shore dive

This is a sheltered sandy bottomed bay which has a rocky reef out crop on the left of the bay with a channel between this and the island.

Assess the conditions from the top of the hill to the left of the beach above the children’s playground. From this vantage point you will be able to see what the ocean is doing out side the sheltered bay. If there are waves running in through the channel between the rocky outcrop and the island then this will affect you on the dive as surge and lift underwater. The bay is exposed to easterly winds and swell.

The bay itself underwater, as mentioned, is sand. This is a steady 4-5m throughout the bay. The bottom of the bay has the occasional rock cluster and you can usually find hermit crabs or starfish to play with.

Over by the rocky outcrop and channel you get into a lot more rock, reef and kelp/seaweed territory. This is the best place to start your dive as you have a definite reference to follow rather than relying on your compass skills over sand. Start your descent at the beginning of the channel. Put the bay behind you and head out underwater with the left hand side of the channel in visual range. You can get some depth, about 12-14 max, with a decent swim. The rock bottom shows evidence of Kina grazing but many hunter gatherers come to this bay to collect the Kina regularly. You are best to concentrate on the macro life or the wildlife that often lurks in and amongst the seaweeds. You will find the odd fish scattered about here – Spotties, small Red Moki, Leather Jackets, Goatfish and Triple Fins are fairly common in this area. If you look closely you can find various Nudibranchs or even a Seahare or Octopus. Check out the wildlife that our Divemaster Martin Wallis found.

In the summer months there will be stingrays and eagle rays in and around the bay too. The back of the island (seaward side) has an underwater shelf that is fairly shallow and extends for a good distance out from the island. If you get onto this shelf you will have a fairly shallow dive that can be uncomfortably surgey even with only a very mild swell. The visibility in and around the bay is not usually any more than 10m and is commonly less than 5m, another reason to ferret around for the little stuff.

When entering and exiting the water from the beach you will find that there is a sharp drop into chest deep water. This can be a bit tricky with scuba on, as even a small amount of wave action can easily overbalance you. Take your time and stick with your buddy.

REVIEW

Trip Report by Martin Wallis

On Saturday the 3rd of July, 2010, while everybody else was participating in the 1st annual underwater Olympics, held by Global Dive, I decided to sneak off and have a dive to make up for disappointing photographic results from the previous dive a week earlier.

The venue was Matheson Bay, Leigh. I hadn’t dived this site for a few months, so was keen to see what I could find. I headed off from the shore to where there is a break in the rock wall that cuts across the bay, and slowly swam in a north easterly direction from there.

There was no current and the visibility was quite good for the area at about 6 metres. I had my 60mm macro lens on and was slowly searching all the rocks, nooks and crannies, and kelp for anything small. Then, out of the corner of my eye I saw what at first I thought was an unusual looking piece of kelp.

Upon looking more closely, I discovered that it was a fish. It had its head pointing down and its mouth seemingly attached to a rock on the bottom and its upside-down body was just swaying about in the water in such a way that it looked like a piece of kelp, attached to the rock. I assume this behavior was the fish attempting to camouflage itself. I fired off a number of shots which didn’t disturb the fish in the slightest. It had no inclination to move at all.

I wasn’t particularly happy with any of the shots, so decided to spend a little more time with this fella. I shooed it along a little and re-positioned myself for some better shots. My settings for all of the photographs I took of this guy were ISO100, f8 at 1/60thsec with strobes set to ¼ power.

I probably spent another five minutes or so with this fish before continuing with the rest of this two hour dive. My max depth on this dive was 5.5m, and I photographed this guy in between 4-5m