DIVE LOG AUSTRALASIA FEB 2026

My buddy having a friendly encounter with a huge Wobbegong on top of the boiler of the Tuggerah. As always, the Wobbegong wins!

metres. Most sank in huge storms. The Tuggerah sank over one century ago in forty-six metres. The water is cold, dark and subject to extreme currents as well as big seas. It is a challenge! I must confess that after diving on the Tuggerah a few times a year for more than forty-five years, I rarely get a great photo. I always go for the marine life because it is usually too dirty to capture the wreck. Inevitably, my dive on the wreck becomes a hunt for terrifying Stargazers, big Wobbegongs or giant Cuttles. What I have learned again and again from diving these wrecks is the old reliable rule of available light

being halved every few metres. Half of the sunlight reflects off the surface, another half is lost every three metres by scattering, absorption and reflection. By the time you get to 46 metres, the light has been halved 12 to 16 times, depending on how much sediment and algae is in the water and whether the water is a shade of green goop, brown goop or a combination of both. Most of your photos resemble mud! You have to use at least 400 to 800 ISO to capture the available light. Higher ISO run the risk of having subjects over exposed by your strobes. I turn the strobes much wider and power down. The main

Wrecks are safe havens for rare fish such as these juvenile Splendid Perch living on the boiler on the Tuggerah. Big Wobbegongs also rest here on most dives.

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Dive Log Australasia #416 February ’26

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