04-10-2005, 07:36 PM
Hi subzero, welcome to the forum.
Both the sites you mentioned (diamond bay and cape shank) are prone to heavy seas, so you really need to pick your day when diving this stretch of coastline. Remember only a few km up from diamond bay is where harold holt drowned! You want to look for several days in a row of northerly winds - an ideal scenario would be a whole week of northerly winds, then dive on the following weekend. The northerly wind blows offshore, and flattens the seas. Another thing to try and do is dive the falling or dead low tide, and try and avoid an incoming tide (when the waves increase). You should be able to find plenty of legal sized abs at either of these two spots, just remember to dive down and look under rocks, ledges etc, don't just swim along the surface and expect to find abalone out in the open.
Good luck
Jaz
Both the sites you mentioned (diamond bay and cape shank) are prone to heavy seas, so you really need to pick your day when diving this stretch of coastline. Remember only a few km up from diamond bay is where harold holt drowned! You want to look for several days in a row of northerly winds - an ideal scenario would be a whole week of northerly winds, then dive on the following weekend. The northerly wind blows offshore, and flattens the seas. Another thing to try and do is dive the falling or dead low tide, and try and avoid an incoming tide (when the waves increase). You should be able to find plenty of legal sized abs at either of these two spots, just remember to dive down and look under rocks, ledges etc, don't just swim along the surface and expect to find abalone out in the open.
Good luck
Jaz