Underwater Fun! Navigating underwater.
Where we learnt to dive...
As PADI might say, you learn all the time! Hahaha!! Anyone else had to watch more of those bloody PADI videos. Useless tripe they are and constantly trying to sell you something. If I have to watch another one, EVER, I think I might just crack.
Anyhow, we first learnt in Cairns, with a company called "ReefDive", who were rather new. Hence we had a rather good time learning with all new staff and all new gear, which means a lot when you've since used rather shoddy gear!
Great Barrier Reef, Cairns, QLD with Cairns ReefDive.
(Another company with web access is Prodive.)
The Great Barrier Reef, Cairns.
Weather:
Cloudy, 25C. 2m swells.
Depth:
To about 20m (not advance yet...)
Comment:
Ningaloo Reef, W.A. Oz. (with Coral Coast Dive)
The Navy Pier, Exmouth.
Weather:
HOT! It was October and already 40C+! The water was lovely though.
Depth:
To about 12m maximum, meaning a long dive!
Comment:
It was like watching huge shoals of multi-coloured fish moving past on a conveyor belt. Marvelooos!!
Picture of a lionfish, theres a lot of these gorgeous fish out at the pier.
Cape Range National Park, Ningaloo Reef.
Turquoise Bay
Weather:
Hot, windy after midday.
Depth:
Only about 5m max.
Comment:
Beautiful spot for snorkelling. Best time is to go before midday as the wind picks up then. All you do is swim slowly out to the bombies, thenlet the current take you to the end of the beach and watch for things along the way! It's easy! Lots of blue-spotted ryas, leatherbacks, yelloe-tails, parrot fish, reef sharks and turtles. It's possible to see the odd manta ray.
Oyster Stacks
Weather:
Sunny, 35C.
Depth:
5m max
Comment:
Lovely spot for a snorkel away from the crowds of Turquoise Bay. You really need to go when the tideis in though as its really shallow here. Around the stacks themselves the fishlife is abundant and colourful. But watch your fins, try not to hit any of the fragile coral and beware of your depth!
Coral Bay... "Asho's Gap" (with Ningaloo Reef Dive)
Weather:
Sunny, calm and hot.
Depth:
15m
Comment:
Fantastic hard coral gardens. Swim throughs, sharks, turtles, toadfish, just a beautiful dive. Most days it's a drift dive too, meaning no exertion for those lazy divers out there!
Coral Bay... "Black Douglas Rock"
Weather:
Sunny, choppy, hot.
Depth:
15m
Comment:
Bussleton, W.A. with Naturaliste Dive.
(Another company on the web is Cape Dive if you'd just like to have a look at whats available.)
HMAS Swan (sank 1997)
Weather:
Fine, cloudy but warm. No wind or swell.
Depth:
30m to bottom of hull.
Comment:
Great first "wreck dive". It;s been down there for 5 years now and the coral and fish are begining to take over. They didn;t leave much of the ship intact, the main hull area has a few wim throughs and you can easily access the bridge and captains chair. The silt is just building up so care to be taken on entering the wreck.
Bussleton Jetty
Weather:
Sunny, fine.
Depth:
10m max
Comment:
We did several dives from the jetty and from the boat here. You can hir gear and take a train down to the jetty and dive in your own time if you want. You can iether walk down the 5m of steps or giant stride in, but it's a long way down! We walked it, sorry!
The fish and coral life is superb. Mostly intact and untouched from rec divers its fanatstci to swim between all the posts of the jetty, including those which have fallen and now house several underwater friends!
Lots of these guys around...Nudibranches they're so cute! and we also saw Wobbygong sharks, lots of feeding octopus, cuttlefish and all the usual fish shoals for the west and southern oceans. Amazing site!
Bussleton Jetty... Night Dive
Weather:
Choppy, warm.
Depth:
10m max
Comment:
A really nice dive. The coral on the jetty comes alive at night with feathering all over the plaice. The variety and colours of the coral are truly glorious.
The fishes are abundant too, octopuses and squid roam the sea floor, hiding amongst the rotting timbers. A great dive, which was only ruined slightly by me throwing up my guts when we got back to land. I bought sea-sickness pills after that!
South Coast, Albany, W.A. Oz. (with AlbanyDive.com)
Gear: Very New gear all round. Computers for deep dives, Steel tanks, 11mm semi-dry suitsd for the cold water. BCD and regs are all new too. Fantastic gear in all.
HMAS Perth (sank Nov 2001).
Weather:
Sunny, warm. Water temp... 16C!! Bbrrr!
Depth:
30m
Comment:
The wreck is amazing! They've left most of the sjhip intact and cut out holes in the hold so you can swim through mor easily. Thre's little sediment at the moent so visibilty is still high, although the corals and fish are only just begining to take root. There are scholls of Kingfish, white-tip sharks, and even seals that come to the wreck, but we didn;t see them. Great Loos and computer panelling though!
The Bone Yard
Weather:
Sunny, still. Beautiful!
Depth:
20m max
Comment:
A great relaxing dive. We were down for almost 45mins at 18m just letting the currents take us around the huge plate coral growing on old (30-40 years) whale bones; deposited by whaling ships when wahling was the main income of Albany.
Lots of fish and life around here and we saw lots if it!
Species: Port Jackson Shark, Blue southern Devils, Big stingrays.
Weather:
Raining, cold, choppy.
Depth:
10m
Comment:
What a great dive site! It was horrible weather, but the 5 minute trip out in the boat was great fun and, more like a roller coaster, and the dives themsleves were spectacular. Not much coral, but plenty of big fish to see.
Comment:
Lots of BIG (3m) wobbegong sharks. A big (2-3m) male Grey Nurse shark (3m) HUGE stingrays (width... approx. 2m!) big crayfishes and so much more
FISHY Links...
Takes you to our Asian underwater adventures.
Back to the HOMEPAGE.
Dive company in Albany, W.A.
Dive company in Exmouth, on the Ningaloo Reef, W.A.
Great fish finding site for Identification!
Cape Dive in Bussleton, W.A.
SunDive in Byron Bay, NSW.
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