Ah crap, I had a huge dive report typed up and my browser decided to eat it
Bleh! In short because I cant be bothered typing it again.
Busselton Jetty
Visibility was 20 metres, max depth was 8 metres, water temp was a balmy 22 degrees C (!!!)
Jetty is 1.2km long and there is a train that goes out to the end of the jetty every hour, 13 dollars per diver for a return trip.
Highlights were big schools of herring, tailor, yellow tip and snook, as well as a large octopus that completely ignored the freaks in rubber blowing bubbles and carried on its merry way across the sand. Coral on the jetty pylons was absolutely amazing and there was a huge variety of colour. Most startling aspect of the dive was the difference between the areas of the jetty that fishermen can access, and the areas that are closed to public(walking) access.. fish and coral life in the fishing areas was almost non existant.
HMAS Swan
Visibility was 20 metres+, max depth was 31 metres, water temp was 18-20 dgrees C
The Swan is a Frigate Destroyer Escort and was sunk in 1997 as a dive wreck. Its protected by a 500m fishing exclusion zone to promote its growth as a dive site, but that doesnt stop some fishermen (Like the boat that we disturbed when we arrived at the dive site)
Highlights were: Entering the water and sitting in the crows nest at ~15 metres. Sitting in the bridge of the ship looking out at the wreck before us. Diving through the bowels of the ship in near darkness, disturbing the resident schools of bullseye. Checking out the timid dhufish under the bow of the ship. Other fish life included king george whiting, brim, sweep and a large school of trevally that circled the crows next - one of the trevally had a lure hanging from its mouth and looked remarkably pissed off
, sweep, leatherjacket and globe fish. A school of batfish have taken up residence at the crows nest.
Unfortunately my dive was cut short by lack of air (dammit
) so we had to return to the surface (If only I had gills....) We have already planned our next trip to the Jetty and Swan, and this time 4 night dives are on the agenda
Edit: If you are interested, there is some pics of the Swan here :
http://members.iinet.net.au/~heathp/Photo Gallery/hmas_swan.htm
These are not my pics, I'm yet to invest in a camera
