Living and Diving Tasmania!

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Tassie has, in my completely unbiased opinion, some of the best diving in Australia.

One great thing is that there are plenty of good shore dives around (try doing that in queensland..). Most dive shops stock a book called 'Dive Tasmania' that you should grab: it lists hundreds of dives right around the island, including good shore dives for each region.

Be sure to join a dive club when you arrive - there’s plenty of divers down there who will happily show you around.

Head to the east coast for a week or so if you have time - there are good dive centres at Bingalong Bay (the bay of fires dive centre has one of the best views of any dive centre I've been to), Bicheno (excellent but deep sponge garderns), Swansea (a new wreak), Eaglehawk (huge sea caves, amazing sea cliffs, some kelp and plenty of seadragons as well as a good deep wreak), while hobart has some good shore dives. The northern dive clubs often have trips to some of these sites.

I used a 7 mm semidry for years and was fine- but drysuits keep you a lot warmer between dives: especially when its snowing/hailing and a lot warmer in the water than out of it.

Cheers,
Rohan


Thanks a lot for the details Rohan.

I never dove with a dry suit and i don't think i could afford it in the near future, and all i have is a 3mm wetsuit!! so i think a good compromise would be a 5 or 7mm semi-dry one. I am falling in love with Tasmania every day and i just cant wait to get there, its like an outdoors-man's heaven :D

thanks a lot Rohan :wink:
 
Tassie has, in my completely unbiased opinion, some of the best diving in Australia......
totally agree - i was super impressed with the dving in tassie and look forward to diving it again

and then you have the above water outdoors....
 
If you like the outdoors, and am prepared for rapidly changing weather, then Tassies national parks are fantastic, and theres some really great extended walks.

If you haven't dived cold water before be prepared for a learning experience and take the first dozen or so dives really easy: the gloves and hood will feel cumbersome and restrictive at first, and carrying 12-24 lb of lead takes some getting used to (be sure to nail the amount of lead you really need early on - first time cold water divers often tend to be stupidly overweighted, and I've watched many visiting divers plummet into the abyss the moment they vent their bc...).

Cheers,
Rohan.
 
If you like the outdoors, and am prepared for rapidly changing weather, then Tassies national parks are fantastic, and theres some really great extended walks.

If you haven't dived cold water before be prepared for a learning experience and take the first dozen or so dives really easy: the gloves and hood will feel cumbersome and restrictive at first, and carrying 12-24 lb of lead takes some getting used to (be sure to nail the amount of lead you really need early on - first time cold water divers often tend to be stupidly overweighted, and I've watched many visiting divers plummet into the abyss the moment they vent their bc...).

Cheers,
Rohan.


I dove cold waters many times, but nothing below 15 degrees cel (water temp, not air). i am used to the gloves but never liked the hood, i think its too constrictive! but when its that cold you just have to wear it!!

there are a lot of things I'll have to buy once i get there! better start saving for it all!

Thanks a lot for the advice Rohan :wink:
 
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Currently tassie water temperatures are in the range of 10-12 degrees celsius which I've found comfortable in either a 5/7mm wettie or much more comfortable in a drysuit.

Best location for info on Tassie diving is:
tassiedivers . com

Launceston club:
www . oceandiversplus . com

Largest of the Hobart clubs:
www . tsdc . org . au

Both clubs have damp dives (pub based meetings) on the first Tuesday of the month.
I'm usually at one or the other depending on which end of the state I'm in at the time.

(Sorry about the way the url's are posted but the BB software is getting narky that I haven't posted 5 messages. Probably thinks I'm just spamming).
 
Currently tassie water temperatures are in the range of 10-12 degrees celsius which I've found comfortable in either a 5/7mm wettie or much more comfortable in a drysuit.

Best location for info on Tassie diving is:
tassiedivers . com

Launceston club:
www . oceandiversplus . com

Largest of the Hobart clubs:
www . tsdc . org . au

Both clubs have damp dives (pub based meetings) on the first Tuesday of the month.
I'm usually at one or the other depending on which end of the state I'm in at the time.

(Sorry about the way the url's are posted but the BB software is getting narky that I haven't posted 5 messages. Probably thinks I'm just spamming).


the water temp doesn't sound too bad, and is that as cold as it gets?

joining a dive club sounds like the best way to get diving! so that will be one of my priorities once i get there! I'll probably rent a wetsuit when i get there till i can afford a new 7-mm one!

thanks for all the info illFisch, I'll let you you know when i get there if i need any more info..
 
the water temp doesn't sound too bad, and is that as cold as it gets?

joining a dive club sounds like the best way to get diving! so that will be one of my priorities once i get there! I'll probably rent a wetsuit when i get there till i can afford a new 7-mm one!

thanks for all the info illFisch, I'll let you you know when i get there if i need any more info..

No problems.

As far as water temp it doesn't get much colder unless you decide to drive to the highland lakes and dive under the ice in winter as some of the guys from oceandiversplus did earlier this year. Water temp at 2 deg c to a depth of 5m.
 
WOW I love your pictures, and now i just cant wait to dive out there.

are those shore dives or did you have to take a boat out to them??

Thanks Soudan... glad you like and are all excited!

Most of them are boat dives. But there is a really great shore dive in Bicheno (weedy sea dragons, rays, octopus, squid, anemones and tonnes of fish right off the shore) - grab a copy of that book Tassie_Rohan mentions, I do believe it talks about it. Or PM and I'll do my best to remember what it was called and give you a description.
 
The book is "Dive Tasmania" by Michael Jacques ISBN 0-646-30129-2 who is still an active member of TSDC.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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