Whytecliff tips?

[illiad]

Hey everyone. My first time posting here.

So a bunch of us Open Water newbies are going out to Whytecliff this coming Sunday for a couple of dives. I have only a few dives (beyond my cert dives) under my belt and I'm the most experienced of our bunch :11: so we'll be taking it really easy.

Where should we dive? We'll be there no later than 8am to avoid the rush of students. I understand that the daymarker will be out there so should we just surface swim to it, drop to the anchor and pick a direction?

The last post about Whytecliff reported a viz of around 20' which seems pretty good given it's the summer.

Any tips much appreciated!

 

[creamofwheat]

Hi iliad! Firstly, welcome. Secondly, one of my favourite dives to do at Whytecliff is the left hand wall. You know the islet on the left hand side of the bay? Descend there. It'll only be about 20ft or so, but if you swim out, with the wall on your left, it'll get a bit deeper. Just explore along the wall, there's lots of stuff to see. There is an octopus den there apparently, but I haven't found it yet. And, best of all, it's hard to get lost doing a dive along this wall, because if you swim back with the wall on your right hand side, you know you're heading back into shore.

Of course, you can always explore the shallows in the bay as well. There's some interesing things there that consist of metal blocks and whatnot.

As for the daymarker, things can get pretty deep in that area, so make sure you have fairly decent buoyancy control so you dont sink past 60ft (or whatever depth you guys decide on). (I have done dives to 130ft in that area, so yea. It gets deep!)

Have fun this weekend! No matter how many times I dive at whytecliff, I never get tired of it.

Hopefully some others will chime in with their advice as well.

 

[illiad]

Thanks creamofwheat! Left side wall, Whyte Islet. Will report back on the dive!

 

[Les]

yes very good dive for all levels. always stuff to see

 

[S. starfish]

I remember my first dive on the left wall, the viz was fairly poor and as my buddy and i descended a massive tentacle like shape loomed out of the murk behind my buddy, i nearly crapped my pants. As it turns out there's a few old mooring lines left out there, which if you're focused on looking into the cracks can surprise you.

Both walls at whytecliff are nice dives and both are shelved quite nicely so you don't have to worry about a vertical drop to several hundred ft (I've been down to 130+, there was no bottom i could see). My advice on whytecliff would be this: Avoid the bay during the day, I've had some fun night dives there and found octopus, schools of fish, moon snails and such but my day dives in the bay have really left something to be desired. One of the highlights of whyteciff are the anenomoe gardes which are indeed located out by the day marker. I would not however, swim out to the day marker and descend. The currents in the shallows around here can be a bit wiley and there's a stupid reef that you can get stuck on trying to find your way down. I would descend maybe 1/2-2/3 of the way to the day marker and follow the wall to find the anenomoe gardens. Be sure to maintain your depth between 50-60 feet and you'll the gardens - a fantastic dive. If you descend at the day marker and head back you'll miss them, if you descend at the day marker and head away from the bay you' probably end up in the cut, where the currents are not the friendliest things around and where the wall is more or less vertical. The currents can pick up around the points of the islet and day marker, just a warning. I recommend doing two dives, one on each wall. If you have any questions, or want a bit cleaer advice, just PM me, whytecliff is definitely the site I'd dived the most.