Scuba diving is an amazing way to explore the ocean up close. Here you can enjoy some of our Dive articles. At Scuba-diving.com.au, you will have access to scuba diving tips, from what supplies to buy and what safety gear to carry with you - all available from your iphone or ipod touch. Scuba diving also allows you to chat right within the application - you can immediately share your thoughts and comments on a moderated discussion panel. Share your scuba diving articles tips with other divers. Contact us for Scuba diving
Fish Rock Cave Dive – South West Rocks NSW
When our Scuba-Search club announced that for our next Scuba dive we would be going to Fish Rock Cave, central east coast of NSW, I knew we were in for an awesome time.
We dived with South West Rocks Scuba Dive Centre. They also accommodated our whole club with their huge double dive lodge that sleeps 30 divers!
Scuba divers arrived at the Dive Lodge through late Friday… leaving everybody a few hours to socialize before bed. We were all excited about the morning dive. The lodge was kind of surreal. It was a lot like being in the Big Brother house. Meeting some new Scuba-Search members from Sydney and South Australia also made it feel like we had all just made Big Brother. If you want to do this dive, make sure you ask to stay above the fishing shop, not the scuba shop. It is another $45 for the upgrade (for both nights) and we didn’t regret it. We enjoyed modern living. Like good heating, very open plan carpeted living area and nice kitchen, cool big dining benches…and then we discovered our rooms, each with a plush queen size bed!
We gear up at 7:30am on Saturday morning, three boats all full. It was sunny and cool and nice. A light chop was on the water. The boat trip was a couple of K’s to the bar, and 3 or more K’s to the rock. Most of us choose to use 30.5% enriched air Nitrox.
On the first scuba dive, two boats choose to dive the famous cave first, the other boat dived a nearby site. We dropped in around 10:30am and ascended down through large schools of Silver Sweep, the viz was about 8 – 10 metres. We were all pretty pumped…hoping to see some Grey Nurse Sharks in the cave. We ascended down to 24m to the ‘Sandgutter’ and entered the cave…the race was on between the experienced scuba divers to be first into the cave, knowing they would get the most marine life and the best visibility.
Following our scuba dive instructor Matt into the darkness, we were startled by the swift exit of an endangered giant Black Cod that flashed past us, as the cave narrowed into the ‘Chimneys’. We passed a baby Lionfish and went on in. The cave was everything I hoped it would be. It was just awesome. It is surprisingly tight in a couple of places. We could see abundance of Cray’s red eyes, glowing in our lights as if glowworms were lining the deep cracks of the cave. We pressed on through fields of resting Silver Bat Fish and schools of Crimson Soldier fish, making it feel like a slow ride on an underwater ghost train. We headed toward the daylight exit, appearing 125m away from where we first started. We played in this wider, lighter area, enjoying massive Spotted Wobbegongs, Blackfish and many other typical marine species.
There was unfortunately no Grey Nurse Sharks occupying the wide exit of the cave on the shallow end as we had expected. We saw a couple them lurking nearby.
On the second scuba, we quickly enjoyed some very curious Moray eels, and huge Crayfish also a very entertaining and very big Cuttlefish flashing an array of colours to express its disturbance with so much attention while he hovered under a dark shelf. It was an amazing creature that made us feel like we were on a trip to outer space.
All three of our boats dived the cave this time, and we met up in the Bubble Caves for a couple of quick words. It felt unnatural to be talking underwater, in a cave. Then our group filed out, I was covering the rear. We then headed back through the way we just came out….stirring up the cave so much, that nobody could see anything. Being at the back, I couldn’t see any more than my torch only just lighting up my buddy’s bright yellow tank about 3 metres ahead. I followed the Nitrox label eerily through the haze heading down through the Chimneys. It was dark and spooky, and it seemed strange to be heading downward in to the dark to get out of there. Especially because we had turned around, so we had to go down the stacks head first this time…..it was disorientating and even experienced scuba divers later admitted to feeling fear, and making an effort to remember training and keep calm. I congratulate our scuba students for displaying such calm; they are a testament to our Scuba-Search club instructors.
That was a very exciting dive, that a lot of us were pleased to have put behind us. It made for great conversation that evening, sparking the clubs social side off again. A side to our club that doesn’t need to be encouraged.
Gear up at 7:00am Sunday morning. There are a few sore heads and some people in strange places. There were a couple of empty spots on the boat, as a couple of people declared they are not going diving!
Scuba Dive Day Two - Sunday
Day two, Sunday was a beautiful day. Both the air and sea were very calm. Our boat was treated to an escort by a humpback whale blowing his hydro stack along side us on the way out to the site.
Today we decided we had seen enough cave, and went to scuba dive a nearby site called the Pinnacles. This location typically hosts a strong current coming down from the North, and is not a site normally easy to dive, but is an awesome formation of reefs. We rolled in around mid morning not expecting not much more than what we got on Saturday. But the water seemed clearer today… It took a few minutes to realise just how good we had it.
We passed over the top of the Pinnacles and dropped down to see a cul-de –sac type of sandy bottom. The walls of the Pinnacles made a kind of shelter. Then the fun began…..Five or so very big Grey Nurse Sharks floating, like they were parked in perfect formation, unusually very still, like a Shark park! It was sort of like an underwater airport…..these great creatures gently floating in the cul-de-sac. Matt the scuba instructor headed into a small cave that must have been a favorite for a huge old Loggerhead Turtle. I watched the Loggerhead come right through the sharks toward him. Matt almost jumped out of his wetsuit in fright when he turned at the last second to come face to face with the Loggerhead, who had come to investigate the intruder.
We pressed on along the reef wall only another 15m or so, at about 20m deep. I wanted to get up close and personal with the sharks, and knew the way to do that was to get alone and get beneath them. This way they are most comfortable with me. I let the group go, and dropped down to the sandy bottom at 32m. It worked. Before a minute was up, I was surrounded by about 30 large sharks, some circling me curiously as I lay still on the sandy bottom. Oh my God, oh my God were the only words booming in my head. I looked up and could see the bottom of our boat through what looked like live shark soup. It was perfect. I was relaxed, warm and comfortable resting on the bottom like I belonged there. I got that feeling….this is why I scuba. This is Surreal.
I knew it wouldn’t be long before the dive instructor Matt’s head popped back over the reef, and came down to find me. I could see him smiling with his reg in his mouth; he knew what I was doing. He signaled me to check my dive data, as he could see that I thought I was a fish that lived there now. I had plenty of air left because I was relaxed enough to almost sleep there. However, eventually the air had to run out and we returned to the surface.
A one hour surface interval finally ended, and we ready for the last scuba dive of the trip. “Same again please” I asked! I was out voted, and we moved only 30 or so metres east to a nearby location called ‘Giants’. The site is known to host giant cod, turtles and more sharks. It turned out to be a good call, and again we enjoyed an abundance of sharks and plenty of marine life.
We were joined by one of our other boats, so there were a lot of divers in the water now. A string of scuba divers single filed along the other side of a sea wall. I watched the diver’s bubbles heading toward the surface, shining in the sunlight penetrating deep into the clear water. It looked magnificent, like a giant shining silver curtain….or cathedrals reaching and moving up toward the surface. I got that surreal feeling again. I watched this as I hand fed some Blue Groper. They seemed to like being gently stroked as they enjoyed the treat. A very confident Moray also appreciated a bite to eat with us.
By now I was ready to give up life at the surface and live here. Knowing that was impossible, and I sadly watched my air deplete from my scuba tank. I reluctantly began my accent pushing my air limit to barely sensible. I was surrounded by scuba divers who no doubt felt the same as our weekend sadly came to and end, we had to leave.
Back at the lodge everybody said there goodbyes and we departed back to the reality of life. It has been many years since I felt the blues after a trip, like after a great school camp. All anybody could talk about was planning another trip, as soon as possible. We are making plans now, and I will be writing about that to, right here at Scuba-Search dive articles.