About a dozen were able to head over Friday morning, with most coming on the Sat. I had a bit of work to take care of but managed to swing a half day to head over on the afternoon. Hit the first stumbling block when I arrived at MiCat to realise BCC has blocked all street parking. $60 later I was in their carpark and getting on the barge. I wonder who requested no parking on the street.....
The wind had kicked up quite a lot today and Paul, who was heading over on his own boat, had to pull the pin. 25 knot winds will do that! The plan was to try again early in the morning. With the head wind the 90min barge ride over was a bit lumpy but luckily my chariot (Lintons Prado) was awaiting my arrival.
Far too windy for a dive this afternoon so we resorted to having a few sunset drinks instead. Half way through relaxing we were made aware (thanks neighbours!) that the wind and waves were -not so slowly- filling up the boat. Gary's sprung into action to save it and shuffled it down behind the safety of Tangalooma wrecks.
The prediction is for it to get even worse later tonight but then start getting better in the morning. Fingers crossed. Sunset drinks were nice though.
It only got a little bit worse but then improved significantly. The house I was staying in was back off the beach a little and when I woke up not a single leaf was blowing. Slightly different down the beach though... still felt like about 18kn and still too rough for a dive.
As we pulled the pin the night before most people had decided to sleep in but generally got up by 8. It wasnt too long before we were sending cars down to pick up the new arrivals and retrieve the boat from Tangalooma.
As soon as they got back to the house it was time to gear up and head out for a dive. Outgoing tide makes for a pretty good drift dive on the Pines. Half way down the wall was a massive MASSIVE anchor. The chain alone would sink our boat... Stainless, probably a 600lbs plough, with a massive shaft and significant chain attached.
Few Nudies but a bit less life than I'm accustomed too on the pines. the wind and current had taken the boat about twice as far as the divers so when we popped up it was well on it's way to Bulwer. Wasn't too long though and they were back to pick us up.
Back on shore for a very quick bite and turn around before heading out again for the slack low. I put my hand up to be skipper and dropped the group on the MDS. Seemed like a good dive, if a bit milky because of the low tide.
After the dive it was a little more relaxed. People had a late lunch and then we started discussing the possibility of an afternoon drift... moments after I stripped of my wetsuit... it was still pretty good though despite having to don a wet wetsuit...
6 of us headed out but Mitch had to abort at the start due to sinus pressure. The remaining 5 of us met some impressive current but it was manageable with the protection of the wrecks. When it was time to surface I shot my SMB up and it whipped down current. As soon as we left the protection of the wreck, so did we.
Back on land and unfortunately we were having problems with the compressor. It would run and sound fine but cut out, for seemingly no reason, in under a minute. Managed to barely eek out 10 tanks... of 20... before calling it quits. Despite about 8 'experts' (me being one) taking a look to try fix it. Any Honda Mechanics in the club?
Carbonara was amazing for dinner and as usual the company here kept us entertaining for the evening. With only a few tanks not everyone could dive in the morning some had to do a hat draw to see who got on. Alex got a spot but kindly stepped down so he could go surface watch.
Early start for the slack high and a few of the tanks we thought were full were only partially so. Still 8 of us made it out to the Rock Driller/Tram and I was able to duck over to the Nautilus Statue to see how it was going. Definitely encrusted and lots of life calling it home but the sand has encroached a little as well.
Back after the dive and someone must have gone to church this morning for as if by miracle the compressor was running again. Best efforts to fix yesterday must have paid off. Or it just needed a sleep..
Coralie, Marie, Jack and Mitch also got stuck into sorting and cataloging the marine debris we recovered. After every dive we separate line, hooks, sinkers and all manner of other rubbish so we can track what were taking out. Slightly less than past years but maybe that means our efforts are making a difference!
Big gap between dives so some of the group headed off for a drive to check out the light house. Having done that many times before and there being limited seats in vehicles I opted to stay behind and rest. A working compressor was also short lived but in that time we did manage to fill enough tanks for the afternoon dive.
Slack low again so the vis was as expected. Milky and 5m. We were a little late getting out after lunch and just missed the turn. It was fine when we hopped in and getting around though. We were at the northern end again but still managed to mostly fill buckets.
Towards the end of the dive the current was starting to pick up. The anchor was nice and wedged under a rail on the MDS wreck and as JNR and I were the last divers down we unhooked it (to make it easier to retrieve.) The moment we did the boat shot off with the current, us in tow. Occasionally it would catch on a bit of sand and give us a little tug but it wasn't long before we were back on the surface and heading back to shore.
8 pax were heading back home this afternoon so they packed up and we got a group shot with some of our haul from the weekend. Compressor was still giving us grief and there was a lot of discussion about what to do with the remaining 3 full tanks...
Running the compressor a little early in the morning and we were able to just get 7 tanks done. Not being the kind of people to skip a dive we dropped right between the Enterprise and the Birambin wrecks. Huge Groper was hanging around where we dropped, starting off the dive on a good footing.
There was loads of rubbish on the tyre pile. Not so much on the wrecks but 1/3rd of the tyre pile was enough to overfill the bucket! Heaps more for when we come back next time. The vis was better too, almost 15m at one point. Best so far this trip.
Another great surprise for me was seeing something new. I have done at least 50+ dives on Curtin, probably more, but found a new Nudibranch and a really cool fancy Pipe Fish too. Neither I have ever seen anywhere before.
When back on shore we sorted 'the catch' again to track what was collected. After that was lunch and then seeing the Gary's off who were driving Diver 1 back. Our Barge wasn't until 330pm so we had some time to kill.
Some sweeping to be done after lunch and loading the 4wds for the trip back. Lifting the compressor onto a ute tray is always a fun job. As well as 20 ish dive tanks... then soft and dive gear stacked ontop of that.
It was a short jaunt down the beach to meet the barge and it felt like no time at all at Tangalooma before we were loading. A fairly smooth trip back, compared to the trip over... on the mainland we reshuffled gear into personal cars, said our goodbyes and headed home.
All in all another great trip. Thanks completely to the organisers and everyone that chipped in to make sure all the various weekend jobs got done!
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