Merimbula/Eden Jan 2012

Back in January one of the Divas went on a dive trip (without the rest of us Divas - tut tut!!) to Merimbula to dive the amazing wrecks. She went with a group from Abyss Scuba and as you will read had an amazing time.....

Australia Day Long Weekend 2012

Thursday 26^th January



The motley crew!



16 divers head south from Sydney to dive the wrecks of Eden. The six hour drive was broken by a stop at Broulee which is just past Mogo, south of Batemans Bay. The objective was to locate and dive Broulee Cave which is off the rocks at the northern end of Broulee beach.

Broulee Cave the entry is the middle of the screen

They say if you find the right entry point you can do a giant stride entry directly over the cave entrance which is in 4 metres of water.
We were a little to the east and had a short swim back towards the beach before descending to find a very large cave entrance. It appears to be a really long overhang of the shoreline above, which has collapsed to form a tube or tunnel rather than a true cave.
The tunnel is much longer and wider than I expected. And the visibility was quite good at around 8m.

Most of us had torches which helped locate, wobbegongs,eels,shrimp,lobster & lots of bullseyes. You don’t actually need a torch to do this dive as there is quite a bit of natural light that filters through the tumble of fallen rocks which form the outer wall, but a torch will help light the nooks and crannys where creatures tend to hide.

Outside the cave we found wobbegongs, a large bull ray and a number of common sting rays.

Our exit was via the beach. It was definitely worth the side trip and is a dive suitable for open water divers.

A further two hour drive south we arrived at our accommodation, Merimbula Divers Lodge.

The lodge consists of two very comfortable two bedroom units, conveniently located next to the dive shop and above a purpose designed area for washing gear and a secure area to hang gear for drying overnight. It is only a 3 minute stroll to Merimbula Lakeview Hotel where we enjoyed a cold drink and dinner.

Friday 27^th January

We woke to perfect conditions. Woohoo going diving !!



Eden Wharf

WOOOHOOOOO we're going diving!!!

It is a 20 minute drive from Merimbula to Eden Wharf where we boarded Merimbula Divers Lodge purpose built dive boat ‘Scubarpro’ for the 10 minute trip to our first wreck Tasman Hauler which sits upright and intact in 30m.

Tasman Hauler

  

Highlights of this dive was the great viz and blue water, the huge propeller which was more than 3m across and the fact you can penetrate and explore the entire wreck.

Now thats a propeller!!

OC1 dive computer Max Depth 27.6m. Bottom time 34 minutes. Temp 18c. Viz 15-20m.

Our surface interval was spent back at Eden wharf where some of the gang tucked into a very hearty late breakfast. And at least one person lost it all at the next dive site !!

We were also entertained by a resident seal playing among the boats at the wharf.

Back on board and another short ride to our next wreck the Henry Bolte.

Henry Bolte and some locals!

This wreck is closer to shore and the viz was not quite as good as on the Tasman Hauler.

It is a really interesting site though because the wreck is not intact and the twisted wreckage has numerous hiding places to search for sealife.

More locals!

One intact section of the Henry Bolte is penetrable and you can see some of the living areas including the toilets.

There are a number of reefs scattered around either side of the wreck which you can also explore.

Sealife on both wrecks included: Eastern blue devil fish, long snout boarfish, clown toby, sea horse, crimson banded & maori wrasse, old wives, leather jackets, trigger fish, groper.

Six Spined leatherjacket

OC1. Max depth 25.9m. Bottom time 40 mins. Temp 18c. Viz 10-15m

I would definitely do this trip again and recommend it to all advanced certified divers.

AWESOME!!

Jen :) x

Me!!

Our thanks to Kris O'Keefe for allowing us to use some of her pictures :)
 

Our mascot; Scuba Kitty!