Dive Number: 174 31/07/11 10.01, Barwon Bluff, Barwon Heads
Wind: 10-15knot north/north-easterlies
Tide: 2.5hr before 1.48 high tide at the Heads
Conditions: Absolutley perfect conditions. Sun shining, gentle northerlies, flat seas and crystal clear waters.
Visibilty: 15-20m.
Water Temp: 11c
Bottom Time: 113minutes
Max Depth: 6.8m
Air usage: 210bar/3000psi
SAC: ???? litres/min
Details: Conditions were absolutely ideal for diving today. Clear blue skies, flat seas, and crystal clear water. Phil was going to meet me down at Barwon Bluff and he brought a couple of buddies with him. I also persuaded Chris (with some crap about flying kites), that he shouldn’t miss this opportunity to dive Barwon Bluff while the going was good, so Chris and Harry also came along. All up i think we had seven divers in the water to experience the goodness that is Barwon Bluff and the wreck of the Earl of Charlemont. Phil and crew had to get in the water early, since they had a boat dive later in the day, so Owen joined me, Chris and Harry on the dive. We trudged down the stairs and along the beach to the rough entry point which i tried to memorise from yesterday. We swum out about 100m and descended, spreading out and searching the gullies trying to spot some of the wreck remanants with not much success. The vis was spectacular and the terrain matched it. My over -eagerness to re-find the wreck, mixed with the great vis, saw me getting seperated twice from the others. On the second occassion however, i refound the wreck area from yesterday, and started taking photos. Excited with the find, and wanting to share, i looked up to see Chris hovering above me, right in my face trying to scare the beegebus of me. It didn’t work.. ;P too much adrenaline from the find, so i motioned to go over to the ridge where the deadeye rigging lay. We checked that out and surfaced to discuss the approach from here on. We decided to swim further out and see if more of the wreck was visible further out. No doubt there was more under there, but covered in the endless sand, which made us turn back to the exposed area. We came across some type of basket net…possibly a modern day cray net, but beneath it was some gnarled iron that was definently wreck material. We tried to clear the sand to uncover more of it, but it was fairly uneventful. It was nearly 2 hours into the dive, and air was running low, so we headed back into shore. An unforgettable dive..
Camera Details: Tokina 10-17mm , SS200 strobe + SS400 Strobe
Dive Report:
