What an epic weekend of diving-wrecks, jetty and one hell of a big shark!!!
Perfectly timed, we had a massive weekend of diving planned and it all went perfectly with the weather forecast for a downpour on the Monday.
Friday we were up early for our double dive at the beautiful Lena wreck.
One of our favourite dive sites we visit down south, we had a great vibe with 4 of our students completing their Open Water course and 4 certified divers all eager to visit The Lena. Sitting at 18m, she’s a beautiful wreck, teaming with vibrant colours and plenty of fish life. An easy dive and we were blessed this day with perfect sea conditions with no current or swell and the sun was out. Taking our divers down the line, we dropped down the side of the Lena and that’s where we found it…one hell of a big shark. Nothing to be afraid of, the wobbegong is a harmless shark and a beautiful creature who seems not bothered by our bubbles, it allowed for a great photo opportunity. We explored the outside of the wreck and took our divers for an inside view of the wreck, swimming through walls of big eye fish. Such a fantastic dive, and after 2 dives we were full of love and enthusiasm for something so beautiful and enjoyed the warmth of the morning sun.
Saturday’s diving involved more legwork.
After meeting up in town, we loaded our trolleys for our 1.8km walk to the end of Busselton Jetty. A beautiful walk in the sunshine and a chance to get to know each other more, we finally arrived, got geared up and ready to jump in. Busselton Jetty is a shallow, easy dive. Only diveable in summer when the visibility is in its prime, it’s a great spot to slowly glide through the water and explore under broken logs, sheets of metal and objects in search for cuttlefish, octopus and eels. The jetty pylons are teaming with beautiful hard and soft coral with pufferfish and old wives in big groups and schooling fish with light and shade streaming from above through the cracks of the jetty. Finishing out dive we made the walk back to town with a rewarding rest before meeting up again before sunset for our night dive. The night dive at the jetty is quite different. Obviously it’s darker, but while all the fish you see during the day are awake they are now sleeping and the critters come out to feed. Octopus, catfish, cuttlefish, squid and hundreds of red eyes from shrimp exploring the dark ocean in search for food. A very different dive to the dive done earlier in the day.
Sunday and what a scorcher.
Temperature in the high 30’s and we were on our way to dive the HMAS Swan. An old naval destroyer, it was left at the bottom of the ocean in 30m of blue water. Only a short journey and we were gearing up for the start of our deep dives for the day. Flat calm seas, no swell or current-perfect conditions for the deep dive. Descending down the line into the blue, we could almost make out the shape of the wreck and once we got close we could see her. Not all of her as she’s a big boat. Antoni led the Advance Course for their Deep Dive and Wreck exploratio. While we dropped down beside at 30m and made our way to the bow of the ship. Spending some time at depth (but not too much) we took in the size and greatness of it and from time to time snuck inside for a peak at what lie inside. After enjoying some time exploring and having fun in the captain’s quarters, we ascended to warmer temperatures and enjoyed hot drinks, watermelon and chocolate treats. Our second dive, we spent more time inside the ship, exploring the different rooms and spotting nudibranchs’ that made this place their home.
It was a beautiful weekend doing some fantastic diving with wonderful people. 4 new Open Water Divers and 3 new Advanced Open Water divers became certified and everyone said goodbye and made the 3hr journey back towards Perth, tired yet satisfied.
Have you been diving at these fantastic dive sites with Bucket List Diver? Feel free to get in touch and see when our next dive trip heads down south. It’s well worth the visit!!!