The lure of clearer water outweighed the winter chills and risks of stormy weather, so eight divers set off on the 6 hr drive to Eden. If you are looking for places to stop, the coffee (and doughnuts) is certainly good at the Berry Donut Van and the Australia Rock is worth a detour, although more for the resting seals than the rock. Steve T had booked a fabulous house with views across Twofold Bay from the north side.
We were diving with Brian from SCUDA and it would have been a squeeze to get everyone on, and that is before the ‘breathers, stages and cameras, so we dived in 2 waves. The first wave made a bold attempt at the tugs but were beaten back (aka couldn’t find the wreck) by the poor vis. The second wave decided to dive the chippies pier but even the crack team on the seond wave could barely make it from one pylon to the next without getting lost! For the second dive on Saturday easier targets (the sea bed) were chosen and a fun dive was had by all who went out. On Saturday dive after a crash course in gradient factors from Brian, everyone retired to the Great Southern Inn for a feed and a couple of drinks.
Sunday saw a second attempt on the tugs. This time the vis had lifted to ~5-10m and everyone had a great dive on the Tasman Hauler. It is still sitting upright and largely intact bar the upper half of the superstructure which has collapsed and is on the seabed on to the port side. The second dive for each group was the Henry Bolte. It is more broken up that the Tasman which lead to some debate as to which was the better wreck.
While some people left early to head back to Sydney most stayed the Sunday night and enjoyed a great dinner at the recently and splendidly restored Hotel Australasia.
Come Monday and after the usual kit phaffing, we checked out and most went to an early pitstop/late breakfast at The Waterfront Café in Merimbula, while a couple couldn’t resist the Whale Museum with it’s recently rehung skeleton of the famous Old Tom killer whale.
