At silly o’clock in the morning, the Steves, Sam, Fe, Andy and Hartley set off for Terrigal for a double dive on the HMAS Adelaide. After kitting up, and swimming out to the DSS boat, the group were away to the wreck.
Descending the line was a decidedly green affair and didn’t look promising for vis. However, it turned out to be reasonably okay on the wreck itself. A swim through of the bridge located the bottle of port and resident wobbegong. The group then explored the superstructure before taking the wrong line back to the boat – in my defence, another boat had stolen our mooring so we actually went up the planned line.
The surface interval was spent on land back in Terrigal. This involved the group staring forlornly out to sea waiting for the boat’s return. After a literal eternity, the boat returned and the group were underway back to the Adelaide for dive two.
The second dive saw the group explore midship to stern, which, unfortunately, wasn’t reached due to deco limits. Sam, who has dived the most on the Adelaide, commented afterwards that bits of the ship have collapsed and fallen away.
The group almost returned up the wrong line again – no defence this time – and enjoyed cookies and sweets back on the boat. Upon the return to Terrigal, those who could stay, hung around for a wee drink before driving back to Sydney.
A fantastic day on a fascinating wreck, slightly spoiled with the on land surface interval.
