Latest Dive Reviews

"The planned dive to Cape Pillar was always going to be popular, with the opportunity to dive the Eiffel Tower a spectacular dive site in the mouth of Tasman Passage discovered by the TSDC back in 2005. At one stage we had eight on the dive but this was whittled down to four as the dive drew closer, with Pax, Manu, Andreas and I (James) being the final line up on the day.

Departing from Eaglehawk Neck we punched in to a moderate SW’ly as we made our way down the coast towards Cape Pillar. At the Cape we sound out the Eiffel Tower, which is a very narrow ridge that runs out off the Cape, with the bottom dramatically rising up from 50 to within 10m of the surface and back down to 50 on the other side, looking like a tower on the sounder. We set a shot on the GPS mark and there looked to be a light current running from south to north. Pax and Manu geared up first and jumped in. They reported a fantastic dive with vis of around 15m, a maximum depth of around 35m and warned of a powerful surge on top of the ridge. It was time for Andreas and I to gear up with, our rebreathers, we planned to explore the deeper parts of this feature, and with 18/45 trimix as diluent gas in the rebreathers narcosis was going to be nonexistent.

Rolling over the side we made our way down on to the ridge and then over the southern side, here the vis was around 15m as reported and the water had a green tinge to it and a moderate current running from the south. Making our way around to the northern side and reaching the sand edge in 50m we found vis to be better at around 20m and the water looked more blue, but we found a stiff current running from the north. We pushed into the current taking the opportunity to tuck in behind the large rocky out crops and boulders to find relief and taking the opportunity to take in our surrounds. It was just spectacular looking up at the wall carpeted in a mass of colorful invertebrate life including sponges, zoanthids and sea whips, we were soon engulfed in a large dense school of butterfly perch. We continued pushing in to the current, then turned and drifted back along the face of the tower gradually ascending. We made our way back to the shot line and found ourselves in the powerful surge zone in 15m being snapped back and forth, which was most uncomfortable. Here I sent my SMB which was a signal for Pax and Manu on the club boat to deploy a deco station. With around 20 minutes of deco to do the deco station ended up being a godsend, as we drifted under the club boat away from the surge whipping around the top of the tower. With a deco completed and bit extra for good measure we ascended, and remarked at what a fantastic dive we just had, it was great to finally explore the deeper depths of this spectacular feature having looked down from above on a number of previous dives (under the heavy influence of narcosis) at the allure of the sand edge below.

Once we were back on the boat and gear stowed, our attention soon turned to the second dive, which was to be under the landing station on Tasman Island, but the surge was too great there, we did a lap of Tasman Island, looking for any possible dives, but the stiffening SW’ly ruled out the southern shore and strong surge from swell was affecting the northern shore. We ended up heading to the northern side of Cape Pillar which was nicely sheltered from the breeze and swell, where Pax and Manu had a very enjoyable and relaxing dive with seals, sea dragons and great vis. For Andreas and me, we gave consideration to having a quick look at the wreck of the Nord and after consulting the dive planning function on our computers after a 2.5hr surface interval we found we could do 20 minutes on the wreck quite comfortably and had plenty of gas for the dive with our rebreathers. At the Nord site we had perfect conditions, with flat seas, nor current and vis looked great. We geared up and rolled over the side descending down the shot which was placed on the stern. Much of the dive was spent hanging around the stern getting a few photos. As usual masses of fish hung around, including the usual butterfly perch, pike, trumpeter, morwong a lone stripped trumpeter was seen I also spotted a large false bailer shell, partially buried on the sand back from the rudder. With our planned bottom time running out we made our way up on to the stern and back up the shot doing around 15 minutes of deco plus a bit more for good measure.

Overall a great day of diving, fantastic to do two such awesome dives.
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