Latest Dive Reviews

"Over Easter the club planned a dive to the Hippolyte Rocks, out of Fortescue Bay. The dive was originally planned for Easter Saturday but with strengthening winds and a swell building to 4m we moved the dive to the Monday. After an early start meeting at the club boat in Sorell we made our way to Fortescue. On the dive was Janine Mck, Eric F, Stefan E, Mark K and myself (James P). At Fortescue Bay we met Stefan who had sailed around in his yacht the day before. With the boat loaded we launched and made our way out to the Hippolytes. On the boat ride out to the rocks we were greeted by relatively calm conditions and a lowish swell. However during the journey our GPS sounder unit which had only just been replaced under warranty turned off could not be restarted. At the Hippolytes we decided to have a go at locating the Needle Rock, located between the Big and Little Hippolytes, using the Navonics Phone App, which at least got us close enough to spot the kelpie bully just below the surface which rises up steeply from 60+m to just within a metre or so of the surface.

With a shot line on the Needle and a light current running from north to south Janine, Mark and Stefan geared up in twin tanks and deco gas and prepared for a dive to explore this magnificent feature, none had dived the Needle before and were in for a real treat. On surfacing after around 50 minutes they reported a magnificent dive with great vis and a mass of fish life. With their dive over Eric and I geared up in our rebreathers and bailout bottles, planning a maximum depth of around 55m. Rolling over the side we descended down on the Needle where a powerful surge was snapping the bull kelp back and forth, and giving us a bit of a buffeting. We made our way over the southern side of the rock, descending down it’s shear face to the first wide ledge in 40-44m. This area was bristling in sea whips vibrating in the moderate current and variety sponges, along with a rich diversity of other colourful invert life. We were soon engulfed in a mass of butterfly perch, reducing vis from 30m to less than a metre. I lost sight of Eric as he disappeared behind a curtain of butterfly perch!! Then from out of nowhere a huge school of pilchards streamed by creating two distinct layers of fish, butterfly perch densely compacted on the bottom, and pilchards on top, this was just an incredible sight. As all this was happening I was busily trying to get my camera set up to capture this amazing action. Eric and I pretty much spent most of our 35 minute bottom time on the wide ledge in 40-45m just taking in the mass of fish activity a shear splendour of our surrounds. With deco rapidly racking up we began our assent taking our time to ascend up the wall, where more schools of pilchards continued to stream by. Reaching the shallows and with 30 minutes of deco to complete we sent up our DSMB’s hanging under them drifting away from the rock in blue water and getting away from the strong surge. With deco complete we surfaced and were promptly picked up by the club boat.

Back in the club boat the wind had picked up from the SW so headed into the Lanterns for a second dive. Mark and Stefan jumped in on the outer Lantern, whilst Janine and Eric opted to jump in between the outer Lantern and the cliff face of Cape Hauy whilst I ran the boat. The dive took them south around Cape Hauy in the moderate current and on surfacing reported a great dive with plenty of potential for deeper exploration.

With all back in the boat we turned into Fortescue Bay dropping Stefan back at his yacht in Canoe Bay and so ended a marvellous day of diving, with the Needle Rock being pretty hard to top as a dive sight, video of the dive can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOQPi8FPjII . A big thankyou Mark K for towing the club boat.
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By James P

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