Latest Dive Reviews

"The Hippolyte Rocks would have to be one of the best temperate water dive locations going around, it ticks many of the boxes that make a great dive including heaps of fish, great topography, a vast array of colourful invert life and great vis. A trip to the Hippolytes also requires the weather to play it’s part and when it allows you to get out there you won’t be disappointed.

On this dive we had Andrew G, Eric F, Michael S, Troy W, John B and James P. Arriving at the Hippolytes we did a lap around the large rock sussing out the likely dive spots. I was particularly keen to have a look at the reef that breaks east of the main rock which drops into 60 plus metres of water just metres out but on this day the low swell and slight choppy made for average conditions here.

We ended up settling on the Needle which can be found between the big and little Hippolyte, and rises up from 60 plus metres to within 3 of the surface, this was the rock that claimed the SS Nord and Tasman. We set a shot on top of the rock and found a moderate current running from south to north, we would be diving the north side as it was in the lee of the current, all my previous dives on this rock had been on the southern side, so this would be something new, John, Troy and Michael had not dived the Needle before so were in for a real treat.
Eric and I geared up in our rEvo rebreathers carrying 5.7tanks of oxygen and air for bailout, we planned a bottom time of around 25 minutes between 40 and 45m. Rolling over the side we descended down on to Needle rock and then over the northern face and to the base of the main wall in 40m. Here I settled monitoring the rebreather closely, bring the unit up from the low to a high PO2 set point. Taking in what was around me I was instantly amazed by the colourful array of invertebrate life carpeting the reef made up of large sponges, sparse sea whips, soft corals, bryazoans and a few hydroid species, whilst vis was not up to its usual standard for this area, we had a rather green 15 metres, but this did not take anything away from the dive. The dive was spent exploring the depths of this northern side. The thing that sets this dive apart from many others is the grandeur of the site with high walls rising up from the depths to the east and west, and reef made up of huge boulders sloping away steeply out away from the base of the rock. We soon had a large cloud of butterfly perch hanging around and few striped trumpeter could be seen below loitering around the large boulders, a few jackass morwong and bastard trumpeter cruised and the occasional boarfish was seen. Feeling comfortable on the rebreather, I followed a narrow sandy gutter down to 50m, where the sea whips became the more dominant invertebrate, though they were a more orange colour compared to those encountered off the Sisters. With bottom time ticking away and deco building up we turned and made our way into the base of the Needle, it was a great sight to see this magnificent rock rise up ahead of us from these depths. Reaching the base of the needle we began our assent up the north face then into the shallows were we began our longer deco stops, being buffeted by the swell I shot my DSMB and let the current take us away from the rock. With deco completed we surfaced and the guys on Y-Knot came in and picked us up. This is where the dive got a little expensive for me. As I was unclipping and handing up one of my bailout tanks, the clip slipped through my hands sinking to the bottom in around 60 plus metres of water, I was little annoyed to put it mildly.

Anyway back in the boat I was soon over the loss and was not going to let it detract from the great dive we just had, and was great to hear how the others had enjoyed the dive too. The surface interval was spent sounding out a mark I had for the wreck of the Tasman for any wreck like structure, but little was seen. We started thinking about potential second dives, we decided to jump in off the seal colony on the NW side of the big Hippolyte, and hoped to be joined by a few.

We found on this dive the seals were not overly interested in interacting a few very large specimens cruised by back and forth at a distance though Mick reported that he had a few smaller seals show an interest in him and spent some time interacting with him. Descending down onto the reef in front of the seal colony we found ourselves in wide canyon, which sloped down to a depth of 30m, here a few banded morwong and wrasse hung around and were joined by the occasional small group of bastard trumpeter. A feature of this dive was the numerous basket stars wrapped around sponge or kelp stems a few were seen fully unfurled. Ascending and swimming east along the main reef face, we came across another wall running out from the main reef carpeted in a thick mat of yellow zoanthids,. We headed back west and poked around at the base of wall which sloped steeply down from the shore above, where we found a few interesting holes but was a bit surgy to have a close look, a few small urchin barren patches were seen dotted across the reef. We ascended into the bull kelp zone where we decided end the dive and surface.

This was a fantastic day of diving always a great experience to get out and dive the Hippolytes a, dive we don’t seem to do often enough. The pins on the swath map below of the Hippolytes, courtesy of Geoscience Australia, shows the dive locations and gives a great overview of the terrain that can be encountered in the area, it can be seen there is plenty of potential for exploration and great diving. Look forward to heading back again soon, maybe to try and have a go at retrieving my lost bailout tank.
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By James P

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