Wreck Diving - Part 2

I left off my last post with where the Saturday wreck specialty dive was finally set to be: the Wollomstrom wreck in Gunnamatta Bay. As you can imagine for a day where the original dive was cancelled and backup was soon to follow, it was a rough day for diving. The bay is sheltered, so the water would not be rough, but it was cold, windy and rainy. It's dense with private vessels and the entrance to the beach is through a popular local park. Along the beach is a netted swimming area. This is the perfect place for kids to ask you questions as you get in the water like, "Can you look for my Buzz Lightyear?" and ask you when you get out, "Did you see any sharks or bodies?" To which my answers were, respectively, "Sure, but I'd be better off if Woody were with me," and "Thankfully no."

After gearing up and wading into the gentle surf, we put our fins on and swam a bit out to a mooring not far from the ferry channel. As previously mentioned, visibility is shockingly bad, so we took a bearing with our compasses, descended, and set off. My buddy (Chris) and I swam at about 10 meters depth for several minutes. We passed an old, sunken telegraph pole, but soon it was clear we missed the wreck. Since we couldn't ascend without risking coming up in the channel, we used our compass reading to go back the way we came. Most of the time the visibility was so poor that we had to hold hands, but every now and then we enjoyed the sight of a starfish on the silty bottom. When decided to ascend. I was nervous about where we where, and, being the first to pop out of the water, I quickly spun around in search of a boat to knock me unconscious. Nope: when we ascended we were not far from where we set off... so we felt good about the navigation and gave the wreck search another shot. About a minute into our second attempt we spotted another diver and were startled to find the wreck so close. It was, just as I remembered, a pretty weak wreck dive. But there were some fish and we surveyed the wreck before returning to the mooring we set off from.

After a short dive interval full of Tabasco-laden tomato soup, we were back in the water. This time we were supposed to draw a map of the wreck on our slate. To save time the instructor went down first. He was to tie a reel onto the mooring, find the wreck, and give a tug to signal for us to follow. For twenty minutes we waited at the bottom watching the barnacles on the mooring. Eventually Chris and I set off on our own. We found the wreck straight away but the silt was so stirred up that there was nothing to draw. After some brief exploration I suggested to Chris that we return to shore underwater rather than return to the mooring. Relying again on our compasses, and holding hands, we set off. Soon enough we were up against the netting for the swim area. Chris knew that there were heaps of White's Seahorses here so he inspected as I checked out the pillars and bottom. Chris was unable to locate a seahorse, but I found a few gems: another wreck! An old pram (baby stroller) on its side and completely taken over by marine life. You know it's an old pram when there are four wheels the size of individual size pizzas. Next I found a hat sitting upright on the bottom. I don't think it had been there for too long but I wasn't going to disturb it. There were heaps of jellyfish to poke and shine our torches through, Finally, Chris and I swam past footprints and soon were past where we had put on our fins.

I really enjoyed the dives this past Saturday. While I would not recommend the site to a dive, it's a good place to learn and try to make the most out of a site.

Sunday we were off very early for the Valiant...