Kevin Baldacchino

We left home early on the Friday to head down to Warrnambool for the clubs dive trip which I had been looking forward to for quite a while. We completed the 5 hour trip quite easy before the holiday traffic got thick. We set up our camper and sat back and relaxed and waited for the rest to arrive, and arrive in dribs and drabs they did right through the afternoon and into the evening. Some of us made our way into town to buy some dinner, but you try to find a Fish & Chip shop in Warrnambool when you don’t know where they are, we drove around and around. Those chips were quite nice Adrian weren’t they! Anyway we all headed back to the park where we all tucked in to dinner.

Saturday morning came but with it also some rain and wind which didn’t look very promising for our dive adventure. We congregated at the boat ramp thinking that we won’t be diving, but the local dive operator had other ideas and confirmed it was all go. So all the gear was prepared and wetsuits donned and off we went heading out past the Warrnambool break wall into a 2-3m swell and 10-15kn South Wester. Our destination was to be a site called ‘Helen’s Bommie’ which was about 15km down the coast towards Port Fairy. We arrived at the site and entered the water to find the viz quite ordinary, but this dive site had fantastic bottom formations, soft corals, plenty of sponges and a plethora of marine life. But the only downer was the washing machine like conditions.

With the first dive completed and all divers in the boat we cruised back to Warrnambool to drop off a couple sea sick looking puff pastries, sorry l mean divers. Our second dive was to be on a sponge garden a short distance from the port, just as we were arriving at the site Crispy spotted something jumping about a 100m from the boat then it jumped again and l confirmed it as a Thresher Shark, and we were going to get in the water with just about 0 viz, how exciting! This dive was quite ordinary as the viz was bad and there weren’t many sponges in the so called sponge gardens.

With our diving done for the day we headed back to the caravan park for some lunch. Some who didn’t dive headed off to Port Fairy where they have a big Folk Festival and by all reports they had an enjoyable morning.
That evening we commandeered the bbq’s in the park and cooked some dinner and later congregated for some drinks and laughs.

With Sunday morning here it was an early start as we had to drive 50km to Port Campbell. This place has a very unique way of launching boats as there is no traditional boat ramp as such, the boats are loaded into the water by crane off the pier. Anyway with conditions much the same as Saturday we left the confines of Port Campbell for the half hour run down the coast to Loch Ard gorge and the wreck of the Loch Ard. With the swell crashing into the cliffs the skipper drove the boat into calmer water right in under the cliffs to make it easier for us to prepare our gear. With all of us geared up the skipper drove the boat over the wreck site and then all ten divers did a backward roll off the boat simultaneously. We descended only to find that the viz hadn’t improved and we quickly lost our way. After about 10min we hadn’t seen any wreckage so we back tracked and finally spotted the wreck which had some big crays on it. Some found interesting porcelain pieces while fossicking around and some even found the anchors, but we all managed to see some part of the wreck which was very satisfying for me as l have never dived this area.

The second dive was to be on a site called ‘The Arches’, which is said to be one of the best dive sites in the area, we weren’t disappointed either. It was a pity that the viz was down as you could appreciate the magnificent bottom formations, with huge pieces of rock jutting out into nowhere, big undercuts and swim throughs and most of the rock faces were adorned with many varieties of soft corals, sponges and the very bright Yellow Zoanthids. We met up with one of the largest Bull Rays that l have ever seen and l think it was happy to see Carol too by the way his tail moved. By the conversations on the boat after this dive l think that everybody extremely enjoyed this dive.

Arriving back at Port Campbell we were met at the pier by all the non divers who helped some of us drag all our gear back up the hill to our cars. With our wetsuits off and dive gear stowed in cars we all made our way up the street for some lunch. After our delicious lunch was consumed we headed off down the road to Worm Bay at Peterborough where some keen members opted to drag all their gear down the goat track to the water and do a shore dive, you had to be bloody keen to do this. When the dive had been chosen we headed off back to Warrnambool, but Evelyn and Kelsea took a helicopter ride along the Great Ocean Road, very exciting by all reports. For the rest of the afternoon some enjoyed the facilities of the caravan park which included an indoor heated pool, mini golf or tennis on the full size court and some just enjoyed some relaxation.

Sunday evening most of us headed out to dinner at a bistro called ‘The Lady Bay’ just down near the breakwall. I think that everyone enjoyed their meals, l know l did. After dinner we headed up to the maritime museum to see the light and laser show about the sinking of the Loch Ard. After the show we made our way back to the caravan park for a night cap or two. Next morning we woke to see the best weather of the weekend and we were leaving this morning, wouldn’t you believe it! With everyone packed be it caravans, campers, tent trailers or tents, we had quite a variety of accommodation between us it was time to hit the highway and make the six hour trip home. I thoroughly enjoyed this long weekend trip to Warrnambool as l had only been here once before and it was only for two days so it was great to enjoy some of the diving that this area has to offer even if it was a bit rough!