Update from the Down-Under Diver!

Update from Robbo:-

I have been in the water again, this time I dived the Pope’s Eye and the new wreck on the block, The Canberra, which is situated in 30 metres of water max with the main deck at 18 metres. By some quirk of Australian diving standards my qualification Advance & Rescue is only recognized as a 18-30 metre max qualification. To dive any deeper in Australia I have to have a deep cert and then that will only suffice for dives of 40 metres max. The Australian authorities are enforcing the qualification fairly strictly.

Before doing my double dive on the Canberra I was warned by Dive Victoria not to enter the wreck at any point and that included the Bridge area which has numerous windows and doors to get out of. Since I was a single diver I was buddied up with an Instructor who was taking three other divers on a wreck tour of the 18 metre deck level and internal compartments but if I was with a friend and we dived without an instructor /guide we would not be allowed to penetrate the wreck at any time.

Sounds as though Dive Victoria who have the principle contract for the moorings over the Canberra are protecting their investment. The ship isn't huge, probably on the same scale as the Scylla back in the UK. Not much growth on her but plenty of fish outside. With a deep cert the big attraction is diving straight down the ships funnel into the engine room (with a guide of course). I guess I’ll have to do a bit of training again.

The Pope's Eye is a man made structure in Port Philip Bay with about 12 metres max depth, I swam around it twice and was almost on to my third circuit before a certain lump of weed looked a bit familiar so I surfaced for a quick look and was heckled by the dive boat !!!

Robbo