Bare Island

Bare Island was part of the traditional land of the Gweagal and Kameygal Aboriginal tribes. In 1770, it was described as ‘a small bare island’ by early explorer, Lieutenant James Cook. It has served as a redundant defence against an imagined sea invasion and is most famous for being the location of a Biocyte facility creating a virus to destroy the world in Mission Impossible 2. It is arguably Sydney's most popular scuba diving site and has a lot to offer divers with a huge, easily navigable, reef system.

Ben and Tom with Bare Island in the background

I was DM and my buddies for the dive today were Ben and Tom. We had a group of 14 scuba divers and most were happy to go and do their own dive so I took a group of 5 on the first dive and just 1 on the second dive.

Spectacular sponge gardens are a feature of the West side of the Island

 On the first dive we found a half eaten lobster. The strange thing was that the head had been eaten and the fleshy tail had been left, very strange? We had a good look around the sponge gardens on the West side and navigated out to just past "John Merrrick rock" when we had to turn back due to air consumption of the group. Ian and Lachlan decided to leave us and carry on and we headed back

 Although the visibility was not the best the sponge gardens are still spectacular and I think a lot of divers swim past this area without really noticing the beauty - or maybe its just me being a 'sook' for sponges?

Bright colours and vivid shapes

Part of the western reef system

 All these pictures were taken on the first dive in the sponge gardens on the West side today.

Something has had a nibble at this starfish

 On the second dive I had some problems with my camera and I thought that maybe I had broken my fibre optic cable so I didn't take many pictures.

Moray eel didn't like the attention of my camera and came out to let me know

We did spot this moray eel and plenty of Nudibrancs. A big blue groper came by but decided not to hang around. There were a few spear fishermen in the water and I am not sure if they had spooked the Blue Groper but he did not want to be anywhere near us in the water and bolted as soon as we saw him.
15, spring has definitely arrived.

Voodoo and The Steps

The shortest dive at Voodoo ever!

Voodoo is at the end of Sir Joseph Banks Drive in Kurnell. Named by surfers after the almost supernatural sets unleashed upon it, Voodoo should only be attempted when the wax heads are elsewhere. Like Cape Solander, this site should only be done by experienced divers and only when conditions are exceptionally placid.

Carolina and her husband (sorry forgot his name)

I was the DM and unfortunately, out of the group of 12 divers, we had 5 Open Water divers and one person fresh out of his Open Water course. After assessing the conditions and taking on board the advice of 2 other experienced DM's we decided to give it a try. We had 2 instructors and 2 regular diving DM's with us so we figured we could handle getting the novices through the cauldron into the ocean.

We managed to get everyone out into the Ocean without event but as this site is so infrequently dived I had a full group of 12 divers wanting to accompany me. This was not too daunting given the visibility was probably up to about 10M. I told everyone to keep close and I stopped frequently for a head count.

Carolina photographing Nudibrancs

10 minutes into the dive we came across a pack of PJ's and everyone got a photo opportunity. The novice diver signaled to me at this stage that he was at 100bar and we needed to turn around. I had briefed the other divers that I would have to turn around based on the fastest user of air and 5 decided to leave me at that stage and carry on, 7 divers turned around with me and we returned to the exit point. Total dive time 23 minutes including a 3 min safety stop.

The swell had come up a bit, Tom (a DM) went in first to lead the way and I stayed and sent the pack in single file behind him. There were 2 people on shore who helped the divers out of the water and we got everyone out without incident. Although the exit was exciting the dive was just way to short and we really need to make this an "Advanced Dive". This is not a good site for novices to cut their teeth, they would be just as excited blowing bubbles at Oak Park, Bare Island or Camp Cove.

Nice Nudie

Carolyn had called the shop while we were in the water because I think she expected some sort of injury looking at the divers and conditions, but no one so much as broke a finger nail. I had no intentions of repeating the first dive and the conditions were getting worse so we went around to The Steps for the second dive.

Octopus

The Steps was very calm and a much nicer dive given the group that we had on the day. Here are a few photos from the day but as acting DM I tend to pay more attention to head counting than photography so not many good opportunities this week.

Port Vila, Vanuatu. Wreck of the Konanda

I've just got back from a cruise around the South Pacific and was lucky enough to get a chance to dive the Wreck of the Konanda in Port Vila, Vanuatu.

On 20 January 1955 a vessel called MV Konanda was launched from the D ramp; J Boot shipyard in Aphen, River Rhine, The Netherlands. The ship was built for the Adelaide Steamship Company.

MV Konanda as a working ship

The new ship was 153.25 feet (51 metres) long and 29.91 feet (9 metres) wide with a depth of 8.91 feet (3 metres). It had a tonnage of 414 gross (145 net) and was registered with Lloyds as 1196736. The ship was put into service carrying raw sugar between Cairns and Mourilyan and Goondi in Queensland.

MV Konanda about to be scuttled

During 7th amd 8th February 1987 she was wrecked by Cyclone Uma and declared a total loss. The written off vessel was sold to Iririki Islands Resort to be stripped and sunk as a dive attraction. The picture above shows her before she was scuttled. refence: Michael McFadyen's Scuba Diving Website


We used Nautilus Dive in Port Vila to take us out to the wreck and give us a local orientation briefing of the site. They were very good in terms of friendliness and site knowledge but they did lack some of the standard safety procedures that I am accustomed to in Sydney. Nothing major, but noticeably they overlooked hazard warnings, buddy check reminders, lost buddy procedure, dive time maximums and air tank minimums in the briefing.  They did have 2 DM's with the group and handled everything really well and it seemed like a well trodden path.

Top of the Mast of the MV Konanda now encrusted in coral

Jane with the mounted telescope

Entering The Wheelhouse

The Stern appeared eerie in the poor visibility

Inside the wreck

inside the wheelhouse

Jane on the deck of the Konanda

Small clusters of coral are growing on the handrails

The visibility wasn't great with about 5-8M max but this added to the spooky feeling I always get on wrecks.
We met some other people from the cruise and a nice guy named Steve gave me some video footage that I have cobbled together with my footage to create this video from the day.

Steve, if you read this and want to go diving or if you want copies of my photos from the day let me know?