Another 5 PADI adventure dives this weekend to take 5 students to Advanced Diver certification.
Saturday 14th May, 3 dives = Peak Performance Buoyancy, Underwater Navigation and Underwater Naturalist: Sunday 15th May = 2 dives, Deep and Wreck
Ready to go at Camp Cove
Peak Performance Buoyancy starts with a buoyancy check on the surface and removal of 12lb in weight from 2 students (6lb each). There was a strong South Westerly blowing which was carrying us away from the flag so the surface buoyancy checks took some time.We descended and practiced fin pivots and then into a hover. Everyone managed to get a good hover going and then I passed them an extra 3lb weight. They has to take in a larger breath to maintain their hover, some had to adjust their BCD and after they settled into a hover I got them to return the weight to me and again watched them compensate for the weight change.
We then had a swim through some hoops at various heights, where buoyancy, breathing and fin kicking became important to complete the exercise. After that we had another hover session and practiced hovering in unusual positions. Most people had a lot of fun with the upside down hover.
Top Deck of the Hoochie Momma
Underwater Navigation dive briefing covers my favorite mall analogy and some practice on land with the compass. Natural navigation is the biggest part of this for me. Most people think it is working with a compass, which it is in part, but I think the most benefit comes from navigating by the current, light, surge, plants and animals. The dive itself consists of a 30 M swim counting fin kicks and timing. Followed by a 30 M reciprocal navigation and a 15M square navigation using the compass.
In between dive surface interval
Underwater Naturalist dives require that we identify 2 plants, 5 invertebrates and 5 vertebrates. These are usually the most relaxed dies of the day as they require little technical interaction. We have hand signals for plants, vertebrates and invertebrates and we go and explore the ocean. I always mention the importance of not feeding the marine life and can usually demonstrate what happens to Blue gropers when divers feed them- they become very lazy.
Elyse and Ryan
Sunday 15th May took us to Camp Cove to meet the Hoochie Momma for our deep and wreck dive. Because there was a 6M swell outside the heads we went to Chowder Bay for our deep dive. I have never dived here before and we had a whole group of other divers join us for their second day of the advanced course so we had 12 divers in the water in total (including Sam and I). Before the dive I gave everyone a fun size Crunchie bar to take down with them to observe the effect of pressure and colour change on it.
Long descent to 30M
I was the first down the shot line and was surprised at how sparse the bottom was when I go there - nothing but sand. But it wasn't sand as I kneeeld on the bottom I sank about 6 inches into it and found that it was pure silt. Chaos ensued as the 12 divers hit the bottom and the cloud of silt obscured all visibility. I managed to compare gauges with 5 of the divers closest to me but then we had to ascend as visibility dropped to an inky black zero. The ascent was interesting and I could see a few people were experiencing nitrogen narcosis. Elise signaled to me that she was down to 40 bar on our safety stop so I gave her the pony bottle to breathe from whilst we waited another minute before surfacing.
The Crunchie bar was liquefied by the pressure and everyone got to eat, or drink, their sugary treat after the dive.
Simon Black
We went to the wreck of the Centurion for our wreck dive. We did a standard circumnavigation of the wreck and the students pointed out obvious dangers that the wreck posed. We stopped by the plaque at 20M for a photo session and returned to the surface.
The ship was only scuttled 4 weeks ago and we were amongst the first members of the public to be allowed to dive her on Wednesday 11th May, 2011.
We left Terrigal at 8am which meant I left home at 5am. With hindsight this was probably 30 mins too early given that I was on the Central Coast by 6:40am. It was a perfect morning although it was a little chilly but once the wetsuit was on that was quickly forgotten.
Here is my video of the first dive to some nice music.
HMAS ADELAIDE (FFG-01) was a long-range escort frigate with roles including area air defense, anti-submarine warfare, surveillance, reconnaissance, and interdiction. The Ship could simultaneously counter threats from the air, surface and sub-surface.
HMAS Adelaide in service
She was scuttled on April 13th 2011 after many years of controversy and court battles by parties with their own interests and agenda claiming to be environmentalists (not so enviro and more mental really!)
TECHNICAL DATA
Displacement 4100 tonnes
Length 138 metres
Beam 13.7 metres
Ships Company 186 (210 with helicopter crews)
Propulsion Two General Electric LM2500 gas turbines driving a single controllable pitch propeller
Speed 30+ knots
Weapon Systems 76mm rapid fire gun. Harpoon anti-ship missiles. Standard surface to air missiles.
Vulcan Phalanx close in weapons system. Two triple anti-submarine torpedo tubes for Mk 32 torpedoes.
Aircraft Up to two SeaHawk helicopters
Our skipper from Pro-Dive was Bob and he ensured all the necessary paperwork and checks were done before we headed out.
Bob pictured before the Adelaide was scuttled.
The visibility was about 5M and the wreck itself is huge. It sits in 30M of water with 2M under the sand, so you can get down to 32M inside the ship but only 30M outside. I imagine the sand line will creep up outside the ship over time.
We started about mid ship and made our way to the starboard bow. At the bow we could see her proud :01: numbers and found a small swim through (apparently through the laundry) and went through to the port side. We then headed up to the upper deck and swam back past the mast and funnel. We could see divers deep inside the wreck from the top of the funnel.
Me in the Captains chair
From the Funnel we went to the top of the helicopter deck but did not descend in order to avoid a sawtooth dive pattern. We turned back and found an anemone that has started to grow inside the bucket on top of the helicopter hangar.
We turned back and did a blue water stop for 1 min @ 9M and a safety stop for 3 min @ 5M. We headed back to shore, only a 5 min trip, to get our second tanks and take our 1 hour surface interval before the second dive.
At 10 am we headed back out for our second dive and I took photographs this time. I was using my new Intova 12M pixel camera, new slave flash and new wide angle lens attachment.
Lindsey was my buddy and we planned to enter the ship this time and have a look around.
We swam into the middle of the ship on a mid deck and it was very dark. Lindsey decided not to follow me so I turned back and we swam up to the bridge.The Bridge is still recognizable and the captains chair is still there and will undoubtedly be the source of many photographs.
information on the bridge
The bridge console
After the bridge we swam back along the top deck and found this little array of plugs and things that will probably become a haven for marine life in the future.
We ascended up the mast this time and the top of the mast is in about 10m. We stopped @ 9M for 1 min and again a safety stop @ 5M for 3min.
On the day it was very business as usual but now I look back these were probably the two best dives i have ever done. The ship is a magnificent dive attraction and will take many dives to become familiar with the layout and will only be enhanced as the marine life moves in.
The inaugural Abyss dive on the HMAS Adelaide crew
After the dive i had fish and chips with Keith, Jenny , Brett and Michelle. I went to the top of the nearby lookout and took a picture of the wreck location. It is difficult to see the buoys in this picture but this is where she lays off Avoca Beach.
The location of the HMAS Adelaide from the surface
