First Dive

While the less informed might think my main purpose in coming to Adelaide was school, those who know better know that really I just came to dive.  The school doesn't know what to do with me.  The SCUBA club, however, does.

So at 6 AM Saturday morning, I ventured to the suburbs for my first dive with the Adelaide University Scuba Club.  Located in a field with merely a steel barn to house their gear and two 8m RIBs, 10 members of the SCUBA club assembled.  Our dive was to be Glenelg Dredge.  Sank for an artificial reef in 20m of water, the Dredge is a complete hull of a dredging ship, complete with some on deck rooms, some holds below decks and a intact propeller.  Completely covered in various corals and plant life, the Dredge is also abundant with fish most of which I can't name.  There were some fairly large cuttlefish hanging out below the hull and some other interesting schools both outside and inside the hull.

I dove in the second group of more experienced divers.  The four of us descended the anchor line and were straight off the bow.  We circled at the bottom to the stern where some large schools of fish had taken a liking to the prop.  From there we ascended to deck level and sent one diver back to the anchor line for his ascent; he had sucked down most of his air already.  I made gauge measurements up on the spot, since mine were in psi and everyone else knew bar.  My dive buddy and I swam the deck and descended in to some below deck rooms and into the main hold.  A number of through holes made the rooms well lit and easy to exit should the sudden need arise.  We ascended and searched the deck some more before picking up the third and descending into the hull once again.  This room was quite dark, our single torch doing little to cut through the darkness.  We exited through another narrow and equally dark passage before exiting into the main hold once more.  On deck once again, we swam back to the anchor line, did a 3 minute safety stop at 15ft, and then continued up and onto the boat, Stargazer. 

Dive stats:
Depth:  65ft
Dive length: 42 minutes
Temperature at Depth: 72 deg