A NEW WAY TO DIVE JERVIS
BAY
Jervis Bay has
some of the most spectacular dive sites in New South Wales and recently a new
dive boat went into operation to take divers to the best of these dive sites in
a fast and efficient way.
Ulladulla Dive and Adventure Centre (UDAC) have been
operating in Ulladulla on the New South Wales south coast for the last seven
years, but recently decided to also offer boat dives to nearby Jervis Bay. In
December, we travelled down to Jervis Bay and were fortunate to joined UDAC for
their very first trip to explore the waters of Jervis Bay.
Instead of departing from Huski
nson and crossing the entire
bay, UDAC launch the dive boat at the picturesque Murrays Beach. As Murrays
Beach is located on the outer edge of this huge bay, this means very short boat
rides to the best dive sites, great for those that suffer from seasickness.
We arrived at Murrays Beach on a warm December morning and
waiting for us were Karen and Steve Williams, the owner operators of UDAC. They
operate a 7.5m rigid hull inflatable that is surveyed for 12 divers. With such
short run times to the dive sites, only five minutes to Bowen Island and ten
minutes to Point Perpendicular, they were planning to run the first dive and
then return to Murrays Beach to change tanks and for the surface interval. But
with strong northerly winds forecast it was decided to take the second tanks
with us today. Even with the second tanks and a full load of divers there was
still plenty of room on this large inflatable.
After loading the gear, the boat was launched into the clear
waters at Murrays Beach and we then quickly zipped across the bay to Point
Perpendicular. Our first dive was right under the cliffs, directly below the
Lighthouse. Conditions in Jervis Bay in December can be a little bit
unpredictable, but we couldn’t complain with clam seas, 15m visibility and 18C
degree water temperature.
We had a lovely dive exploring the sponge gardens, caves and
large boulders at this site in depths from 10m to 25m. During the dive
encountering blue gropers, moray eels, cuttlefish, leatherjackets, red morwong,
several wobbegongs and a slipper cray. But the highlight of the dive was when a
large grey nurse shark unexpectedly swam by us. Grey nurse are occasionally seen
in Jervis Bay over summer, but their movements in the bay are always
unpredictable.
Between dives Steve took the boat into a nearby sheltered
cove to change tanks and enjoy biscuits, coffee, soup, lollies and the summer
sunshine. For our second dive we jumped in at The Docks and followed the wall
here with Steve picking us up at Split Cave. The sponge gardens at this site are
as rich as we remembered with multi-coloured sea tulips, finger sponges,
ascidians, bryozoans, gorgonians and many more. We encountered several
stingarees on the sand, plus a large southern eagle ray. Exploring the caves and
ledges we saw ling cod, moray eels, nudibranchs, sea stars, leatherjackets,
wrasse and several large sergeant bakers.
At the massive Double Decker Cave we took our time to explore
every nook and cranny, finding a school of old wives, scorpionfish, a giant
cuttlefish and a very shy blue devilfish that avoided our cameras. We ended the
dive enjoying the company of several blue gropers that were milling around us
determined to get a handout. One was even cheeky enough to nudge you into
action.
We surfaced from the dive to almost mill pond conditions, the
expected northerly winds having dropped out for now. With the sun shining, fish
schooling on the surface, the bay like a giant pond and two great dives, we hung
around in a sheltered bay for a few more minutes to soak up the wonderful
conditions and discuss the dives. Then it was a very quick ten minute ride back
to Murrays Beach.
After the success and popularity of this first trip to Jervis
Bay, Karen and Steve are planning to offer regular trips to explore more of the
Bay. They will still be diving Ulladulla on a regular basis as well, so
combining a few days at both these wonderful dive locations could be the perfect
south coast dive experience.
Information – Ulladulla Dive and Adventure Centre
Article appeared in Dive Log No,248 March 2009