Tuesday several members of the Sea Wolves dive club went for a week day dive at Rapid Bay

The water conditions were the best I have seen for as long as I can remember. Visibility out by the Tee was at least 20 meters. There was very little current throughout the dive.

Each time you dive Rapid Bay you see something different today there was two Blue Devils sighted, these fish are common in areas around SA but not regularly seen at Rapid Bay before.

Nudibranchs were seen scattered along the jetty however we did not see any Leafy Sea Dragons. There was plenty of life at the Tee with schools of various fish and a lot of juvenile Leather Jackets. There was a ray hiding under some of the wreckage of the old jetty. 

It was a relaxing dive with all of us spending 90+ minutes in the 21c water.

Thursday several members of the Sea Wolves Alan, Thong, Dong and Vicki went to Rapid Bay to dive the old jetty. It was an exceptionally hot day and I was happy that we were able to park close to the jetty. The walk to the entry point was uncomfortable to say the least and it was a great relief that I hit the water only to find that my recently serviced Air Two was leaking a considerable amount of air through the mouth piece. After descending and setting my buoyancy I disconnected the system and continued the dive.

Travelling north along the jetty we encountered various species of fish and crab which Included Leather Jackets, Morwongs, Magpie Perch, Old Wives and several Nudibranchs.

The water was quiet warm around 21^C and really good vis. which was out to 10 meters and at the start of the dive there was very little current.

We slowly made our way through the jetty to the Tee where we were greeted by a school of Silver Drummer. As we started to make our way back towards the shore I came across a baby Sea Dragon it was only a few inches long so we spent some time trying to get the perfect picture.

On the return we swam through a school of Mackerel. It was with reluctance that we made our way to the exit after 90 minutes of diving and started the long hot walk back to the car where fortunately there was a cold beer waiting.

Since the last meeting the club has been very active. Just before Christmas several members set out for Edithburgh for jetty diving. After dodging bush fires and electrical and dust storms the party made it to Edithburgh and conducted an inspiring night dive but the next morning conditions were not so good on the surface but still excellent in the water around Edithburgh with a great many photos taken. Next was Port Giles. When Alan jumped in off the jetty and turned toward the Jetty he could not see it, Vis was down to inches if that so that dive was called off. There was another night dive at Edithburgh and dives at Point Turton and a memorable dive at Port Hughes where a mobility scooter was found at the end of the jetty.

Cape Jaffa and the Cray Bash was extremely popular. One or two divers even had time during the hunt to look around and see creatures other than crays. Johnno mentioned that he saw an Eagle ray with a wing span of over two metres.

Wolf took Jugs under his wing and found him a small cray to catch this took Jugs most of the dive; meanwhile Wolf lands a giant of a cray. However next time out, Jugs is off catching his own reasonable size crays. New Years Eve saw Johnno and Mustard both bring in a 4.4 Kilo cray each only to be out done by Rod who landed a 4.85 kilo monster.

There was also a lot of local diving at the Dump, Lumb and Seawolf, Seacliff Reef and Victor Harbour with ideal diving conditions warm water and good vis. All the sites had an abundance of fish life and several Leafy Sea Dragons had been seen at The Bluff Victor Harbour.

Today I went for a dive at The Bluff, Victor Harbour with Thong, Dong, and Vicki. We arrived early to avoid the crowds which as it turned out was a good idea as the Flinders Uni Dive Club were starting their dive as we finished ours.

The ladder at the jetty is a bit of a challenge but once in the water the swimming was easy although you could feel the effects of the surg along the rock face. Water temp was 20c and vis was at least 10 meters.

Initially I was a bit disappointed with the amount of fish life around especially when you consider how rich and plentiful the plant growth was.

Just before the point of turnaround we came across Leafy Sea Dragons and spent considerable time taking photos.

The Sea Dragon are amazing looking creatures.

On the return leg we came across an Octopus that took a liking to Thongs arm. Many photos later and over an hour in the water we returned to the jetty and the somewhat challenging climb out of the water.

Sunday Four members from the Sea Wolves planned to do a double dive.

Expecting a large volume of traffic at the boat ramp Andrew launched his boat early and was going to meet on the pontoon at nine o’clock.

Nine o’clock passed with no Thong the fourth diver. So after a brief telephone call it was decided that Thong would join us for the second dive. So Dong, Vicky and Alan set out for the Stanvac Block.

Descending through the water column there was a strong current but the water was a deep blue, vis was at least 10 meters and the water was 21c. At the anchor we started the search for the Block. Unfortunately we were unsuccessful and by the time we were entering into deco we had only found one of the chains that are spread out over a large distance and attached o the Block.

So it was back to the boat and onto the boat ramp to pick up Thong.

With a quick change of tanks and Thong onboard we set out for the Lumb and Seawolf, two wrecks off Port Noarlunga.

Conditions at this dive site were just about perfect with very little current and excellent vis and this time we found the dive site with no problems as the anchor was over the wreck of the Seawolf.

Both wrecks were alive with various fish from Bulls eyes, Boar Fish, Leather Jacket and a school of Mackerel. Vis was out to 15 meters and the current that was present at the previous site had now dropped out.

After several circuits of the Sea Wolf and Lumb it was time to return to the surface after at least one excellent dive.