This thread is great. I'd contribute except NJ diving has already been covered better than I could. We do have the Quarribbean though. Vis ranges from 40-50' to too-many-student-fins-pointed-straight-down. There are a few fish, lots of zebra mussels, and it never seems to get above 50F below the 30' thermocline. I'd say 7mm wetsuit or drysuit is required, with those diving wet often choosing a 6.5mm farmer john, except that one of our group just spent an hour below the thermocline in a 5mm. I was cold after 40 mins in a 7!
What can YOU teach me?
- Thread starter Mike Boswell
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On the East coast of the Arabian Peninsula we have some extreme changes in temperature over the year. Water temperatures can be as low as 12C in January and up to 35 C in high summer, when air temperatures are over 50 C. In the summer dehydration and heat stroke are a real danger and maintaining hydration is most important.
Sas
Contributor
It can get down to 9C/48F in winter so drysuit is handy. Gets up to 24C/75F in summer and one day of diving the air temp was 47C/116F (can be real hot in summer) so wetsuit is also handy so you don't overheat on the surface (I sometimes dunk mine in cool water 
)
Boats are live so you need an SMB, rarely seen an anchor line (only at HMAS Canberra wreck as it has moorings). Inside the bay slackwater only lasts for about 30mins so at the end of the dive you will most likely be drifting in a current, sometimes a really strong current so being comfortable with descending without a line (often there is a shot line for reference but you can't hang onto it), ascending in blue water and doing safety or deco stops drifting, is a good idea.
Diving can be rough (surge, current and big swells) and the viz can be hit and miss (0-25m/82ft). However, sometimes (like yesterday) the bay can look like this, good viz and no surge underneath. So it's quite variable.
Leave sea life alone, blue ring octopuses will most likely kill you unless your buddy can drag you out of the water quickly and give you CPR til the ambulance shows up (lucky they are not aggressive hey!) and half the fish seem to have poisonous spines plus there are dangerous jellies as well, and the occasional great white shark so yea, best to leave stuff alone. I was going to list all the things but there was a lot of them... Actually with sharks there are sightings but no one gets attacked very often so it's not a big concern
There's wreck, reef and wall diving from OW to very deep depths and there is nearly always somewhere in the bay within about 1.5hours of driving to dive - because of the way the bay is shaped there's pretty much always somewhere sheltered in bad weather. So overall it's a pretty awesome place to live if you are a diver.
)Boats are live so you need an SMB, rarely seen an anchor line (only at HMAS Canberra wreck as it has moorings). Inside the bay slackwater only lasts for about 30mins so at the end of the dive you will most likely be drifting in a current, sometimes a really strong current so being comfortable with descending without a line (often there is a shot line for reference but you can't hang onto it), ascending in blue water and doing safety or deco stops drifting, is a good idea.
Diving can be rough (surge, current and big swells) and the viz can be hit and miss (0-25m/82ft). However, sometimes (like yesterday
) the bay can look like this, good viz and no surge underneath. So it's quite variable. Leave sea life alone, blue ring octopuses will most likely kill you unless your buddy can drag you out of the water quickly and give you CPR til the ambulance shows up (lucky they are not aggressive hey!) and half the fish seem to have poisonous spines plus there are dangerous jellies as well, and the occasional great white shark so yea, best to leave stuff alone. I was going to list all the things but there was a lot of them...
Actually with sharks there are sightings but no one gets attacked very often so it's not a big concern There's wreck, reef and wall diving from OW to very deep depths and there is nearly always somewhere in the bay within about 1.5hours of driving to dive - because of the way the bay is shaped there's pretty much always somewhere sheltered in bad weather. So overall it's a pretty awesome place to live if you are a diver.
Sas
Contributor
So Sas, you recommend leaving the great whites alone? Thanks--good stuff--I'm taking notes.
Well new divers who aren't used to the area should leave them alone because they will have too much else going on with the SMBs and the currents and the boiling hot sun and the frigid water and the blue rings under every rock and all poisonous snakes and spiders and drop bears that infest this place. When you get a bit more experienced at Melbourne diving and are not so task loaded, you can interact a bit more with them. I carry my camera on every dive pretty much and even dive with seals now and then to try to get a look in but no luck so far.
OP
Mike Boswell
Contributor
OP
Mike Boswell
Contributor
So Sas, you recommend leaving the great whites alone? Thanks--good stuff--I'm taking notes.
I will second the motion to leave the great whites alone, but unfortunately that is not always the case. Dive ops are increasingly selling GWS encounters down off Mexico with divers in cages, in mini-submarines, and even outside cages!
OP
Mike Boswell
Contributor
Carrielsal - I have heard other posters refer to diving in the Gulf. What's it like?
It may sound glib, but the only "special" thing you would need is the attitude of wanting to have fun. Everything else can be picked up along the way!!
Sounds like your local conditions are fairly similar to our ocean conditions - cooler water, drysuits etc.... so you would be able to transition nicely, I'm sure.
The question, then, is what do you want to learn??? We have some great wrecks:
the only gear you would need is a long hose and knowing how to manage it.
We could also do some fresh water diving, perhaps my favourite fresh water dive here is a drift dive down the Waikato River:
Waikato River Drift Dive Video
The only real thing you need for that dive is a car and a driver to pick you up from the far end.....
Or, if you fancy something truly different, we could go for a dive on an live volcano?
The diving on White Island is pretty good, but being 55 miles offshore you might need some sea legs. And a clothes peg to block your nose..... if you are near some of the underwater vents, the smell of sulphur permeates your mask. And you've got to be careful about burning yourself on the hot water surrounding the vents!!!
Diving in the Great Lakes means being prepared for cold water. Visibility can vary greatly depending on the lake and the conditions that day but the zebra mussels have significantly improved the visibility. Surface conditions can change very rapidly and often you can find that conditions have declined significantly while you were underwater which can make rentry onto the boat challenging as the wave period is much shorter than the ocean. We do not have to contend with tides or surge but the current can be significant in the areas where one lake drains into the next such as the St. Clair and parts of the St. Lawrence rivers.
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