Tasmania and Bicheno

[IanK]

I will be visiting my mother in Melbourne in the middle of the year; I live in California now and dive regularly in Monterey so I am somewhat familiar with cold water (dry suits etc). I hear that the diving in Tasmania in winter is great so I am interested in an escape from the retirement home in Melbourne for a few days. I have checked out diving websites for Tasmania and Bicheno seems attractive.

Does anyone have any comments or suggestions about Tasmanian diving and Bicheno in particular, especially in June to September?

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

Hi there Ian - the diving at Bicheno is great: large granite boulders covered with life and, below 30 metres, abundant sea whips and a colourful sponge garden that beats coral any day. The diving is deep.

I would also recommend the Tasman Peninsula area after 1-2 days at Bicheno. Great scenery: towering sea cliffs and spires >100 metres high. Extensive sea caves in Waterfall Bay, a kelp forest, one excellent deep wreak (the Nord at 32-42 m) and several locations known for Sea dragons - my favourite fish in the sea. I would recommended Eaglehawk dive centre for this region.

Winter (July-Sept) has the best vis so its a good time to go.

Cheers,
Rohan.

 

[IanK]

Thanks for all the great advice. Rohan, are you really in Mongolia?

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

No worries Ian - if you have any queries feel free to PM me. The Bicheno Dive Centre is the only dive centre in Bicheno, and it has its own web site. It's a well run operation.

Currently in Perth, back to Mongolia in two weeks. As a can of beer freezes inside 5 minutes at the current air temp (-30 C) we tend to take a long break over the mongolian winter.

Cheers,
Rohan.

 

[Trickie Dickie 99]

I will be visiting my mother in Melbourne in the middle of the year; I live in California now and dive regularly in Monterey so I am somewhat familiar with cold water (dry suits etc). I hear that the diving in Tasmania in winter is great so I am interested in an escape from the retirement home in Melbourne for a few days. I have checked out diving websites for Tasmania and Bicheno seems attractive.

Does anyone have any comments or suggestions about Tasmanian diving and Bicheno in particular, especially in June to September?

I'll fully endorse everything that Rohan has said.

Also, you could look into a dive from Triabunna, which is also on the East Coast, more or less halfway between Bicheno and the Tasman Peninsula.

This is the base for dives on a new attraction, the Troy D, our first purpose-sunk dive wreck which went to the bottom in February this year.

http://www.troyd.com.au/index.html

Island Ocean charters operate out of Triabunna and would be worth contacting. Once you've done the Troy D, there is another truly spectacular site about an hour North in the boat, this being Isles de Phoques (Island of Seals). It's a granite rock sitting in the middle of Great Oyster Bay, it holds several large caverns which penetrate from one side of the island to the other, which are diveable in good weather and full of life, a really spectacular place; my understanding is that they are linking dives to the two sites in a single daytrip package. Give them a call well ahead as it is winter season, when things slow down a bit; they are most likely to do weekends only at that time of year. They've only just commenced operations, hence their website is still under construction, but are reasonably well known and thought of as operators locally.

http://www.islandoceancharters.com.au/

My Avatar and Profile Pics were taken on a trip to Isle de Phoques in Feb 2006.

Here's some photos taken by a club member on another trip we did out there this February:

and some video



If you are there in August, I'd be thinking about a drysuit, water temps are likely to be 11-12 degrees C.

Regards

Richard

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

G'day there Richard - good to see another tassie diver here and great photos!

How did the sinking of the Troy D go? Is she upright and how deep?

The Isle de Phoques look fantastic - will have to give Island Ocean a call when I get back there in a few weeks.

Cheers,
Rohan.

 

[Trickie Dickie 99]

G'day there Richard - good to see another tassie diver here and great photos!

How did the sinking of the Troy D go? Is she upright and how deep?

The Isle de Phoques look fantastic - will have to give Island Ocean a call when I get back there in a few weeks.

Cheers,
Rohan.

She's sitting upright in 28M, it's 18m to the upper deck. Sinking went very well, was delayed for an hour or two when a pod of dolphins turned up, so they weren't too keen on firing the sinking charges.

The photos were taken by one of our clubs stalwart members James P, who lurks on here, so I'd better give proper attribution.

Here's another one;

How long are you back down here for?

Where are you based when in Tas? I'm now a Kingston boy.

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

[Start gratuitous thread hijack]

I'm only down in Tas for a week at the end of the month. I was even wondering if was worth dragging my dive kit down: though James photos have brought me to my senses..

I have a PO box in sandy bay, but thats about it: I'm now a resident of Mongolia (which does wonders for my tax status... ;D).

Let me know which club you guys dive with - I've been meaning to join one for a while now.

Cheers,
Rohan.

 

[Trickie Dickie 99]

[Start gratuitous thread hijack]

I'm only down in Tas for a week at the end of the month. I was even wondering if was worth dragging my dive kit down: though James photos have brought me to my senses..

I have a PO box in sandy bay, but thats about it: I'm now a resident of Mongolia (which does wonders for my tax status... ;D).

Let me know which club you guys dive with - I've been meaning to join one for a while now.

Cheers,
Rohan.

Our club is Tasmanian Scuba Diving Club, our website, which is still very much under construction is:

http://www.tsdc.org.au

We are a fully independent club, with own boat, although we have a loose association with Aqua-Scuba in Elizabeth Street, meaning we get discounts on air, cylinder tests etc, in return, we try to encourage some customer loyalty amongst members and divers getting their OW ticket through the shop get 12 months free club membership.

Weather permitting, the boat, a 6m Aluminium cuddy craft is out on the water just about every weekend, 52 weeks a year.

PM me with your email address and I'll send you a monthly newsletter.

Richard

New members always welcome.

 

[Trickie Dickie 99]

Hi there Ian - the diving at Bicheno is great: large granite boulders covered with life and, below 30 metres, abundant sea whips and a colourful sponge garden that beats coral any day. The diving is deep.

I would also recommend the Tasman Peninsula area after 1-2 days at Bicheno. Great scenery: towering sea cliffs and spires >100 metres high. Extensive sea caves in Waterfall Bay, a kelp forest, one excellent deep wreak (the Nord at 32-42 m) and several locations known for Sea dragons - my favourite fish in the sea. I would recommended Eaglehawk dive centre for this region.

Winter (July-Sept) has the best vis so its a good time to go.

Cheers,
Rohan.

This is a general view from the cliffs at Eaglehawk Neck, looking South.

Dive through Cathedral Cavern, in Waterfall Bay:





and Horseshoe Cave



and a dive off Maria Island, check out the sea whips: