February 13, 2012 - Betsey Island Wreck Graveyard

Since 1916, the area to the west of Little Betsy Island has been used for the disposal of unwanted ships. This has created a huge concentration of 18-25m wreck dives very close to Hobart. The Marine Board has continued to add further vessels to the area and has tried to concentrate them around Little Betsey Island so that they are more accessible to divers. The wrecks are very interesting, and most of the hulls are intact and home to a vast array of marine life. The floating bridge sections are covered in massive yellow and white Jewel Anemones. The wreck of the S.S "Leura" also attracts hordes of school fish.

from Michael Jaques (1997) Dive Tasmania

Most of the wrecks are reasonably safe to enter, but you will need your Advanced Open Water certificate and torches (tick if you want to rent one) if you wish to do so. Us Open Water Divers will check out all the cool stuff growing on the outside and take some cool pictures by the props, the upper decks and the bridge!

Bring your own lunches and water, your favourite dive club factors in surface interval lollies into the package!

$10 discount if you bring your own gear and another fiver off if you have your own tanks too!

Let's get wrecked :)

Dive Co-Ordinator: David Page

Meeting Place: Olinda Grove Dive Shed, Mt Nelson at 6:30 AM.

Certification Required: Advanced Open Water.

Dive Levy: $80 per person which includes safety gear and tank fills. Register below to lock in your spot.

February 25, 2012 - Catamaran/ Recherche Bay/Actaeons

Taking the boat down to Recherche Bay we will explore some of the many reefs and thick giant kelp forests that make Tassie diving famous!
This is a double boat dive suitable for open water and advanced

NB: I haven't dived here before but I have heard its pretty darn good! - JPK
$10 discount if you have your own gear and a further $5 off for every full tank.

Dive Co-Ordinator: John Keane

Meeting Place: Dive Shed at 7:00 AM.

Certification Required: Open Water.

Dive Levy: $60 per person which includes safety gear and tank fills. Register below to lock in your spot.

March 2, 2012 - Bruny Island

BRUNY ISLAND FOR THE WHOLE WEEKEND
BACK TO BASICS!!! CAMPING AND SONGS ROUND THE FIRE

A friend of the TUDC has kindly offered the use of his beachfront plot on Bruny at Dennes Point!
Crossing on the 18:30 ferry on Friday, we will spend the weekend taking advantage of Bruny Island's wonderful coastline to drop in and explore!

Hound's Tooth and Keane's Crack will definately be on the list! - bring your torches :)
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150474491332695&set=vb.124374230970301&type=2&theater

This is a B.Y.O. everything event: tents, sleeping bags, food, thermos, camping stoves, drink, toilet paper etc.
There will be a microwave in my winnebago ;)

Returning Sunday on the 15:15 ferry.

Looking forward ot it :)

Dive Co-Ordinator: David Page

Meeting Place: Olinda Grove Dive Sheds at 5:30 PM.

Certification Required: Open Water.

Dive Levy: $110 per person which includes safety gear and tank fills. Register below to lock in your spot.

March 4, 2012 - Clean Up Australia Day - Hobart Waterfront

Clean up Australia Day - Underwater Clean Up

Dive Co-Ordinator: John Keane

Meeting Place: TBC at 12:00 AM.

Certification Required: Open Water.

Dive Levy: $0. There will be no charge for this dive... FREE SCUBA DIVING! Register below to lock in your spot.

From March 9, 2012 for the whole weekend! - St Helens

EAST COAST MAGIC!
Relax for the long Regatta Day weekend!
Come explore more of the east cost on TUDC's first trip to St. Helens.
two and a half days of Tassie's best diving.

Shore Dives:

Binalong Bay Gulch, a protected rock-fringed sand gutter approximately 100m in length and 5-10m deep. A short swim through a thick kelp curtain reveals a series of rocky bommies in 10m of water. You can get up close and personal with crayfish, abalone and octopus amongst the boulders, caves and swim-throughs!

Skeleton Bay, rocky reef bommies that support healthy fish and fixed marine life populations, including a small population of weedy seadragons amongst the kelp. Dolphins are regular visitors.

Boat dives, Open Water Certificate:

St Helens Rocks (Dough Boys) [-41.28701,148.367429] 3km off the point we will explore a wall that rises from a 20m sandy bottom to a 10m reef with the boys breaking at the surface. Exciting swim-throughs and canyons hide sea-whips, bull kelp, crayfish, sea-spiders, dolphins and seals. This one is great for photography!

Sloop Rock [-41.13158 148.17395] is an exposed rock structure just off shore from Seaton’s Cove. It is easily recognised by its’ distinctive ‘phallic’ shape. The shallows close to the rock are covered in kelp forests which hide crayfish and abalone. The inshore side slopes gently to a sandy bottom at 15m. Dolphins are regular visitors here.

Boat dives, Advanced Open Water Certificate:

Merricks Reef [-41.16856 148.23341] is 3km offshore and rises from 35m. The adrenaline-packed dive boasts a north wall drop-off, magnificent sponge gardens, caves and massive swim-throughs. The top of the reef rises to within 5m and plunges down to more than 40m around the edges. Divers are usually surrounded by schools of butterfly perch, and many see draughtboard sharks, canyons tuna, marlin kingfish and the occasional mako shark. Dolphins are regular visitors and migrating whales are known to cruise past.

Elephant Rock [-41.249958, 148.339798]: 500m south of the boat ramp a large exposed rock that has a series of steps, formed by large boulders that drop down from 10-30m. There is prolific fish life amongst the sand gutters, caves and swimthroughs!

St Helens Island [-41.346879,148.347502: is a large rocky island 2km south of the boat ramp Diving varies from gently sloping reef onto sand at 20m, to vertical rock columns that plummet to 30m.

We will also night dive some of the local jetties in Georges Bay. These shelter a multitude of invertebrate life, with stacks of species and extraordinary behavioural sequences of relatively unknown marine life.

As St Helens is a long drive and the greener we can be the better, we are getting a 12 seater minibus and box luggage trailer for the weekend.
We will meet at the dive sheds on Friday at 1700 for a 1730 departure, and reak the journey up to stop somewhere yummy to get dinner.

Light breakfasts, lunches and in between dive sugar fixes will be provided, as well as a BBQ on Sunday night. As the accommodation has a fully serviced kitchen it will be up to personal choice whether to make dinner or head into St Helens for a bite on Saturday. We are 3 minutes from the town center and 7 seconds away from a grocery shop.
We will head back into Hobart on Monday afternoon, for a 5pm return time to the sheds. This is gonna be fun folks!

Dive Co-Ordinator: David Page

Meeting Place: Dive Sheds, Olinda Grove at 5:00 PM.

Certification Required: Open Water.

Dive Levy: $220 per person which includes safety gear and tank fills. Register below to lock in your spot.

From March 30, 2012 for the whole weekend! - Adventure Bay

FREE DIVING WEEKEND...

The aim of the weekend is to run some theory on free diving, safety for anyone in the water incl scuba divers, and equalisation techniques in the evenings. Essentially I'll run what ever someone would like me to depending on what they would like to learn and their experience.

We will also have our new pontoon with us to dive a line as deep or as shallow as you wish to go. All going well it will include our weighted line, so diving the 1st 10m to overcome buoyancy will be a breeze, and make the ascent so much easier. Pretty much go deep, go hard and ascend with ease.

And, there will be two dive boats available to take us to any site weather dependant so we can explore the beautiful waters of Bruny Island. As always it is open to everyone of all levels and going to plan, we will even be able to catch dinner...!

So what is the catch? Well, hopefully just fish really.

Accommodation has been booked at a sweet shack on the beach at Adventure Bay. Just bring some linen and whatever your culinary delights may be. A decent shop is at Adventure Bay.

The cost includes accommodation and access to the boat. I will be heading over on the Friday morning with the boat so if anyone wants to join me and save on the ferry fee, I will have up to 3 spare seats in the car. I will be returning Sunday after lunch (so we get in a morning dive also)

http://www.tudc.org.au/diving/dive_calendar.php
http://lumeah-island.com.au/index.htm
http://www.capcookolkid.com.au/
http://www.brunyislandferry.com.au/

Dive Co-Ordinator: Tony Eldridge

Meeting Place: Bruny Island at 1:00 PM.

Certification Required: None.

Dive Levy: $135 per person for this Freedive event. Register below to lock in your spot.

From March 30, 2012 for the whole weekend! - Adventure Bay

Up to two boat dives per day including all gear and fills, over TWO days on some awesome sites out of Adventure Bay, Bruny Island. Weather will determine which sites we dive – possibilities include The Houndstooth, Keane’s Crack, Kelp Forest, South Bruny and several others. Additional shore and night diving is possible for the cost of the air fills which on Bruny will be $15 hired tanks.

We will be staying in a funky beachfront shack right on Adventure Bay beach and mixing it up with the adventurous TSDC divers who are staying nearby.

TWO nights accommodation is included, BYO linen, towels and food please.

If you bring ALL your own dive gear you will be reimbursed $20, plus another $5 for each (filled) tank you bring.

Meeting at the shed is required to arrange gear and transport. The first 2 sign-ups get travel & ferry included, others please car pool from shed for the 730pm Friday ferry.

Phone enquiries also welcome to 0428 390 393, mail@markthespark.net.au

Dive Co-Ordinator: Mark Mather

Meeting Place: TUDC Boat Shed at 5:30 PM.

Certification Required: Open Water.

Dive Levy: $170 per person which includes safety gear and tank fills. Register below to lock in your spot.

Not a member? Sign up for a dive today and we'll contact you to organise membership!

* NOTE: As a club, we do not lead dives. We merely provide confident divers with the opportunity to dive. We recommend all divers continue to advance their diving education by completing their Advanced Open Water and Specialty dive courses.

* Our first priority is your safety, and as we cannot control the weather be aware that all club diving may deviate from its original plan or be cancelled.

The following divers code should be observed when diving on TUDC club trips: TUDC Divers Code