Destinations
Loading...Paul just send me his trip report about scuba diving the Busselton Jetty in Western Australia.
I really would like to thank him for his useful feedback. If you would like also to publish your trip report, send me an email.
Diving Busselton Jetty, Western Australia
I have dived wrecks, walls, drop offs, canyons, cleaning stations, manta rocks and drifts before. But never a jetty.
That all changed last week when I spent a morning diving the largest wooden jetty in the southern hemisphere. It’s in Busselton, three hours south of Perth, Western Australia. It’s about 2km long.
At the surface the jetty is like a light beam jutting into the azure Indian Ocean. My wife, friends and i dived with Diveshed, a local operator. It took about 10 minutes to reach the jetty by boat from the local wharf.
Despite a lot of stories and recent dive encounter with a great white in the area, we plopped in.
The last 100 metres of the jetty is where it’s all at. A mass of coral encrusted vertical posts holding up the jetty. The dive here is like swimming slowly through a forest of bejeweled coral trees.
Each tree is about five metres apart. The best way to see it all is to figure eight across the width of the jetty towards the end, taking in the forest floor and canopy as you go.
With a maximum depth of 8m you can almost stay all day down there. And I wished I could. This is a magical walk in the woods that’s easy to dive, accessible and colour aplenty. With little shelter in the nearby bay, the jetty is a haven for local fish life.
Though we didn’t see any macro (besides dolphins from the boat) the small stuff will fill your endless bottom time. The fish hang in the canopy like flocks of birds. The sponges and coral sway to the breeze of the current as you meandour along.
Water temperature: 25 C.
Bottom time: 52 mins.
What did we see?
Nudibranchs, jacks, trevally, old wives, leather jackets, porcupines, boxes, squirrels, goats, snapper, roughies, morwongs, tall fin batfish, banners, butterflies. Many more to many to mention.
Highlights?
Endless bottom time, diving in a forest canopy of coral.
Diveshed, friendly dive center
We dived with Diveshed. They are based in Busselton, Western Australia. They were helpful, accommodating and reasonably priced as Aussie dive shops go. equipment was pretty new and they assisted the less experienced among the group patiently with setting up.
I would highly recommend them. Infact two days after the dive I realized that I had lost my Suunto D6 dive computer. Disaster! The staff at the shop were very helpful. The watch never materialized but they helped me with my insurance claim. Phew!
Paul Matthews. You can follow Paul on its Twitter here: www.Twitter.com/mrpaulmatthews
Contact me if you would like also to publish your article and to share your experience!
I have been diving last year around the Busselton jetty, it was really an awsome dive too!