Diving on the Peninsula

This Saturday I decided to go out for a day of diving with MONUC, the Monash Underwater Club. We set off around 9:30am and headed to our first dive site of the day, Mornington Pier. Driving around Victoria is so interesting because you always see a bunch of different sculptures or elements of design built into everyday structures. 

We got to the first dive site and waited for the rest of the group to arrive. Once everyone was there we donned our gear and began the tedious walk out to the pier. Everyone joked that the hardest part of the dive wasn’t in the water, but getting to it. Jumping into the water after a long walk is always so refreshing because you get very hot in dry wet suits; especially when you’re towing over 40lbs of gear with you!

I was a bit disappointed with the visibility at the first dive site. The location wasn’t very well protected so there was a lot of sediment dispersed through the water. It was so bad that within the first 5 minutes of descending we had to resurface to locate the rest of our group! Once we located everyone we descended again and immediately began circling the pier. The sights at this pier were very different from the others I had seen so far. Mornington pier had recently been rebuilt, and the rubble of the old one scattered the ocean floor. This presented us with an interesting opportunity to navigate a jungle-gym like setting in which we were constantly swimming under or over old wooden beams. It also made it a bit more difficult to keep track of our group. Unfortunately there were a lot of fishermen there as well, which posed quite a risk. At one point my dive buddy, Jack, got tangled in a line. We had to spend several minutes carefully maneuvering him out of it so he wouldn’t get hooked.

After surfacing from the first dive we headed to a nearby shop to grab lunch and plan the rest of our day. We decided to head out to Rye pier, about 30 minutes away. Rye was a bit more protected than Mornington so we hoped that it would be a little clearer. After re-hydrating and relaxing we set off for the second dive of the day.

When we arrived at Rye Pier we immediately set up our gear and headed out with the hopes of avoiding the strong winds that were heading our way. For the first time I was actually glad to be in a damp wet suit. The walk was so long I might have passed out if I was in a dry one. The wind at this point had also picked up significantly which made the walk down the pier even more difficult.

Once we got in the water we realized it had all been worth it. The visibility was amazing and the marine life abundant. We traveled down the length of the pier, taking our time to look at all the amazing sites around us. We also ran into a ton of globefish which are my favorite fish! They always look like they have a smile on their faces and are fascinated with people. We even saw a baby globefish carrying a chunk of sea lettuce in it’s mouth! We continued past the end of the pier under the direction of our dive leader. About 20 meters later we came across a series of man-made objects that had been rustproofed and chained to the ground. There was a statue of a bear, two bicycles, and a shopping cart; as well as a few other pieces. Later I learned that it was called “Elsa’s Playground.” We hung out there for a bit and took some pictures before heading back.

When we surfaced after the dive we could tell that the sea had changed a lot and was getting rougher by the minute. We quickly got out of the water and made our way back to the car. Before heading back to campus we stopped at Cold Rock, the Australian version of Cold Stone. It was the perfect end to the perfect day. I can’t wait to dive again.

                

A group of old wive fish at Mornington Pier. 

Corals at Mornington Pier.

A small hermit crab on the sea floor. 

Vibrant colored corals and algae. 

Fun looking sea life!

Group photo after our first dive of the day.

An old wive fish at Mornington Pier.

Waiting for lunch after our first dive.

Corals on a wooden beam. 

Floating in the bay by Mornington Pier.

An eleven-legged starfish clings to the pier.

A small bear statue in Elsa's Playground.

Jack "rides" a bike in Elsa's Playground.

An old shopping cart in Elsa's Playground.

An old shopping cart in Elsa's Playground.

An old sign left in Elsa's Playground.

A small crab hiding under an old tire.

Diving at Rye Pier.

A globefish seeking refuge in some coral.

A baby globefish carrying some sea-lettuce.

A baby globefish carrying some sea-lettuce.

Views from Rye Pier.

Views from Rye Pier.