While I'm banished from SA for a while, I'm trying out some local spots in WA. Just got back from 4 days of diving at the Abrolhos Islands. If you're like me before I started this stint in Perth and don't know where they are, the Abrolhos are three small groups of islands, 60m east of Geraldton, about 400km north of Perth. One of their claims to fame is where the Batavia was wrecked and sunk in 1629, and thereafter muntiny and slaughter ensured amoung the survivors.
The Abrolhos Islands certainly are amazing. We had perfect weather (well, it was bumpy on the way out, about 5 hours worth), sunny and 25C each day. The diving was spectacular. It's a mix of temperate waters (mountains of sea grass and kelp) and tropical (bommies and walls of staghorn and plate coral, from 1m down to 30m). The visibility was down to 5-8m inside the lagoons and up to 40m on some of the outside walls and trenches. And the water temperature was a pleasant 21-24C. The fish life is prolific and varied, heaps of crays (which are illegal for divers to take in this area, even when they are walking over staghorn coral right in front of you), lots of colourful nudibranchs, wobbiegong sharks, rays, eels - just lots to see. I'm surprised this area is not dived more, but apparently the weather is only suitable for 2 months or so each year. Sadly, we missed snorkelling on the wreck of the Batavia as a bronze shark decided to visit at the same time. We dived as much as we could (13 dives in 4 days).
The charter was through Luke Nelson,
www.imagedive.com.au, and he runs these charters each May/June. He has a good boat for 10 people, provides nitrox and is keen to try new spots. I still don't quite have my land legs back yet, so the emails are a bit bouncy and its hard to get back to work. Speaking of which...
