This was supposed to be a dive on the ex HMAS Canberra, followed by a scallop dive back in the bay, with the RMIT club on Still a Shambles, but when we got in the water off Barwon Heads William's regulators were playing up, so we scrubbed the Canberra dive, and decided to just do the scallop dive, with a borrowed set of regulators.

As we were coming back through the heads we spotted a submersible marker bouy, attached to a diver in rebreather gear. He had been diving on the Lonsdale Bommie, and the strong current had swept him some distance away from his charter boat. We picked him up and we were told that there were others in the water as well. On our way to his boat we spotted another diver, and upon reaching the boat were were told that there were another ten still in the water. We stayed in the area for fifteen minutes or so, spotting the other divers for the charter boat to pick up. The SMBs certainly made it easier to locate the divers - without one the swell would have easily hidden divers any distance away from the boat.

William and I both got a chance to drive the boat, starting the induction process that will allow us to be used as drivers for the club. Once we got to Blairgowrie, we stopped off White Cliffs on a sandbank in about 4 metres of water. Swimming with the slight current, South from the sandbank, we descended along a gentle slope to 15 metres and found lots of scallops. Most were quite small, but there were more than enough large ones for us. Will quickly got the hang of spotting the scallops, and had a great time on this dive.

Divers: Peter Batchelor, William Batchelor

Weather/Sea: Flat, flood tide.
visibility: 7-8 metres.
Water temperature: 18°C.
Maximum depth: 15.1 metres.
Time of entry: 12:50.
Duration: 34 minutes.