Busselton Jetty and Cape Naturaliste

I have just spent the last 3 days diving a beautiful part of the South West of  Western Australia with my buddy Will In't Veld, and while we did spear some fish the highlight of the trip was diving Busselton Jetty.
On the first day we started out on Wright's Bank but decided due to the visibility and increasing swell that we should move closer to the protection of the Cape. We found some ground slightly East of Cape Naturaliste and immediately found good fish. I managed a reasonable sized Blue Groper and a Breaksea Cod. Will bagged a jumbo Crayfish and we generally just poked around exploring. We also saw lots of juvenile Western Australian Jewfish which is a good sign for the future.
Late in the afternoon on the way back to the Dunborough boat ramp, we stopped at Castle Rock and took the opportunity to shoot some video and photos in the shallow clear water around the rock.
Later that night and after checking the Weather forecast for the following morning we decided we would take the opportunity to dive Busselton Jetty and take more photos and video. As was forecast the wind was howling out of the Southwest providing good conditions to dive the jetty as it is very well protected being on the Northern shore of Geographe Bay.
We launched the boat at the ramp slightly East of the Jetty and anchored in a sand patch about 50 meters off the end of the Jetty. Upon entering the water we were greeted by crystal clear water and Skippy swimming in small schools. On reaching the Jetty itself we were amazed at the amount of soft coral and sponges growing on the old Jetty Piles. We were pleased to see that when the jetty had been repaired in the past the old piles had been left in place providing a wonderful artificial reef. There are also a jumble of old piles, hawsers and pipes on the bottom that were no doubt thrown overboard during long past days when ships docked at the jetty. I was pleased to see that all the rubbish including bicycles, lawnmowers and shopping carts that were so common on my last dive there had been removed. Later out over the sand and weed patches I found a small pile of coal, probably the remains of a bag lost long ago and the bag having rotted away. If you ever find yourself in the Southwest town of Busselton with some spare time and your dive gear do yourself a favor and explore the seaward end of the Jetty, we used a boat but there is a small landing about 100 yards back from the end for divers to access the water. I think you will be more than pleased you did.

Soft corals growing on Jetty Piles

Soft corals growing on Jetty Piles.

Small fish hiding in the coral.
All  above photos taken under Busselton jetty with a GoPro in picture mode.

Old safety rail.

A Moonlighter.

Old Piles cut below the surface.

Old Riveted Iron Tank.

All above photos taken with Nikon coolpix 5100.

I was going through some older photos from last year when I came across this one of my friend
Greg Pickering.

Greg Pickering with  an Amberjack.

The story behind the picture is this, Greg found a small lump on an old chart and plotted the lat and long then punched it into his hand held GPS. He called me and asked if I was interested in looking at a lump that was 87km yes that's right 87km offshore. I said that I was and started packing my gear to leave that afternoon. The plan was to drive to our launch site and camp on the beach overnight, then check on the weather forecast first thing before making a final decision on whether to go or not. We drove up with Rob Ernst and camped overnight then departed at around 5am the next morning. We found the lump without a problem after traveling for nearly 3 hours and were eager to jump in. On entering the water we were met by reasonable visibility and plenty of fish of all types. We each landed a few good fish and when Greg dived for the last time I knew he was on a good fish by the length of time he was under. When he surfaced he had the Amberjack in his hands, and as is so often his style it was Stoned!!!. We sorted our gear out and started on the 3 hour journey back to the beach. When we arrived on dry land we weighed the fish and Greg was very happy to see it was a new Western Australian State record of 37.75kg.
We have not revisited the lump as yet but we plan to and who knows what we will find when we do, it just goes to show what is possible when the weather and planning all come together for that one day.