Birchgrove Park 12-12-10

We dived the Sunday the 12th December 2010. There had been very heavy rain early in the week but we thought that the Birchee would be far enough off the coast to be clean. As we headed down the Hawkesbury we were stunned by the brown colour of the river water and how far out that plume went. At the Birchgrove we anchored securely first time and once everything was set up we headed down. It was dark, gloomy and the surface water was very dirty. At the bottom we were anchored near the mast. We needed torches to see anything. It wasn't poor viz - the water at this depth was reasonably clear but the sediment in the surface water turned this nearly into a night dive. We headed around to the prop, along the starboard side, past the forecastle and then down and back to our starting point. A nice juvenile wobbie rested on part of the wreck and I found a nice cuttle under some metal near the mast. I didn't even see the boiler. A slow ascent and then our deco stop on green, dirty water full of green growth. It could be described as diving in green paint. The water was cold so I was really pleased when my computer told me I was able to ascend. Wayne had a very painful tooth which we thought was a reverse squeeze under a tooth filling so we packed up and went home.