Birchgrove Park 13-03-10

Our third dive on the Birchgrove Park. We had hoped for good conditions so made the long drive up to Brooklyn and put the boat in there. As we got closer to the heads about 9k from the boat ramp the seas started to get rough and really didn't settle till we were close to the wreck site. We anchored first time after spending quite some time working out the wind and current which seem to oppose each other, keeping the boat in the one place. Heading down the water got quite murky around 30m but cleared up closer to the bottom to reveal clear if a bit dark conditions. We had anchored beside the prop so some good photo opportunities here. Up and over the side to the boiler and down deeper to the broken mast. This is where I met the first of 4 curious cuttles. We headed towards the bow which is twisted over. Near the top of the bow I saw a cuttle charging me. They can't actually bite a person but can hit you hard enough to scare you. I fended this one off with my camera. It came again several times so I fended it off each time.

Eventually it gave up and drifted off but not before we got some good pics. Back at the anchor to start our ascent. We freed the anchor and filled the lift bag, allowing the anchor to drift neutrally buoyant past the wreck. However, the boat now free of being secured drifted off quickly dragging the anchor upwards. This left us hanging on the looped end of the anchor rope which with 60m of rope out was nicely situated at 26m. We switched to the cross over line which normally hangs vertical in the water. Today though, it seemed to be nearly horizontal and we dragged ourselves along it until finally we were at the deco bar. This was twisted and got tangled in the anchor rope so we had to hang off the deco ropes for a long and bumpy deco stop. Getting into the boat with twins on our backs in rough seas is no fun either. Luckily we both managed it with no harm done.

We looked for a second dive location that was sheltered on both sides of the entrance but could find nothing that looked worthy of diving on. So, we headed back to Brooklyn and packed up.