Diving in Victoria: Swordfish Island

Saturday March 29, 2008. After Race Rocks, the Ogden Point Dive Centre boat headed off to nearby Swordfish Island. Our surface interval was only 37 minutes, but the dives were only about half an hour each and not that deep (this one to 62 feet) so we were not pushing any limits. In the Caribbean, a dive of the same depth with the same tank would last about twice as long, so the extra equipment, cold water and cold weather really took a toll on our air consumption.

We were told there was a tunnel at a depth of less than 10 feet that led to the other side of the island, which was the best dive. A short swim took us close to that point, where we submerged and sure enough there was a beautifully decorated (by white anemones mostly) tunnel perhaps 20 feet long leading to the other side. We spent about 25 minutes exploring the other side, which was covered in Sea Stars and Anemones, with Greenlings swimming about, before returning back through the tunnel. One of the guys found an Octopus in its lair which it had protected with a pile rocks.

I was glad we were able to find the tunnel again. The entrance was difficult to distinguish amongst all the underwater life. As the tunnel was so shallow I dispensed with the safety stop and surfaced exactly 30  minutes after going in, exiting the chilly 7C water for even more chilly 5C air. The great disappointment of the day was that my camera battery, due to a combination of age and low temperature, didn’t last long into the dive, and I only took 2 fuzzy pictures which aren’t worth posting before it gave up. I have a second battery now (they are a complete ripoff, at about $50 apiece, as they probably cost 50 cents to make over in China) that does much better.

The Dive Centre had convenient fresh water showers, etc. to clean off the equipment. I took it back to the hotel and hung the dry suit up in the shower. The maid told us she was scared of it.