Wilson's Prom, Victoria, 2005

by Neil Richardson

This was to be my first ever trip to Wilsons promitory, Victoria, Australia. The weekend was to consist of a long camping weekend diving the reefs and islands, around the peninsula.

Okay, first of to describe the prom, as it's locally known. The prom is one of Australia's largest nature reserves. It's the southernly most point of mainland Australia, it's pure overgrown wilderness, one of the most exposed sites for diving, and one of the most unique diving sites I've ever discovered. To try to explain the place further, I bow to the experts:

Park Website

So okay, our plan was to camp at Tidal river, which is the main campsite on the prom, to take the club boats out to the local dive sites, and to fill the cylinders every evening using the compressors we had brought along with us. So that was the plan.

The realities. Wilsons prom is a 3.5 hour drive south of Melbourne, but that only gets you to the entrance. The campsite is another hour drive south from there. To get a camping permit, you typically have to book several months in advance.

See Here

So okay, we had organized about 30 divers and partners, 5 boats, 2 compressors and a fair number of campsites. Many people arrived on the Friday, some Friday night, and some Saturday morning. However, the weather at Wilsons prom, is notoriously random, due to its location. Any wind from the east or south prevents boat launching. Note, the only place to launch a boat, is from Tidal River, and that is by doing a shore launch. The crew I was diving with, had done this many times, and explained the only way to launch a boat here was by attaching a 100m long length of rope to the trailer and the 4wd (only 4wd can get onto the beach), and then getting 4 people at least to push the boat into and against the waves until the boat can float on its own (which is about 100m from the beach), and then getting the 4wd to pull the trailer back onto shore.

Anyhow I digress. So the first morning, we had a northerly. So all diving was scrapped. The afternoon, we managed to get out, well, 2 boats anyhow. We visited Skull Rock and investigated one of the boulder mounds. To describe the water here, as its on the Bass Strait, the water is either clear with 30m+ visability or 5m vis. The waves are either 1-2m or flat. But the marine life is prolific, and the dive sites world class. A typical dive site consists of a maximum depth of 35m, with boulders the size of a house, stacked on top of each other. The gaps in between the boulders are big enough to swim between, and in certain spots mini caves are formed. Resulting in still water and marine life hanging of the boulders, and shafts of light and chimneys and, ahh a wonder to the senses.

So okay, after that day, we held a bbq back at camp, the compressors and cylinders got taken to the filling site away from the camp grounds. Note, the campsite is well equipped with a museum, play facilities for children, showers, washrooms, communual BBQ's etc.

Second day, the weather was good, so all 5 boats went out, we had lunch on one of the islands (pointless returning to shore), and the diving was fantastic.

Third day it chucked it down.

So notes about the trip. Well, first, the place is a massive marine reserve, however there are spots just outside the marine park where you can go craybashing and abalone hunting, providing you have a license. There are only two ways of diving the prom, the first being by launching from outside the prom, and travelling down by sea, or by launching from tidal river. If you decide to camp on Wilsons prom, remember, its an hour from civilization, so be self sufficient. Should you decide to take non divers, well, it's a beautiful place to camp, and there's no shortage of day and 2 day walks. In fact, these walks come in really handy when the diving gets blown out.

As for type of diving, well, the prom is famous for two things, Its marine life and its wrecks. However, due to the volatility of the location, no wrecks survive above 45m, but those that do remain, are considered some of Australia's best ship wreck dive sites. Just a shame the odds are against actually diving them….



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