On the Western Australia leg of our Round the World trip, we passed through Albany on the South coast where we did a bit of diving. Read on...
We had spotted some adverts on our travels for a dive operator in Albany, but when we visited them, it turned out they were in the process of lifting their boat out of the water for two weeks. However, they sent us across the road to Albany Scuba Diving Academy run by Ron Moore. Turns out Ron's a very keen and very experienced diver. He's also the bloke who masterminded the purchasing, cleaning and sinking of HMAS Perth - the wreck we were particularly interested in diving. What could be better? Albany Scuba run a pretty good shuttle boat, an SAS type kevlar hulled jobbie with twin 130HP outboards. She sits very low in the water so that you can slip in without a splash on your covert ops and is designed to be dropped into the water from a Hercules transport plane... apparently. Once it became clear Ron and his crew knew the Perth better than anyone and that he could supply us with virtually new rental kit and Nitrox, we booked like a shot.
The Australians have sunk quite a few wrecks and HMAS Perth is one of the most recent. As mentioned, Ron Moore masterminded the whole project to sink her specifically for diving. She's an ex Guided Missile Destroyer. 4720 tonnes and 133m long with a beam of 14.3m. She was towed from Sydney, cleaned up to remove all contaminants and potential diving hazards and then sunk in 35m on 24th Nov 2001 in the shelter of Albany Bay. She sits upright on a silty bed with the mast protruding out of the water.
We did two dives on the Perth as follows;
| HMAS Perth | 31% | 35.9m | 42 min |
| HMAS Perth | 35% | 29.2m | 47 min |
As the wreck had been prepared for diving, she was permanently buoyed with lines running down to deck level and off the crow's nest which made a good deco line. We spent both dives exploring the accommodation deck below #1 deck and also the superstructure. We were very ably guided by Ken who showed us most of what there was to see. We took a detour under the scour to see the rudders too. It was good to see that, although the wreck had been cleaned of diver hazards, plenty of fittings still remained. We sat in the captains swivel chair and peered out of the bridge windows. It was amusing to flush the toilets (heads) even though they are now flooded. Exposed electrical kit revealed modern integrated circuits. Out on deck, the stern gun is still in place as are the two satellite comms dishes. It's unusual to see modern kit like this on a wreck dive.
What we had not expected were notices stencilled by every door advising us to check our air and informing us that wreck penetration is dangerous. Ron told us afterwards that this had to be done for liability reasons in case of an accident. Apparently the wreck was handed over to the local council and they now own it. So their insurance pays if there's a problem.
Despite the fact that she's been under water less than 12 months, the sea life is starting to encroach. Flat surfaces are covered in scallops, sponges and soft corals. Large King fish school around the main mast.
Mid-Winter down here and the water temp was 17 deg C on the surface dropping to 14 below the thermocline at 15m. Visibility was a healthy 15m which meant we got a good overview of the ship as we meandered around the outside towards the end of the dives. Interestingly, both Megan and I found that the interior of the Perth reminded us of the USS Saratoga in Bikini. Probably due to the long clean passageways and good condition of the fitments.
We dived with Albany Scuba Diving Academy and would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone. If you're into wrecks and are in this area, HMAS Perth is a must and Ron's your man. E-mail them at albanyscuba@bigpond.com.au.
Go back to the Western Australia Report.