Springvale Dive Club

Cray Season is open

Well it is time again to dust off that dive gear and get back in the water, and what better way to do it than head out and catch a cray!

Springvale Dive Centre is running a series of cray dives on Saturday 29^th November. First dive leaves Flinders pier at 12pm, then every 2 hours thereafter depending on numbers.

Don't want to catch cray? Why not come along for a dive anyway!

Cost is $50 per dive, and booking is essential.

To secure your place, call Anthony on (03) 9546 0905.

Would love to see all our old friends back out and diving again. Hope you can make it.

Craig.

Look out South West Rocks - Springvale Dive Club is coming to town!!

Australia's best ocean cave dive, and voted among the top ten dive sites in Australia, Fish Rock is located just over two kilometres off Smoky Cape at South West Rocks on the New South Wales Mid North Coast.

The thrill of entering a 125 metre long cave and travelling right through the center of a small island is one dive that you will not want to miss. As well as the cave itself, Fish Rock is home to such an amazing array of marine life that you will easily understand how the island came to be named. This is a dive location that must be included in your dive itinerary!

Fish Rock and Green Island are critical habitat areas for the Grey Nurse sharks, which live here in large numbers all year round.

Created by a fault in the island, Fish Rock Cave runs from the deeper seaward entrance at 24 metres, 125 metres through the rock emerging into the blue, fish filled, silhouetted shallower entrance fringed by pink gorgonian corals at 12 metres.

http://www.southwestrocksdive.com.au

That's right, it's time Springvale Dive Club went on another diving adventure, and this time we are going to South West Rocks on the NSW Mid North Coast.

Trip is planned for the Melbourne Cup Weekend with diving on the 1st and 2nd of November 2008 with a few days either side for more diving or simply some fun.

Choose from one of the packages below:

2 night / 4 dive package including 2 nights divers lodge accommodation with continental breakfast, four boat dives(double boat dive each day) with use of second tanks and airfills $295. (Without accommodation $240)

Full equipment hire with dive package $75 - Tank hire and weight belts add $10

3 night / 6 dive package including 3 nights divers lodge accommodation with continental breakfast, six boat dives(double boat dive each day) with use of second tanks and airfills $435. (Without Accommodation $355)

Full equipment hire with dive package $115 - Tank hire and weight belts add $10

The South West Rocks Dive centre has great shared accommodation above the shop (http://www.southwestrocksdive.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=39&Itemid=35) included in the packages above.If you would prefer other accommodation check out the South West Rocks Tourist Park (http://www.southwestrockstourist.com.au/) where I will be staying in my Caravan. They have some great cabins available.

Book your package through Springvale Dive Centre. Either reply to this email, or contact Anthony at the shop on (03) 9546 0905. We require a $100 deposit to secure your position, with full payment closer to the date.

You will also need to arrange your own way there. It is a 14 Hour Drive from Melbourne, or fly to either Coffs Harbour or Newcastle and drive from there.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call me on 0408 178 357.

This is an opportunity of a lifetime so don't miss out.

Hope you can make it,

Craig.

Cray Dive Day this Saturday

Looking for something to do over the long weekend?

Why not head out with Anthony on Saturday and try your hand at catching a cray.

For details, call Anthony on 0418 106 040.

Bookings are essential

ex HMAS Canberra Reef - VARS Update - March 2008

In Brief

The Deed of Gift is moving closer to signature by both State and Federal Governments. A major milestone has now been achieved with the site position now agreed between all parties. This agreement was required prior to the signing of the Deed document. It is expected that this second major milestone is now only weeks from being completed.

Garrett slammed in dredging appeal

source: theage.com.au
March 3, 2008

Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett wrongly deferred consideration of possible chemical and oil spills from maintenance dredging in Port Phillip Bay, a judge has been told.

Fiona McLeod, SC, for the environment group Blue Wedges, said Mr Garrett was legally bound to consider the issue when deciding last year whether dredging could take place.

New review planned for dredging

Source: theage.com.au
February 28, 2008

DREDGING in Port Phillip Bay will come under fresh scrutiny after State Parliament resolved to examine the economic case for the $1 billion project.

Responding to growing concerns that the benefits of the project may be overstated or waning, the upper house last night moved for a powerful Opposition-controlled finance committee to examine the Port of Melbourne's business case for channel deepening.

Garrett accused of ignoring all but dredging economics

Source: theage.com.au
February 21, 2008

FEDERAL Environment Minister Peter Garrett has been accused in court of making economic issues his only priority in approving a $1 billion dredging project in Port Phillip Bay.

The Blue Wedges coalition will resume its legal attack on Mr Garrett today while dredging continues in an eight-kilometre section of the southern shipping channel near Rosebud.

Late yesterday, Justice Tony North made orders allowing the Port of Melbourne Corporation to dredge up to 1.5 metres deeper than the previously agreed 15.8-metre depth within the section.

Fears for 1200-strong St Kilda penguin colony

Source: theage.com.au
February 18, 2008

THE Port of Melbourne Corporation's plan to monitor Phillip Island penguins rather than a colony at St Kilda, which is closer to bay dredging work, has outraged environmentalists.

Earthcare St Kilda, a voluntary group that has monitored the St Kilda penguins for 20 years, said the port authority was trying to hide any negative effects from the public.

It believes the St Kilda colony of 1200 penguins is most at risk from the dredging because its primary food source, anchovy, is likely to be decimated by work scheduled for the Yarra River mouth at the time they usually spawn.

Study rejects Port's claims of dredging benefits

Source: theage.com.au
Februay 18, 2008

THE economic benefit of deepening Port Phillip Bay's shipping channels is $407 million less than the Port of Melbourne Corporation originally estimated, according to an analysis from one of its opponents.

With the Queen of the Netherlands dredger already working on the bay, the study commissioned by the Australian Conservation Foundation fires a fiscal shot across the bow of the contentious project.

The economic critique, by Melbourne-based firm Economists at Large, is based on the Port's first business case for dredging. It listed the cost of dredging at $590 million, and found the net economic benefit of the project would be about $1.3 billion.

Sea of red, but out to sea the dredge scours on

Source: theage.com.au
Februay 18, 2008

IT WAS the biggest public rally so far against the dredging operation in Port Phillip Bay, with about 1000 protesters chanting and urging a halt to the $1 billion project as they gathered near Rosebud Pier yesterday.

But about two kilometres out to sea, the Queen of the Netherlands dredge (circled) swept back and forth, scouring sand and silt from the bay's shipping channels before dumping it in spoil grounds off Mount Martha.