Divers: Geoff, Calvin, Jimmy, Tim, Jim, Simon, Ben, Youri, Ian, Chris & Mark

Surface crew: Vaughan, Adrian & Barry

It was an absolutely beautiful day as we motored out to dive the Fawkner today, the sea was calm, the sun was shining & the fog was just starting to lift. All other charters had cancelled their outside dives due to the poor viz on the wrecks, less than one meter on the bottom. But of course we knew that, & normally we would cancel as well in such poor conditions. However, this was no ordinary dive, our pioneering diving friends on board were Geoff Naylor, Jimmy Anderson, Barry Poole & Adrian Hart, who along with their other mates Phill Stubbs, Neil Henderson & John Burgess were the first divers to dive a wreck in our Ships Graveyard, back in 1972. So the viz was not all that important to them, as they have seen the site countless times, no, what was important to these two old time great mates Jimmy & Geoff, was that were back diving together just like the old days – Fenzy vest and all!! It was a real thrill for me to be there when my good friend Jimmy & his mate Geoff were shaking hands at the 6 meter stop – Fifty years after they shook hands on the deck of the Julie Ann, Owen Yateman’s fishing boat, after the dive that was to become the beginning of diving in the iconic Victoria’s Ships’ Graveyard (a good name for a book that 🙂 ). Today was about four mates spending time on the water & sharing with others their experiences in exploring the Graveyard.

Other sites they dived soon after include the Milora, Beverwjk 19 & J2, J1 & J5 subs. 

Mark

Viz not great! Jimmy on the Fawkner. Photo by Ian Scholey

Geoff & Jimmy on the deco line