Nekton

Where can you ride a train nearly 2 kilometres out to sea or walk the length of the southern hemisphere's longest timber jetty and snorkel or dive amongst schooling fish and tropical coral.

Busselton Jetty is the longest wooden jetty's in the southern hemisphere and is one of Australia's greatest artificial reefs and also a fantastic dive. I always love diving piers and jetties as they usually provide an amazing amount of marine life and easy access into the water. I was not let down.

Just 2½ hours drive south of Perth, the Busselton jetty is situated at the northern gateway to the Margaret River Wine Region, in the small seaside resort town of Busselton. Extending almost 2km out over the protected waters of Geographe Bay, the heritage listed jetty is the longest timber jetty in the Southern Hemisphere and is home to the newly opened Underwater Observatory. The 138 year old Jetty has been ravaged by both fire and cyclone but it survives today thanks to the tremendous support of the local community and the hundreds of thousands of visitors annually who choose to stroll it's length, ride the famous red Jetty Train, fish, swim, scuba dive or snorkel.

We did a day trip from Perth and had organised with Cape Dive to meet their boat at Busselton Marina as there is easy boarding, plenty of parking and is easy to find if you are a tourist.

We geared up in wetsuits before getting on the boat and then after a short trip across Geographe Bay we were at the jetty. It is an amazing sight to see about 2ks of jetty sticking out into the ocean and to just anchor off it and jump in was so easy.

The Cape Dive crew were great and we were given a briefing and told a small amount of history about the jetty before the dive. There are a few rules of the jetty but the main rule is to stay more than 10mts away from the underwater observatory (there is a sign to remind you of this) and all boats must anchor 50mts away. It is also a protected zone so a "no fishing" area, this is great for the marine life below. Everything was looking good; clear water, we could see the ocean bed and no wind on the surface.

Easy backward roll and a short swim over the sandy sea bed and there looming were the jetty pylons. It is like swimming into a forest with trees covered in plant life and birds flying in and out only the tree were the pylons covered in corals and the bird life schools of fish. The water was clear and the fish life was abundant. Enormous schools of yellow tail were darting in and out of the pylons and whiting, trevally, old wives and a lonely silver dory were cruising slowly around. Bottom dwelling fish such as scorpion fish, sea perch, angler fish and goat fish watch the divers cruise by. Look under the pylons on the sea bed and you can find octopus and crabs hiding out. The variety of fish life is amazing, there is so much to take in and I had not even started on the pylons!

This dive is a photographer's paradise.

During our break, I went for a walk along the jetty. It really is quite amazing and the little "red train" was full of excited tourists going to the observatory. It is fantastic as non-divers and young children can enjoy the underwater world as we see it through the large viewing windows. There is also an area to hire kayaks so if you are feeling energetic or have a non diving buddy with you this is another way to check out the jetty. The small township is only a short walk away and also worth checking out.

Second dive and this time I was going to check out the pylons! Again we anchored our 50mts off the jetty and swam over to the "forest". Visibility was still good although a slight breeze had blown up. On closer inspection, the pylons were covered with soft corals, sponges, sea squirts and bryozoans all fighting for their space as there is little or no bare timber to be found. Nudibranchs and decorator crabs sit on the corals and the colours when lit by torc h light are spectacular. Each pylon is solidly encrusted with a fantastic variety of marine life. It would be easy to spend hour's just on one pylon and Kelly, my niece who was my dive buddy has now got the photography bug after diving here.

The schools of yellow tail are still buzzing in and out and there is an old ladder that is shelter for an octopus. An angler fish camouflages himself near some rubble and makes a great subject for the camera. Thank goodness for digital photography these days as you can now take so many photographs during a dive and this was one of those dive sites you needed every single megabyte!

Busselton Jetty is for all level of divers from open-water through and would also be a great place to do a course.

It is an easy day trip from Perth but next time I am in the area I will definitely stay longer and also visit the Wreck of the Swan again. The area is fantastic and if you wanted to spend a week there diving, wine tasting, visiting the amazing timber forests and just the beautiful beaches it could be filled very easily.

Cape Dive offer boat dives to the Wreck of the Swan and Busselton Jetty and will pick you up in Busselton for the jetty dive if you are coming from the north. Their other pick up and store is in Dunsborough and their boats run out on a daily basis.

You can do shore dives at the jetty either by walking along the 2ks and entering the water via a ladder or by getting aboard the train and taking a ride out. There is a fee for jetty and train and it is advisable in school holidays to pre book your train ride.

For more information on Busselton Jetty, visit the website at www.capedive.com