THE TRIP
HMAS Adelaide was the lead ship of the Adelaide class of guided missile frigates built for the Royal Australian Navy, based on the United States Navy’s Oliver Hazard Perry class frigates. She was built in the United States of America and commissioned into the RAN in 1980.
During her career, Adelaide was part of Australian responses or contributions to the 1987 Fijian coups d’état, the Iraq invasion of Kuwait, the Indonesian riots of May 1998, the INTERFET peacekeeping taskforce, the War in Afghanistan, and the United States- led invasion of Iraq. In 1997, the frigate rescued two competitors in the 1996- 97 Vendee Globe solo, round-the-world yacht race. In 2001, a boat carrying suspected illegal immigrants was intercepted by Adelaide; the events of this interception became the centre of the children overboard affair.
In 2008, Adelaide was the second ship of the class to be decommissioned, in order to offset the cost of an upgrade to the other four vessels. This ship was to be sunk off Avoca Beach, NSW as a dive wreck on 27 March 2010, until an appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal by protest groups led to a postponement of the scuttling until additional clean-up work was completed. Despite further attempts to delay or cancel the scuttling, Adelaide was sunk off Avoca on 13 April 2011.
Located approximately 1.8km off Avoca Beach near Terrigal on the Central Coast of New South Wales, in 38 meters of water this site has been prepared and optimally located to make it attractive to divers of all levels of experience.
The ship measures 138.1 meters from bow to stern, with a beam of 14.3 metres and original displacement of 4100 tonnes. Diver access holes are strategically placed throughout the vessel to allow easy access to explore the key features of the wreck. Divers will recognise the captain’s chair, console and chart table from the bridge, the helicopter hangars, the operations room complete with the shells of weapons and sensor consoles, the crew’s cafeteria and a limited number of bunks and amenities.
There are plenty of areas for us to explore and with 4 dives it will be a matter of deciding which areas of the wreck you want to investigate!
The Ex-HMAS Adelaide is already home to an establishing healthy marine community, where along with encrusting “first settlers”, the shipwreck is now home to a growing marine community which includes the giant eastern cuttlefish, eastern blue groper, kingfish, blennies, yellowtail, octopus, banner fish and bat fish to name a few.
DIVE INFORMATION
Suitable for Advanced Open Water Divers (certified to 30 metres)
Wreck certification is not a requirement to dive this site
Depth ranges from 18 – 30 metres
Diving by yourself? We will buddy you up with another diver with similar experience
TRIP DATES
Friday, 29 – Sunday, 31 April 2016
PRICE
$650 per person
The following are recommended upgrades for this trip
PADI Deep Diver speciality Course @ $195 per person
PADI Enriched Air speciality Course @ $195 per person for manual learning or $395 for on-line learning
Boat Diver @ $195 per person Wreck Diver @ $195 per person
WHAT’S INCLUDED
4 dives
2 nights accommodation
Return transport from Brisbane to Terrigal
Tanks and weights (including nitrox fills if desired, however you must be nitrox certified)
Continental breakfast on both mornings
Government permit
WHAT’S EXCLUDED
All Dive Gear (excluding tanks & weights)
Travel Insurance
Personal spending money
All Meals are at leisure (with the exception of breakfast)
GEAR HIRE
PDS is able to with a wetsuit, BCD, regulator, computer, tanks and weights for the weekend and please communicate your requirements on the booking form. Each diver must provide their own mask, snorkel, fins and boots (not available for hire). Underwater camera and torches are also available and are subject to availability. All hire gear must be arranged in advance.
ITINERARY
We will departing Brisbane (Woolloongabba) at 12 pm on Friday and from here you will be driven in our company van to Terrigal (approximately 10 hour drive). Upon arrival we will check in to our accommodation and get a good night sleep ready for your 4 dives on Saturday. We will be doing 3 dives on the EX-HMAS Adelaide and one shore dive in the Haven with the resident Port Jackson sharks and hopefully some Grey Nurse sharks as well! On Sunday we will drive you back to Brisbane and we plan to have you back in Brisbane (Woolloongabba) by mid- evening. An itinerary with more accurate timings will be sent to the divers prior to the dive trip.
PADI SPECIALITIES SUITABLE FOR THIS TRIP
Advanced Open Water (perfect for this trip)
Boat Diver
Enriched Air (Nitrox)
Deep Diver
Digital Underwater Photographer
Underwater Photographer
Underwater Videographer
Peak Performance Buoyancy
Dry Suit Diver
Wreck Diver
This is the perfect way to complete a specialty course as you have already paid for the dives!!
Note- Some specialties are site and conditions dependant. All efforts will be made to complete course dives on a booked trip, however if conditions do not allow it the diver will have to book onto another trip to complete the course requirements.
HOW TO BOOK
Download the booking form attached to the page. Complete the required fields, scan and email to [email protected].
