Bulk Jetty Shore DivePerth WA, Howies Scuba

DIVES SITES

Scuba Diving Perth WA

Shore Diving

BULK JETTY

Directions

Bulk Jetty is at the bottom of Riseley Rd in Kwinana, in Google maps it may come up as Riseley Rd Naval Base (same place), or if you have a UBD Street Directory of Perth pg. 406. The site is approx. 40 minutes from Perth CBD, 20 minutes from Fremantle, 20 minutes from Rockingham.
In a "Nut Shell": Along Rockingham Road turn onto Beard St, turn right onto Leath Rd, left onto Barter Rd and follow this round to the left and it will turn into Riseley Road which, then bends to the right and down to the beach.
At the bottom of Riseley Rd there is a car park, more sand and gravel then anything else. This area is also known as Horse Beach and you've guessed it, horses are allowed on the beach (pray you don't mind the smell of manure).
Kit up in the car park before you head out of the car park do all your final checks. Make your way to the beach, the sand is fine and dry so your feet may slip a wee bit.
Jetty is to your left, you can't miss it, its big enough. Enter under the building you can see sitting on top of the jetty, swim along the jetty maybe 30 meters and descend you should be at about 3 meters. Swim up one side and down the other.

SITE INFO:

This is a Shore Dive: Jetty Dive: Length 250 meters.
Max Depth: 8.5 meters down the centre: Up to 15 meters pushing out at the far end and sides, but this is open water.
Dive Conditions: This site is used as a poor weather site, I have never dived it during perfect conditions, the best vis I have had has been approx. 5 meters and worst vis approx. 2 meters which is excellent for a poor weather site. Northerly winds will add current to the dive site and westerly winds will add to any swell and swell period that is being generated.
Dive Flag at site: No
Novice divers need to be aware of potential hazards: Buoyancy both ascending and descending will be important to dive this site safely, seabed is strewn with shell and other debris. There are overhead pylons and entanglement hazards with several large nets hanging along the site, throw in poor vis to the mix and it can have the potential to make this site a little uncomfortable.
If you want to reach the end of the jetty I would suggest maybe swimming to the end first and then casual swim back so as not rush yourself on the return leg.
This is next to a working jetty so be aware of possible boat traffic in the area. This is a popular fishing 4x4 and horse beach be careful whilst entering and exiting the beach area.

Dive Review:

Dived Bulk Jetty for the first time just after New Year 2011, it was an easy enough shore dive dive and I hesitantly say acceptable for a novice diver who has a few dives under their belt. Buoyancy will be the key here, if you haven't got it sorted yet I would wait a few dives, there are minimal places you can set down safely, maybe go along with a more experienced diver first time around. The vis wasn't great only a few meters and apart from a couple of nice surprises (get to these later) life under the jetty was nothing spectacular. Dive buddy on the day Owen has dived here before and he felt that we dived a typical day.

I have mixed feelings about this shore dive, when I got out of the water I felt somewhat disappointed that there wasn't much going on..... but.... I have had time to reflect upon the dive..... and.... its kind of growing on me.

I am in no way in a rush to go back there but I have sense that there is something down there lurking in the gloom, like some haunting sense that I need to go and check at least one more time, its getting on my nerves.

The place is like a grave yard on a cold misty evening, a bit eerie but strangely nice, it is awash with razor clams, I mean hundreds and hundreds of them, they look like they have been there for a very long time with all sorts growing on and around them. The amount of mussel shells strewn across the seabed was phenomenal, looks like a massacre has taken place.

There were minimal fish and nothing much more except......... I could not believe my eyes, two GIANT Sea Stars... the first one was big enough, biggest I had ever seen, I had never seen anything like it then, on the way back saw another one a lot bigger than the first...... I was gob smacked and it stopped me completely in my tracks.

Check out the video and pictures below, the biggest had to be over 1 meter across. This is why I am compelled to go back there and try and see how big one of these things can get. I have visions of getting to the end of the jetty and finding this Gigantic Sea Star wearing a suite, smoking a cigar and, carrying a Tommy Gun like some 1930s' gangster.

Ok enough of this............... above was my first review of this dive site and I have to say I have returned and returned and yes you've guessed it nothing has changed, nothing mysterious hanging around the end of the jetty, no Gigantic Seastar, in fact I haven't seen a large one there since the first dive over 12 months ago now. In all honesty I kinda shudder when we have to come here. But come here we do for the simple reason that Bulk Jetty is a sheltered dive spot and its either here or Rockingham Wreck Trail on poor days and you are more likely to have a large group down at the RWT, kicking up silt and crowding out the wrecks.

Simply put if it's a choice between diving and not diving................ well I know what I would pick every time, you never know.

VISIBILITY

Ok I don't know how unfair you can really be about this dive site when discussing visibility. We have only ever dived here and we only dive here when the weather has been poor, high winds. moderate swell etc.. so naturally the conditions aren't ideal before you have even started.

As you can see from the pictures here, the water is extremely dense with particles, I am guessing this is in part due to the high amount of debris on the seabed.

There is also working jetty next to here, how often I am unsure but it will add to the poor quality of the water under and around the jetty as the boats will churn up the seabed and pollute the local environment.

TERRAIN

These first two photographs were taken on my first dive at Bulk Jetty, it looks like a scene from the "Apollo Moon Landing".

It is clear why at minimum a little bit of buoyancy control is essential here. It is extremely crowded with debris, and could easily cut in if you land a bit sharpish.

I have been informed there are Blue Ringed Octopus here, but in a dozen dives I have never seen one, however the last thing you want is to be landing on one of these little beauties.

I have provided a couple of more photographs of the shell debris but if you look at pretty much all of the photographs you will see vast quantities of shell debris.

You will also find ironworks and other debris along the length of this site.

ENTANGLEMENT

There a few sets of these lines, ropes, nets.... call them what you will along Bulk Jetty, just hanging there waiting for you to wander in to the parlour, said the "Spider to the Fly".

To be totally honest I really do not expect anyone to swim directly into these ropes but you may back up into them and getting wrapped up my not be as hard as you may think.

Be careful if you are required to ascend quicker than usual, especially if you have had a bit of panic due to being entangled you bring into play the overhead pylons hanging down from the jetty, with some of these being at head height at the surface. If you dive this as a poor weather site then this is just adding chaos to the mayhem....... so take your time, try not to get entangled but if you do let your buddy do the work for you and set you free.

Crabs

At the right time of year there is tons and tons of them at Bulk jetty, I hope whoever dives here does not have a nervous disposition because, those Blue Swimmer Crabs especially the juveniles are wired....... talk about being permanently on edge....... the moment you swim over or past them they jump up like a jack-in-box and start circling you like a Spanish dancer and her castanets.

Crap & Crabs always seem to go hand in hand, and at Bulk Jetty this is no exception, silt and debris everywhere followed by this lot and the next lot Sea Stars.

Sea Stars

There are some bloody big Sea Stars at Bulk Jetty, biggest to date for me. But unfortunately only on one dive thus far.

However if it is Sea Stars you like then you will see plenty of variation here.

The Close Up

The Fall Down

The Huggers'

Sea Stars are just plane crazy.... They'll hug anything.

The Giants

This is still one of the best moments in my diving for me, I know you are thinking really a couple of Sea Stars.... you diving must be crap to date.... I just loved this moment.... if you know me you know I cannot stand Bulk Jetty but it does throw the occasional surprise and on dive one it threw me these massive beauties.

The first one was approx. 700 mm in width and the second a massive 1000+ mm across.

The Others

Gallery

BASIC DIVE SITE DIRECTIONS

Video Compilation

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