Howies Scuba

DIVES SITES

Scuba Diving Perth WA

Shore Diving 

Jervoise Bay Groin - Cockburn Power Boat Club

• Shore Dive: Jetty Dive: Groin Dive.
  
  
• Max Depth: 10 meters shore end, may become deeper as you travel along the groin wall.
  
  
• Dive Conditions: I only ever dive this site during bad weather as it is sheltered from the majority of the effects of poor weather. I would not consider this site as an option during fairer weather. Give consideration to both boat traffic and clambering over rocks in certain entry/exits points.
  
  
• Dive flag at site: No.
  

DIRECTIONS

• Most people who dive in Perth will most probably be aware of Ammo Jetty at Woodmans Point, however just around the corner from the Jetty is a small marina/boating club in Jervoise Bay called Cockburn Power Boat Club which has several man-made rock groins and a concrete jetty as part of a sea defence or sea wall for the safe entry and mooring of boats (this is "not" the Sailing Club at the end of Woodmans Point View). This area has several spots allowing you to dive, giving you depths of at least 10 meters with average visibility during poor weather.

• Before you head out of the car park and down to the shore/jetty/groin, do all your final checks as you don't want to get to the water and realise you have missed something or blow an O' ring.  We all have our own way of remembering this little check BWRAF but I use this simple saying as a reminder "Before Water Review A Friend": B (BCD): W (WEIGHTS): R (RELEASES):  A (AIR):  F (FINAL).
  
  
• Decide on your entry and exit point, make sure you consider both as an easy entry may give you a difficult exit. That said you may have both a difficult entry and exit depending on what you decide, just take your time and watch your footing.
  
  
• If you have forgotten to do this earlier do you final checks on the waters edge (BWRAF). Get into the water, don't forget your dive flag, listen out for boat traffic and enjoy.

 Dive Review:
Dive review of this site is mainly taken from dive 1, all other dives have been comparable.

• Dived Cockburn Power Boat Club in the Autumn of 2011 and I have to say, in part I quite liked it. I have no great desire to return but that said, I have no qualms about diving here again and there is still areas that need exploring. However the main area I dive is discussed here because I only dive here when the weather is pretty hairy.
  
  
• There are easy and difficult entry/exit points which apart from people fishing, under water rocks and the obvious potential for boat traffic, is something you should be aware of.
  
  
• To access the water you can enter/exit from the beach, however this is only one part of the potential dive area, and if you want to explore other aspects of the site you may have to do a small bit of climbing over some jagged rocks. So you will have to consider your entry and exit points appropriate to your own abilities. That all said the dive itself was easy enough and nothing complex that would give the novice diver a real problem.
  
  
• On our first dive here we parked up next to the boating club (not in the club car park) and surveyed the potential dive site and which part we where going to dive.
  
  
• After several considerations we could not decide about which area to dive, so we tossed a coin for our entry point, then changed our minds because someone was fishing off the tiny little wooden jetty on the sea-ward side of the groin that we where going to enter from.
  
  
• So we decided to climb over rocks in the corner of the groin. Shown in the map above at the point of the triangle. 
  
  
• NOTE: The majority of other dives since I have entered from small beach on the inside leg of the rock groin And dived around the jetty and back.
  
  
• With a little bit of care, getting over the rocks wasn't too bad, just had to watch your footing and make sure you had your gear secure, we placed some air in our BCD, and once over the rocks we just slid into the water backwards and placed our fins on at this point.
  
  
• The waters were generally calm even though the winds were getting up a bit, as said we dived between the concrete jetty and the rock groins, which gives you some excellent protection from the elements.
  
  
• When in the water the vis looked quite good and the depth was at least 5 meters or so we thought. As we descended we were surprised to get down to almost 10 meters straight away, and the vis remained quite clean, about 3 - 4 meters, that was until you did the smallest of fin kicks and the bottom just exploded (see the opening part of the video at the bottom of the page) the smallest of movements clouds the vis to nearly zero meters.
  
  
• The bottom is very fine and silty, most probably due to the cement works just around the corner from the bay, and the fact there is minimal water movement around the site. At this point we decided to ascend a few meters and the vis generally stayed at about 4 + meters.
  
  
• We followed the rock line in an Easterly direction heading towards the concrete jetty. I must point out at this point that there is a lot of little nooks and crannies and even the potential to swim into spaces and under the rocks, but I would strongly advise against this, there are no guarantees that these rocks are stable, so keep your distance and use a torch to light up the dark spaces rather than getting in too close. On our exit over some rocks one or two moved quite freely, so be smart and keep safe.
  
  
• We followed the rock line down until we came across the concrete jetty and just followed this around and exited at the beginning of the jetty, as stated earlier we just climbed up some wobbly rocks and made our way back to the car along the gravel/sandy path.
  
  
• Just another NOTE: all that hard work getting in and out over the rocks is all a bit pointless if you are going to check out the concrete jetty. You may as well enter via the small beach at the bottom of the grass slope by where you park up, swim around the jetty and come back. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
  
  
• Obviously if you want to check out other parts of the rock groin then inevitably there will be some climbing involved. I have dived along the groin on the sheltered side and I have to be honest and say we didn't see much. A dive on the outside of the groin on a calm day may bring something a little different but I doubt it.
  

 VISIBILITY

• The top two photographs show the vis descending and ascending. The bottom two photographs show the vis between 2 and 4 meters depth.
  
  
• The vis was a lot better in the shallower waters and cleaned up beautifully when in the shade of the concrete jetty.
  

MARINE LIFE

• There was an abundance of small marine life around the dive site. The colouring of this Forkweed (top right) was stunning, just illuminescent
  

• This is the largest colony of Zoanthids I have seen at any of the local dive sites so far, with mass of approx. 1 meter across (above). And some nice Corals of varying colours that I have not seen before where also found here (below).
  

• Below is a large sized Grey Fan Sponge and I found a few of these at the dive site, some 50 - 70 cms tall.
  

• The good old Nudibranch, it just wouldn't be a dive without seeing a Nudibranch. There where a few at the site but only two varying Nudi's where seen.
  

• These two little guys were a treasure to see, this currently unknown filefish has got me stumped at the moment it is potentially one of three types, just needs clarifying. Also I have not seen this type of Leatherjacket on other dives I have done around Perth and I am wondering how common it is.
  

• The Giant Cuttlefish hiding under a rock was quite stunning, the deep reddish colour was beautiful to see, and it generally did not seem to matter that I got so close, a nice little moment at the dive site.
  

Gallery 

Video Compilation

• So in summary, overall a nice little dive, good vis as long as you don't disturb the bottom, good enough depth, has the potential to create lots of little dive spots. Lots of macro-life as with a lot of the dive sites in the Perth area, with one or two nice surprises.
  
  
• A very solid dive but average site which I know doesn't sound that great but there is a lot to explore in this area that I haven't had the chance to do as of yet, what will be found is another story. There are supposed to be some very old wrecks in this area also, as Jervoise Bay used to be a scuttling ground, that said I have heard you can't see much maybe one or two beams sitting on the sea bed but who knows.
  
  
• The most important points I guess are: have a go but keep yourself safe both exiting and entering and don't go exploring in the holes and under the rocks.
  

 SUMMARY

BASIC DIVE SITE DIRECTIONS

DIVE SITES 

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