Dear all,

I am about to relocate to Melbourne from Italy, and I would certainly like to keep on freediving... but to make an informed decision-making I need some information:

1) I've been told undersea visibility is rather poor in Victoria (10-20m on a good day): is really that bad or it changes with the spot you're diving ?

2) Water is colder than in the Med... hence I suppose a 7mm wetsuit is needed (currently I use a 5mm, but I dive during Summertime), could you confirm ?

3) How much a, built-to-order, pure neoprene (no cloth lining) wetsuit may cost in Melbourne ?

4) Is it standard practice for swimming pools to forbid the use of long fins (mine are Falcon C4), or you are allowed to wear them during off-peak hours ?

Thanks in advance,

Luca.

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Best regards,
Luca.

Welcome lmorandini!



20 metres is a *very* good day. Some times its up to 30, but generally when its 10-15 its considered quite good. Its certainly not tropical waters. If the viz is less than 5-8 metres then I generally head back in and try and find somewhere else to go, or give up and wait for better conditions , but that's probably because I haven't really ever dived anywhere "better". Ignorance is bliss.



Much colder. In summer the water temp hovers at about 22 degrees in the bay, a little colder outside. During winter it can get down to below 10. In summer a 3mm steamer is fine for me, and even during the depths of winter I use a 5mm steamer with a .5mm neoprene / metallic thermal vest. Still a little bit chilly but I could stay in the water for 2 hours without much trouble. (Ive got a bit of meat on me though).

This site http://www.baywx.com/temps.html has historical average temperature graphs for ppb - you might find it useful.



Custom? Not sure. You can get very good quality 5mm Neoprene steamers for $250 AUD (about 200 euro - Probe brand - very comfortable suit). 7mm's jump up a bit in price, and then when you start playing with things like semi drys it goes up even more.



Not 100% sure. Its fairly common for scuba schools to rent out lanes in swimming pools for training, and Im sure if you sweet talked the clerks they might let you in. I suspect that you would have to do it during the quiet times though.

Welcome to Aus!

Welcome to Australia Mate

Well here is a locals answer to your questions.

Question 1: visibility in Victoria varies from location and weather but you can expect anything from 2 meter viz
to 20+ on a good day, but as for anything nere the tropics... not likely.

Question 2: The water temp varies from summer to winter but most divers use a 3mm in the summer but change to a 5mm
in the winter, some use a 7mm but thats more of a commercial diver sort of thing.

Question 3.
I work for Rob Torelli Diving Down Under, we sell spearfishing equipment.
check out our site for wetsuits that will perfect for the Victorian conditions and temperatures.
http://www.robtorelli.com.au

Question 4.
I use long bladed fins in the swimming pool on occasion and have had no problem with the rules of the pool.
just check with your local swimming pool mate.

Hope some of this infornmation has helped.
cheers.

Luca
Benvenuto e che piacere leggere di un altro italiano
Nel club siamo in 2: io de La Spezia e Mario di Capo d'Orlando
Ti mando un messaggio (pm) con ulteriori commenti e informazioni in risposta alle tue domande
Fatti sentire se sarai di base a Melbourne
Ciao e a presto

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Il mio mare e i miei fondali sono quelli del golfo de La Spezia

Thanks to all of you for the prompt and thorough replies.

Well, I knew Melbourne was not Cairns (been there once, great dives), but what you told me is way worse than I imagined... when visibility is less than 18mt I'm used to move to another site (call me a spoiled kid).

Let me elaborate a bit more: I am not a spearfisher, I dive for the sheer pleasure of it; hence, I dive headlong for 15 to 25 meters before leveling, spend some time on the bottom and return back to the surface.

Therefore, having limited visibility is a major drawback given my diving style. Actually I dived in limited visibility (a couple lakes and twice at sea), but it was not much fun, since the possibility of hitting some rock with my mask (it happened only once) made me nervous.

Anyway, I will certainly bring my fins down-under and have a try.

Thanks again to everyone who answered.

_________________
Best regards,
Luca.

I take my diveR carbon fins to MSAC often. I haven't had any trouble as yet. Melbourne Sports & Aquatic Centre is in Albert Park in Melbourne and has two Olympic size 50 metre pools, inside and out plus a deeper dive pool that I have been allowed access to before.

If your diving the Ocean beaches, the visibility will be enough for you to do what you like doing. In the bay the visibility can be shocking, but if you watch the weather you can find vis majority of the time.

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Its Pat!

Regarding the Viz, if you can get access to a boat there's some really nice shipwrecks outside the bay which are good fun, where viz is often a lot better (depending on tides and weather!).

There's the ex-HMAS Canberra (An Adelaide class missile destroyer) in 12 - 28 metres of water, the J4 submarine which is in 28(?) metres of water, and in general some really nice reef systems outside the heads which are definitely worth the effort to get out and explore. Don't be put off, you might just have to adapt a little

That's great news: a DDG or a submarine are definitively worth having a look.

Thanks,

Luca.

_________________
Best regards,
Luca.

Oops... the O.H. Perry-class (of which the Adelaide-class is a sub-version) is a class of frigates (FFG) not destroyers (DDG).

Luca.

_________________
Best regards,
Luca.

Haha, so it is. My mistake

Hello, new around here but had a few thoughts
I agree 20m is a very good day It's not all bad news though, plenty to see around the shore lines where you don't need that kind of viz. The marine mammals make up for it as well (Lots of seals in particular are around the bay/south coast)
Here's a few photos I took recently over 2 days so hopefully you're not feeling too sad about moving down here, there really is some cool stuff easily accessable from melbourne: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150703143571972.454263.679711971&type=3&l=6f05f4b20f
Pools are generally pretty tolerant with freediving gear as long as you keep out of everyone's way. Monofins are really hard to use unless it's off peak but I never have a problem with my bi-fins at all.
Just for fun: This is how great the viz in melbourne can get- see if you can make out anything of the canberra wreck http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/30805_420176586971_679711971_5315340_2370418_n.jpg