Get keen for the last UWC weekend away for the year! Come spend an adventurous weekend camping, diving, and exploring Broughton Island this November.

Broughton Island is a unique place as it is the only island campground in NSW where you can camp amongst an active seabird colony. How cool is that? Plus, there are very limited sites, so we will practically have the island to ourselves to enjoy the pristine waters and hopefully see the critically endangered grey nurse sharks on our dives along with copious amounts of fish, rays and all the other cool sea critters we can find.

Dives are open to all levels of diving and we are bringing the Didj with us so we can enjoy some cool boat dives for those new or experienced. Check out these links for more info on Broughton Island and the dive spots available:

https://www.michaelmcfadyenscuba.info/viewpage.php...

http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/.../broughton-island...

IMPORTANT DETAILS – this trip is from THURSDAY NIGHT to Sunday so you’ll need to take the Friday off work or uni but who wouldn’t want to have a cheeky long weekend?

We will camp in Nelson Bay Thursday night. You can choose to travel up on Thursday night or Friday morning if you’d like.

If tides allow us, there is the possibility of doing a shore dive in Nelson Bay on Friday morning BUT we will be departing by boat from Nelson Bay Marina @12pm Friday  to head over to Broughton Island. The boat will return to pick us up on Sunday afternoon (time TBC), so you will need to commit to the whole weekend. 

Dates: 10-13th November

Cost: $200 pp (including camping permits, island transfer, food for while on the island and alcohol for party night)

Boat Dives: $25pp each dive

On the island we will be camping so everyone will need to bring their own camping gear but we ask to share where possible. Camping space is very limited so everyone to pack light (we have to carry everything off the boat ourselves)

Please note we cannot refill tanks on the island so the number of dives you do will be limited by the number of tanks you bring. We recommend 2 tanks per person, which means 2 dives on the island.  Due to club gear limits, you can only hire one tank from the club. You can hire a second tank from the dive shop in Nelson Bay. 

We will be releasing tickets for this next week so you can all get your leave requests in.

Bookings open @ 7:00pm on Tuesday 18th October. Tickets sell out fast so get in quick.

If you miss out, we will have the ‘Broughton Island WAITLIST’ open at 7:10pm same evening, as spots may open up later if there are any cancellations.

 

Full disclaimer: This is a very exciting trip, but it is more adventurous than most of our weekends away. It involves a chartered boat trip to a mooring at the island, gear ferrying on the Didj and camping with compositing toilets and no showers. Logistically, it’s a very complex and isn't for the faint hearted - you need to be willing to be a team player and enjoy the serenity of limited amenities.

If you have any questions before booking, just send an email to: president@underwaterclub.org

Best Fishes, 

Tiff & Izzy 

 

Note: In order to participate in the organised dives:

 

• You will need to show us your SCUBA certification card (minimum Open Water cert) and be competent and confident in your swimming abilities.

 

• You should have dived within the past 12 months and be comfortable to dive in a buddy pair without a dive guide (we aren’t a commercial dive shop).

 

Dive safety is of the utmost importance and everyone must abide by the following rules:

• Every diver must use their own dive computer on every dive (no sharing).

• Every diver must have a safety sausage or SMB, with them on every dive.

• All divers must complete a 3 minute safety stop at 5 metres on every dive.

• No divers should go into decompression on any dive.

• All divers must surface at the end of their dive with a minimum 50 bar of air.