Since 1997 I have visited Ulladulla quite a few times on diving trips. On each of these occasions I have not just enjoyed the diving, I have had a fantastic time. The diving includes the area around Brush Island (The Pinnacle, SS Northern Firth), Crampton Island, Burrell Rocks as well as the area straight off Ulladulla Harbour (Home Bommie and East North Bommie).

Straight below the Ulladulla Lighthouse is the Lighthouse Bommie which is a rocky islet separated from the shore by a small channel. This channel is navigable by small vessels in calm weather and looks like it would make an interesting dive in similar conditions. Our dive here started at the northern end of the bommie (GPS 35° 22' 00"S 150° 29' 37"E - using AUS66 as datum - see my GPS Page about datums) where descended on the wall. The depth was about 18 metres on the sandy bottom with the top of the wall about 14 metres. There was a slight current running to the south so we drifted along with the flow. The wall is a shear drop of four metres, with some small cracks and holes where smaller fish can hide.

As we go we see small rays on the sand (a group behind us sees a angel shark) and we see a number of moray eels in the holes. On the sides and top of the wall there are some excellent sea squirts, sponges and gorgonias. On the top there are a lot of sergeant bakers, a few red morwongs and a pile of nudibranchs. As we drift along we see many silver sweep, yellowtail and seapike which are swimming over us.

The depth stays around 18 metres for quite a long time. After 30 minutes we reach the end of the main section of wall and there are some small boulders off the now diminished wall. The fishlife here is more prolific, with many more silver sweep, red morwong as well as a lot of leatherjackets, bream and other species. The depth increases a bit to 23 metres and the wall disappears completely. We continue on for a bit but the increasing depth means that we are rapidly losing bottom time and approaching the no-deco limit. After 39 minutes we start our blue water ascent, fully satisfied with our dive and wishing we could stay longer.

As we do our five minute safety stop we encounter three others from the trip and after a few minute the boat comes into view over us. We climb aboard and see that we have drifted a long way and are now well off the southern end of the bommie. We ended our dive at approximately GPS 35° 22' 19"S 150° 29' 31"E. The distance from the starting point is about 600 metres, seemingly a long way but not long enough. A very good dive, with quite good visibility and water temperature of 15°C (could have been a bit warmer).

While in Ulladulla I dived with Ulladalla Divers and can only report that there service was of the highest quality, with great value. We stayed at the local caravan park which is almost in the centre of town and provides cheap, good accommodation with a pool, BBQs and is close to the wharf, dive shop and shops.