Victorian Sub-Aqua Group (VSAG)
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Welcome to the Victorian Sub-Aqua Group

Established in 1954 and going stronger than ever, the Victorian Sub-Aqua Group (VSAG) is one of Australia's oldest non-commercial scuba diving clubs, renowned for its safe approach to diving. We believe that VSAG is Melbourne's friendliest and most active independent dive club. Plus VSAG is run by and for its members as a club for divers, not for profit.

Based in Melbourne, we dive locally at least every fortnight, all year round. We have dive trips on every long weekend, plus arrange regular interstate and overseas diving trips. Most dives are from the privately owned boats of our members.

Anyone with a recognised scuba diving qualification is welcome to Join VSAG. However, to get the best value from a VSAG membership and diving with VSAG you should hold an Advanced Open Water or equivalent certification. Many VSAG boat dives exceed the recommended 18 metre depth limit for Open Water divers. Have a browse through this web site to learn more about VSAG and its activities. Then, if you think that you would like to join, please come along to a general meeting, or get in touch using the Contact Form. You can even download a VSAG Membership Form and send it to a VSAG member you know, or a VSAG Committee member.

VSAG meets at 8:00 p.m. on the third Thursday of every month at Bells Hotel, corner of Moray and Coventry Streets, South Melbourne (Melway 1D L12, Google Maps). Guest speakers, video and photo presentations are typically a feature of these meetings. Many VSAG members arrive at 7:00 p.m. to have dinner together before the meeting. Visitors are always welcome at these general meetings and the dinner beforehand.

Please feel free to Register and obtain access to even more facilities on this web site.

Posted on Thursday, 30 November

Latest News Topic Most Read News Topic
The Presidents Rant: winter version

Committee News Well we are half way through winter and although water temps are down the diving just keeps on coming!

Recently we have had several good days out mainly diving the Bay for scallops and exploring the wrecks and reefs off Rosebud, Williamstown & Queenscliff.

A large goup of VSAGers have just returned from diving the Beqa Lagoon Shark dive in Fiji. By all accounts a fabulous trip with great diving and even better food and accomodation.

As the depths of winter are fast approaching we are planning our annual Christmas in July feast as well as planning a few easy shallow dives in the upper Bay area on the Uralba and the old tyre reefs.

The club has planned a diver recovery day for early October. the plan is to practice recovering an unconcious diver into our various small boats. This has been planned for some time and we hope to see all boat owners supporting us on the day. There will be a dive on offer as well after the serious stuff -as well as the usual after dive de-brief at a local watering hole!

Wilsons Prom Cup weekend is fast approaching and anyone wanting a camp site with the club has to advise the Dive Captain Alan Storen asap. Cash with order is the only way to book a site!

Brrrrr... gotta love this winter don't ya!!

Greg Richards.

Posted by Shadow on Mon, 19 Jul 2010 9:53 am
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Random Picture From The Gallery

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Newest Download

VSAG Boat Owner Documents
VSAG Boat Owner Documents Three documents for the use of VSAG boat owners.

Three documents that we recommend VSAG boat owners should use on their boats on VSAG dive days.

1. Waiver form to be signed by divers on each outing.

2. Participation agreement and consumer waiver for display on the boat. The boat owner should boat out this document and its consequences in the boat briefing before heading out.

3. Boat safety and dive equipment. The boat owner should use this document as a prompt sheet for their safety briefing before heading out. Plus it should be left readily available for reference by others on the boat.

Note: All of the above documents need to be edited and customised by each boat owner. We recommend documents 2 & 3 above be laminated and kept on the boat.

Uploaded by lloyd_borrett on Thu, 24 Dec 2009 9:28 pm
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Most Popular Download

How to Register for www.vsag.org.au
How to Register for www.vsag.org.au Step by step details about how to register for access to this web site.

Uploaded by lloyd_borrett on Mon, 11 Dec 2006 2:03 am
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Other News
Queens Birthday Long Weekend

Hi VSAG’ers,



QUEENS BIRTHDAY LONG WEEKND

BOARFISH LODGE….QUEENSCLIFF



VSAG has booked Boarfish Lodge again for the QBLWE 11th-14th June…our hosts:Mary Malloy and Alan Beckhurst..and Mollie

Cost per head: $15 per night.BYO all food and drinks



Boarfish Lodge is a 6 berth bunk style accommodation with all the necessities for diver comfort:

Need to bring doonas/blankets/sleeping bags and pillows etc

First in gets a bunk..one booking already made so 5 left.

( There may be other suitable accommodation available near by if there is an over demand for BL)



Dive gear wash down and drying….great fire every night..hot shower..TV..10 minutes from the boat ramp.



Friday night for pizzas or BYO food….Saturday night at the great Victoria Tavern for a top pub meal…BBQ Sunday..BYO



Weather permitting we dive Saturday..Sunday..and possibly Monday….or some sight seeing for those who are dived out on Monday..all this is flexable.

Tanks filled at Dive Victoria at $10 per fill.



Day trippers are very welcome….could collect from Portsea if the trip to Q too long



Dive Captain: John Lawler…M: 0414 922916 E: jlawler@aapt.net.au



Cheers,

JL











Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy

Posted by BUBBLEDIVER on Sun, 30 May 2010 10:29 am
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Amazing Blue Hole Freedive

Miscellaneous News William Trubridge freedives THE ARCH at Blue Hole, Dahab. See www.youtube.com/watch?...eature=fvw

You don't need SCUBA if you can do this!

Posted by lloyd_borrett on Mon, 03 May 2010 1:02 am
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The New Diver Day was cancelled – well mostly

OR

The Curse of Pope’s Eye Rescinded

The curse you say – how can such an innocuous piece of landscape generate a curse! To understand you have to cast your mind back to the early nineties when…..

Picture a young (okay – younger) man newly arrived from the NSW mid coast. Offered the potential to become a Mexican or Sandgroper he had chosen the armpit of the earth over its fingertip and eventually settled in Macedon where at least the air was clear.
He had heard that there was some diving in the muddy pond that accepted the rubbish out of the Yarra so hesitantly booked a dive with QDC, expecting the worse. After boarding the charter and having his experience level determined the tour operators enthusiastically announced the destination was a fascinating dive site that was also a marine sanctuary – Popes Eye. Forty minutes later he retuned to the boat and politely responded to the host’s enthusiastic wrap up of the dive – concealing his smug condescending attitude best expressed by the thought that Victorians don’t understand what good diving is about…

For 17 odd years these same Victorians continued to enjoy world class diving on the Nepean and Lonsdale walls, the offshore wrecks and reefs while he smugly packed his diving gear for the annual pilgrimage to Forster and other NSW coastal areas for ‘real’ diving.
All due to over selling Popes Eye…
17 years of diving missed…(sob)

Back to the future….
Last weekend the weather was looking very ordinary so our new diver day was cancelled. However Pam’s daughter (Merri) was keen for her first dive in more than 6 years and it seemed significant to me that she was prepared to step out and do it at this stage in her life. With only 2 of us and high winds the only option was Popes Eye, that curse of my youth. I went out of my way to explain to the returning diver (who had only dived Queensland and Fiji) that this was a very ordinary dive, pretty boring and only entry level compared to the wonders that waited only hundreds of meters away. To make it worse that morning hosted a flood slack with very low maximum currents both before and after the slack. What a perfect day for the wall…..and we were diving Popes Eye.

So the two of us headed off on the 70 min trip to Queenscliff with the boat. It seemed a good chance to train up the ‘decky’ so we went through each of the launching steps and had the boat ready in far from record time. I was still preaching Popes Eyes defects as we left the channel and headed across the narrow strip of water to the mooring in Popes Eye.
Merri has always wanted to do the Swim with the Dolphins tour and as we entered the mooring we passed them preparing to start snorkeling. Our day out was now at least equivalent to an experience Merri had always looked forward to. The day came off rock bottom from my perspective! Just before we entered the water another tour type charter pulled up with more swimmers, confirming we were at the right place at the right time.

The conditions were ideal for preparing a new diver and we slipped over the side and then started to descend the 2m to the bottom. A bit of a panic attack stopped the descent but we had another go a few minutes later and as we descended I pointed out some wrasse that had approached us. Fascinating to watch the tension leave a new diver as the focus moved from being in a ‘threatening’ environment to absolute engagement with the fish life around us, particularly as we approached the inside wall in great vis. With all concerns evaporated we headed off for our boring dive.
I had timed the dive for the flood slack and so the turn around the NW corner was into clear, still water with lots of fish and fascinating sea vegetation. It was refreshing to watch Merri dart about exploring the wall and finding the anchor etc. The vis was superb and the multi coloured box fish were my favourites, followed by a couple of good sized cuttlefish. With plenty of air (thanks Greenie) I decided we would do the cir(edited)navigation rather than crawl over the rocks half way round and we kept moving steadily. By the time we were heading up the eastern side of the U I could feel the ebb flow building but knowing the peak current was going to be less than 2knots allowed us to push on. Soon after we rounded the corner and swam up into the pool like conditions inside the U to find our boat where we had left it – always a good feeling.

After a quick lunch I sprang my bonus for the day – a trip to the Chinaman’s hat to find some seals. The chop was building with the westerly but Merri was keen so we headed east to the structure. The seals did not disappoint and Merri spent around half an hour snorkeling around the structure. She found it surprising how these friendly seals can look so big under the water where they move so fast….
So back we came to the hot showers at Queenscliff.

Afterwards I found myself reflecting that the site that turned me off diving in Victoria for 17 years may well have paid its debt to me by perfectly hosting a new diver introduction. The secure mooring, easy entry with immediate fish life to distract a new diver and then such still conditions for most of the dive combined for the perfect beginner day
Debt repaid

Posted by DavidG on Wed, 21 Apr 2010 10:17 am
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The Presidents Autumn Rant!

Summer is now a distant memory and if Autumn is half as good we are in for some great diving. This time of year often produces the calmest seas and recent visability has averaged 15-20m for months and should stay that way.

We have already had a couple of good days out including a perfect calm day at Cape Schanck. With our boats and our friends from Black Rock, all up 14 boats and around 45 divers and brilliant dive conditions.

"Easter at The Prom" is fast approaching and if you haven't booked in sadly you've missed out! We have 5 boats and 35 campsites organised and expect the weather Gods to be kind.

The club has a weekend planned at Phillip Island on Anzac weekend with some members staying at Kilcunda Oceanview Resort.

Check the Forthcoming events for our regular Day Dives and let the Dive Captain know you want to come by the Thursday night before the dive.

The club is also running a "New Diver day" for people who haven't dived with us before onApril -11th.

Congratulations to the winners of our annual Photo Comp which was announced at our March meeting. David Reinhard took 1st place and Alex Ivanov scored the Encouragement award. Well done to all who entered and many thanks to Dave Bryant from Seapics for judging the competition.

Dust off the wetsuit and ring the Dive Captain now!

Regards,

Greg Richards.

Posted by Shadow on Mon, 22 Mar 2010 6:05 am
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Weekend Diving - 23-Jan-2010

Dive Days The planned dive on the Canberra for Saturday 23rd January 2010 was cancelled due to strong weather forecasts... also for the same reason the whole day was cancelled... the BOM report was right as the winds howled for most of the day... one yacht sank aftefr a colision in the bay!

The dive is now scheduled for Monday 25th January 2010. We have 3 boats and one back up so if you wish to dive the HMAS Canberra please book in with John Lawler.

Depart Sorrento top boat bay at 8.45AM... the dive slot for HMAS Canberra is 10 to 12.

Another dive will be had and we will decide on that on the day.

JL

Posted by BUBBLEDIVER on Sat, 23 Jan 2010 12:31 pm
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Diving with VSAG over Christmas and January 2010.

January is nearly over and the club has had some very succesful days diving in the last month.

Many members have been away on holidays at various exotic locations since Boxing Day, but we have still had well attended dives on at least 7 different days. The sites included the HMAS Canberra, The J5 Sub (twice), The Coogee, Lonsdale Wall, Castle Rock, Twin Bommies, Magic Reef, and also the Phillip Island Pinnacles.

The visability has been in the 15-20m range on nearly all dives and and a great time was had by all concerned.

Our January meeting at Bells Hotel is fast approaching and we have an excellent guest speaker in Ken Hoppen. Ken will be presenting on Diving With Humpbacks in Tonga and also diving with Whale Sharks at Christmas Island. This is a free event and open to all interested divers.

Don't forget if you want to come to Wilsions Prom for Easter, you need to let Andy M know NOW! Bookings for the campsites close before the end of January.

Keep diving.

Regards,

Greg Richards
President VSAG

Posted by Shadow on Sun, 17 Jan 2010 7:10 am
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