In November 2022 Mick Todd and I travelled to Busselton in Western Australia to dive Busselton Jetty, the longest wooden pier in the world. The 150-year-old pier is home to over 300 species of marine life with fantastic coral growth on the older pylons.
It’s a 1.7 kilometre walk to the end of the pier and as diving gear is not permitted aboard the Stocker Preston Express, the Busselton Jetty train, divers need to be fit. Unfortunately, I was not. I had a grade 2 to 3 calf muscle tear which required up to 12 weeks to repair. If I’d been with almost any other buddy, I would have had no chance of enjoying this iconic dive site but Mick was determined to get me in the water. So, while I caught the train to the end of the pier, Mick pulled a trolley with all of our dive kit to the end of the pier, lowered my dive gear into the water and then helped me get into it.
The underwater visibility proved to be a fabulous 25 to 30 metres and the pylons incredibly colourful. It was simply a wonderful dive. We did not see much large marine life, but the lighting and the colours were just extraordinary.