Spaces available: Douglas Seifert’s Jetties of South Australia trip

by adamhanlon Friday, December 20th, 2013

In January, DIVE Magazine’s World Editor and Wetpixel Supporter, Douglas Seifert is running a special once-in-a-lifetime expedition to photograph the magnificent macro sea life of the Jetties of South Australia. Featured marine life will include the magnificent leafy sea dragon, blue ringed octopus and endemic frogfish. The trips will be based on a live-aboard. He has just let us know that a few spots have opened up due to very last minute cancellations, so they are up for grabs immediately.

Details about the spots are as follows:

Full Expedition: Jan 17 - 28th, 2014 = $7000 or Stage 1: January 17 - 22 = $3500 Stage 2: January 22 - 28 = $3500

Please email Douglas for more details or to book.

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Sent from mobile device. Apologies for typos/brevity.

Posted by Eric Cheng on 2014-01-19 10:28:04

Douglas, yes my comments include a lot of experience. I go to South Australia to dive almost every year and have probably done at least 500 dives on the various jetties. I am now 68 and it is true that I rarely do four dives a day any more, but I still often do two or three dives in a day. I am not physically exceptional, but I am able to walk the distance from the parking lot to the entry point. I dive in a dry suit with 18 kg on my weight belt. Sometimes, if it is a long walk I make two trips. Since the water is shallow, my dives are usually about 90 minutes. Or longer. On a live aboard boat you also have to transfer your gear from the boat to the dingy and then into the water. I prefer the luxury of more time, more days, to having someone doing everything for me for just a few days. I enjoy eating in some of the Australian restaurants or fish and chip shops and having the chance to talk with the local people to the comparative isolation of a live aboard boat. I also enjoy the pleasure of finding my own photo subjects instead of being led by the nose from one to the next. Then it is really my own picture. On one of my SA dives on my 2013 trip, I photographed a leafy sea dragon. I see them frequently. You just have to pick the right location and spend a little time and effort. Not everyone was born with a million dollars and thinks everything should be bought rather than worked for. In my original comment I did not stoop to disparage you personally as you have me. I simply suggested that there was an alternative, less expensive way, to dive the jetties in South Australia. A way that might be more possible, and even more enjoyable, for many divers. Fred

Posted by divegypsy on 2014-01-19 03:36:45

Fred, as usual, your comments are a mix of experience and absurdity. The fact is although "you can" do this by car, you won't. Saying you can do something does not mean you actually will do something. Don't fool yourself. And you won't have the ability or opportunity to make three or four dives per day plus a night dive. You can't physically endure the long walks of the jetties and up and down stairs while carrying a camera, the amount of weights you will need for your wetsuit or drysuit and your tank. The air temperature is quite warm in January so you would cook in your suit from the time you left your car until you submerged into the water. A live aboard is the best possible way to cover the distances required to dive eight to ten jetties. Maybe you could have done two jetty dives a day when you were 20 years younger but be realistic about the physical challenges of chilly water diving, having to handle the gear yourself, and the difficulties involved in getting air fills in Australian country towns, having to change hotel rooms frequently and pack/unpack, check in and check out inconveniences, and hours of driving involved. There is an easier way. Its called a live aboard. And, yes, it is very expensive. Australia is not Indonesia where you can live like a king with a few dollars. Australia is a first world country with good wages and expensive fuel and boat charter costs. But you aren't going to be finding any leafy sea dragons in Lembeh Strait, Fred, and frankly you aren't enjoyable company on a live aboard so have fun internet trolling in Indonesia.

Posted by Douglas Seifert on 2013-12-31 04:08:50

This is an extremely expensive way to dive the jetties of South Australia. It is very easy and far less expensive to fly into Adelaide, rent a car and tanks there, and drive to many of the jetties on the Yorke Peninsula and Rapid Bay to dive the same jetties on your own schedule. I'd be surprised it doing it that way would cost more than about $200 per day for a single diver and maybe $275 for two since you could share the car costs and a motel room. If you're on a boat and the wind is blowing from the wrong direction it may take a day to move to the other side of the Yorke peninsula. With a car you just drive to the other side in an hour or two depending on which jetty you want to dive. I've been diving those jetties for over 20 years. January is also a school holiday month and the jetties will have many more local divers than usual.

Posted by divegypsy on 2013-12-22 19:10:58