By the time you open the magazine, an icon of the local diving fraternity, United Divers, will have closed its doors for good.
Established by Suzanne and Leon Friend in 1974, United has offered all the key services sought by the recreational dive community, and many in the commercial sector too, including air fills, gear service, organised dives and dive travel.
For 38 years they had their own dive charter vessel, the Friendship. At one stage, they not only had a store in central Wollongong, but also a weekend shop at Kiama Harbour (see end of the video). I can’t remember when I first went to the Wollongong store but I started diving 40 years ago. I do remember buying a pair of pink fins on a giveaway special because Suzanne couldn’t find anyone else with poor enough taste to buy them.
The mainstay of United’s dive sites were around the Five Islands, although they did venture further afield and, when the boat was located in Kiama, there were dives around the various headlands and reefs to the north and south.
The Five Islands offers some great diving with some beautiful sponge gardens, steep drop-offs, schools of colourful fish, giant cuttlefish, even more giant stingrays and protected species like the weedy sea dragon and blue devilfish. A major attraction is the growing colony of seals on Martin Islet.
My two favourite dives are the pinnacle on the eastern side of Pig Island (Bass Islet) and Terry’s reef, which extends north from Martin Islet. The pinnacle is a steep wall descending into 33m of water and can have lots of fish life, but it’s exposed to currents and not dived often. Terry’s reef is a flat terrace with lots of gullies and some of the deeper areas have sea whips growing on the sea bed. There are also some good shallower dives around Toothbrush (Flinders) Island, where there are some caves to be explored.
So, it’s a big thanks to Leon and Suzanne for having opened the eyes of many to what lies beneath.
