Tech Tip: Dive Hose Life

In our experience double-braided polyester diving hoses are more reliable than rubber hoses, but keep in mind that all SCUBA hoses, both rubber or polyester, will fail sooner or later either due to age, storage conditions or handling.

Do not allow hoses to receive prolonged exposure sunlight, as the heat and UV from strong sunlight will significantly shorten the life of the hose. Do not attempt to flush the inside of the hose with any form of solvent or other chemical. New hoses are factory clean and if you have any reason to think they are no longer clean then the hose should be replaced.

Prior to every dive trip you should always pressurise and inspect your hoses for mechanical damage, corroded fittings, bulges and leaks. For more information about the care and maintenance of your dive hoses, please see Caring For Scuba Diving Hoses.

The Scuba Doctor suggests replacing all SCUBA hoses every five years or 500 dives, whichever comes first.

The Far Side

Wall Dive | Boat access

The Far Side | © Gary Larson

Depth: 20 m (66 ft) to 60 m (197 ft)

Level: Advanced Open Water and beyond.

The Far Side lies halfway between Shortland's Bluff and Point Nepean and it sits inside the shipping lanes. The Far Side is a fantastic wall dive. The wall starts at 18 metres and drops down with overhangs and steps to a depth of 40 meters. The wall runs from East to West with the very sheer wall drop-off to the North.

Some fantastic rock formations can be seen on the wall along here. While swimming down to the overhangs and steps ensure you take a torch so that you can light up the hard and soft corals and appreciate their many colours. Crayfish and Blue Devil fish call these overhangs home, so you're sure to see plenty of them. Can be dived during slack water only.

Crayfish Dive Site | © Ian Scholey

Divers have the opportunity to catch Southern Rock Lobster (aka Crayfish) at this dive site. Remember your catch bag, current Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence, rock lobster measure, and cray tags. Once you get back to the dive boat, or shore, make sure you clip the tail and tag your Crayfish as per Fisheries requirements. Please abide by all current fishing regulations if you intend to catch crays. See article-catching-crayfish for practical cray hunting advice from The Scuba Doctor, plus melbourne-cray-dives for a list of other crayfish dive sites near Melbourne. For tips on cooking your Crays, please see article-cooking-crayfish.

Boon Wurrung / Bunurong country

Traditional Owners — This dive site is in the traditional Country of the Boon Wurrung / Bunurong people of the Kulin Nation. This truly ancient Country includes parts of Port Phillip, from the Werribee River in the north-west, down to Wilson's Promontory in the south-east, including the Mornington Peninsula, French Island and Phillip Island, plus Western Port. We wish to acknowledge the Boon Wurrung as Traditional Owners. We pay respect to their Ancestors and their Elders, past, present and emerging. We acknowledge Bunjil the Creator Spirit of this beautiful land, who travels as an eagle, and Waarn, who protects the waterways and travels as a crow, and thank them for continuing to watch over this Country today and beyond.

The Far Side Location Map

Latitude: 38° 17.434′ S (38.290567° S / 38° 17′ 26.04″ S)
Longitude: 144° 39.891′ E (144.66485° E / 144° 39′ 53.46″ E)
Datum: WGS84 | Google Map
Added: 2012-07-22 09:00:00 GMT, Last updated: 2022-05-08 03:45:28 GMT
Source: GPS
Nearest Neighbour: North Wall, 239 m, bearing 320°, NW
Depth: 20 to 60 m.
Dive only on: SWF, SWE.

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DISCLAIMER: No claim is made by The Scuba Doctor as to the accuracy of the dive site coordinates listed here. Should anyone decide to use these GPS marks to locate and dive on a site, they do so entirely at their own risk. Always verify against other sources.

The marks come from numerous sources including commercial operators, independent dive clubs, reference works, and active divers. Some are known to be accurate, while others may not be. Some GPS marks may even have come from maps using the AGD66 datum, and thus may need be converted to the WGS84 datum. To distinguish between the possible accuracy of the dive site marks, we've tried to give each mark a source of GPS, Google Earth, or unknown.