The Cape Schanck Adventure
By Dick Nowakowski
Copyright 2011 Wladyslaw R. Nowakowski
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A true personal adventure by Dick W. Nowakowski
The blue-green wave was getting larger and more threatening every second. I knew that even if I could hold my breath long enough, my life would be extinguished like a burning candle, with one swift blow. Lord, help me!
I awoke wet with perspiration. It was only my re-occurring dream.
Autumn in Melbourne can be described as the best season of the year. The temperature is usually quite mild and there is very little wind, the trees and shrubs of Northern European origin turn gold and later, towards the end of May, the leaves change their hues from yellow, all the way through various shades of red to brown, before finally falling off. Even the gum trees seem brighter and fresher than in the summer. The general appearance of the countryside is simply glorious! Because the autumn season is mostly windless, the waters in the bays and ocean beaches are clear and ideal for skin and SCUBA diving.
That particular Saturday morning in March of 1964 was one of the best. The sun was shining through a very fine veil of morning mist, creating a golden tinge and an almost surreal appearance of the trees and houses, as in the distance they became gradually less and less vivid and were eventually lost altogether in a shimmering haze.
The previous week, my sister Lila and her husband Bob, proposed a trip to the ocean coast to do some rock fishing. I suggested a trip to Cape Schanck, a location they hadn’t visited before.
If the weather and sea conditions permitted, my intention was to do some underwater exploration with my SCUBA gear, to prepare for a possible diving excursion with my wife Denise, who was almost ready to do some ‘serious’ diving. My aim was to look for an interesting spot to enhance her diving enthusiasm.
Cape Schanck is located on the Bass Strait side of the Mornington Peninsula. The terrain is very rugged and the Cape itself is really a rocky outcrop reaching out to the sea. At the time there were practically no amenities, except for a block of toilets, a fireplace and a gravel parking lot for tourists, the facilities were perched on top of the small peninsula.
Those days, there were no public telephones, nor any personnel in attendance to help in case of emergency. The only help were a couple of signs, warning the anglers and divers of the danger in venturing too close to the edge of the cliff. The nearest ‘civilisation’, i.e. telephone, Police, shops, etc, was in Rosebud; about 32 km (20 miles) to the North, via a gravel road. Visitors coming to Cape Schanck were ‘on their own’.
The way leading to the tidal pools and rock fishing was a steep path winding between sand dunes, rocks and prickly seaside vegetation, creating an impression of total isolation.
Usually, the waters around Cape Schanck are turbulent and because there is a rocky islet protruding from the water in the vicinity of the Cape, the waves entering the ever narrowing passage and driven by the incoming tide and often strong southerly winds, pile up to frightening dimensions. This should always be taken into consideration when choosing a fishing or diving location. In fact, there were several instances in the past when anglers and sightseers had been washed off the rocks, resulting in some fatalities.
That particular morning, we left Williamstown (a Western, inner suburb of Melbourne) early and on arrival found the waters around the Cape resembling a large, almost perfectly flat pond, with just a hint of a gentle swell licking over the exposed rocks. The tide was at its lowest, the sky a clear blue with a faint dark line of cloud on the southern horizon.
The three of us ventured down the steep path leading to the rocky foreshore. We were accompanied by the ever-present seagulls. All around us were rocks, covered with barnacles and limpet shells, pieces of driftwood, various discarded shells and other ‘souvenirs’ left from the previous high tide. The many rock pools of crystal clear water, some big enough for swimming, contained sea creatures of both, animal and plant origin. Some ‘plants’ happened to be the beautiful, vivid red, sea anemone ‘in flower’, which would retract into their protective shells on sensing foreign presence. We could glimpse the angry electric blue of a disturbed blue ring octopus. Crabs were hiding under the rocks, while numerous small fish were darting from one hiding place to another amongst the various shades of green and brown seaweed.