Talk:Diving in South Australia

creation of new article
Hi everyone, I have just created a page about Diving South Australia. I have divided SA into regions using the official SA Government regions & names and listed dive sites from the most northerly within a region with the following clarifications/exceptions - Yorke Peninsula sites start at the top of Gulf St Vincent, Kangaroo Island sites start at Penneshaw & go clockwise, Eyre Peninsula sites started at the top of Spencer Gulf & go to the WA border. At the moment, there are no regions for the coast from Port Broughton to Port Augusta and from Victor Harbor to Carpenters Rocks - I will attempt to add these later.Cowdy001 (talk) 02:38, 17 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Great! Shout if you want assistance with anything. Do you have any photos? I can help with maps if you can supply the data. &bull; &bull; &bull; Peter (Southwood) (talk): 07:20, 17 January 2013 (UTC)
 * It would be nice to upgrade from outline to usable topic and get rid of that rather unpleasant little comment at the bottom. This would require a bit of content in each section with a heading. If anyone can contribute or even indicate a reason why a particular section is unnecessary for this article, please give a hand here. &bull; &bull; &bull; Peter (Southwood) (talk): 08:28, 22 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Gulf St Vincent east coast (including Adelaide) has just been updated.Cowdy001 (talk) 04:02, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Minor re-organisation of diving regions.
Hi everyone, I have just revised the regions in which South Australia is divided up for this article. The revised regions follow below for your information:


 * Gulf St Vincent east coast (including Adelaide) - starts at the top of the ‘gulf’ & extends down to Sellicks Beach.
 * Fleurieu Peninsula - starts at Sellicks Beach and extends around the mouth of the River Murray.
 * Limestone Coast - now starts at the mouth of the River Murray and stops at the Victorian border.
 * Kangaroo Island - this region remains unchanged.
 * Yorke Peninsula - starts at the top of Gulf St Vincent and concludes at Port Broughton. This region includes the following islands - Wardang Island, the Althorpes Islands and the Gambier Group with the remainder of the islands in southern Spencer Gulf being placed in the Eyre Peninsula region.
 * Upper Spencer Gulf - starts at Port Broughton and currently concludes at Cowell (this endpoint may move north subject to the distribution of dive sites around Cowell).
 * Eyre Peninsula - starts at Cowell and stops at the Western Australian border. Cowdy001 (talk) 04:00, 27 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Hi Cowdy, is there any particular logic to your ordering of the regions? Cheers, &bull; &bull; &bull; Peter (Southwood) (talk): 09:48, 10 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Hi Peter, the original breakup was based on the regions used by Tourism South Australia. In the revised list, I have added the coast from Port Broughton to Port Augusta and from Victor Harbor to Carpenters Rocks along with some modifications.  The regions fit relatively well with how people actually dive in SA along with the main mode of travel used by divers (i.e. the passenger motor vehicle) and how these are marketed to tourists.  A detailed explanation follows.  Yorke Peninsula while it has coastlines facing Spencer Gulf, Gulf St Vincent and Investigator Strait, it is best treated as one region because it is a very popular weekend diving destination due to being an average of 2 hours drive from Adelaide, having a good range of suitably priced accommodation and having alternative sites on the lee side coast (i.e. a short drive to the other side) if the weather gets too windy.  It is also marketed as one tourist region due to its infrastructure and historical geography. The Upper Spencer Gulf region may appear to be at odds to the rationale behind the Yorke Peninsula region, but access to all of the dive sites is via Highway A1 and Road B12.  As a contrast, the Fleurieu Peninsula region has 2 coast lines that are best considered as separate regions for the purpose of diving (particularly as most of the roads connecting both coasts rise above an altitude of 300m) but all of the tourism promotional infrastructure sells it as one region.  Fleurieu Peninsula diving actually has several separate areas - Gulf St Vincent sites, Cape Jervis sites, Backstairs Passage sites and Victor Harbor sites.  Cowdy001 (talk) 10:03, 9 April 2013 (UTC)
 * Seems like a useful arrangement. &bull; &bull; &bull; Peter (Southwood) (talk): 10:15, 9 April 2013 (UTC)

Geographic coordinates formatting
I have formatted the coordinates by adding degree, minute and second symbols as appeared to be appropriate. Please check that I got it right and didnt format dms for d dec min or similar. &bull; &bull; &bull; Peter (Southwood) (talk): 17:49, 1 March 2013 (UTC)
 * I checked all and only found one that was formatted for seconds rather than minutes.Cowdy001 (talk) 20:42, 2 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks, that was pure typo. &bull; &bull; &bull; Peter (Southwood) (talk): 07:42, 3 March 2013 (UTC)

Information transfer for developing a dive site map
Hi Peter (Southwood), Thanks for the email. Of the options you advised for information transfer, I think I will use the talk page for the most of the transfer. This created a trail that others can see, to comment on and use as guidance for ongoing maintenance of the article. I have prepared a number of google maps for your use in developing the map. Wikivoyage SCUBA SA regions (refer http://goo.gl/maps/BlTpL) - this shows the extent of the regions used in the article. The rationale is discussed in my previous posts. SA dive sites (refer http://goo.gl/maps/9ca8f) - this show sites for which I (& most people) have not obtained lat & long via GPS because these are easy to locate. This information supplements the locations already listed in the article. At the moment, I have focused on the east coast of Gulf St Vincent and jetty sites elsewhere. I will progressively add to this map. CDAA sites (refer http://goo.gl/maps/ODOvG) - this shows locations (appropriate in some cases) of sites that the CDAA has access agreements in addition to Ewens Ponds and 3 sites that are currently closed. The only site missing is Hann’s Cave whose location is not known to me or available online. There are other sites that either permanently closed (i.e. the Death Cave) or just not dived for other reasons. Cowdy001 (talk) 20:33, 2 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Great, looking into it now. Is there a way of getting coordinates from a marked position on Google maps? &bull; &bull; &bull; Peter (Southwood) (talk): 07:43, 3 March 2013 (UTC)
 * According to Google; "If you're browsing Google Maps and want to know the coordinates of a location, just right-click on the map and select What's here?. The coordinates will automatically pop up in the search box." I tried and it works! This means I will be able to add coordinates when expanding the description for each site.Cowdy001 (talk) 10:46, 3 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Stanvac Barge 1 position indicates it is inland. Please check coordinates, probably should be E138&deg;24.637' &bull; &bull; &bull; Peter (Southwood) (talk): 08:51, 3 March 2013 (UTC)
 * I checked the source and several other websites; I don't have a personal GPS record for this site. At this stage, I would agree with the 34 actually being 24. There is a description of the relationship of the 3 barges at  | Ships graveyards - Port Stanvac while a side scan sonar image showing the layout of the site on the following download - | SAURIAN & TWO TELFOR BARGES.  The latter unfortunately does not have a north point  - the left hand side of the page should be NE while the right side should be SW if the description is correct. Cowdy001 (talk) 10:46, 3 March 2013 (UTC)

Maps ready for addition of dive site positions and other data
The basic regional maps have been prepared and are ready to add the dive site locations and any other information that should be put on them. Site locations will be added by region when there are enough to be worth the effort (when all or most from a region have the coordinates listed). Suggestions for other information (towns etc) requested. Detail extracts can be made for sub-regions if the map is not sufficiently clear. Cheers, &bull; &bull; &bull; Peter (Southwood) (talk): 16:42, 10 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Hi Peter, I will send an email with a list of what I think needs to be done nextCowdy001 (talk) 23:34, 9 April 2013 (UTC)

Dry suit repair
Why is this not applicable? Does no-one in South Australia dive in a dry suit? Or do all the dry suit owners do their own repairs? &bull; &bull; &bull; Peter (Southwood) (talk): 10:14, 12 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Hi Peter, No one does drysuit repairs in SA. Mine always get sent to Melbourne for seal replacement.Cowdy001 (talk) 07:56, 9 April 2013 (UTC)
 * Fair enough. &bull; &bull; &bull; Peter (Southwood) (talk): 10:09, 9 April 2013 (UTC)

Upgrade to “Get help” section
Hi everyone, I have upgraded the “Get help” section as follows. Firstly, a “caution box” has been added to highlight that ambulance and medical services are not free in South Australia. For example, as of today, an “emergency call out” for an ambulance will cost at least $AUD918 (please refer Ambulance fees as of July 2015). Secondly, under the heading “In case of emergency“, new section named “Triple zero telephone service” has been added along with the following from elsewhere after upgrading - the “DES hotline” and “Sea rescue” sections. Thirdly, under heading “Non-emergency matters”, the “Police” section has been upgraded while the “Ambulance service” and “Emergency services” section has been removed. In particular, the {http://www.ses.sa.gov.au/site/home.jsp South Australian State Emergency Service (SES)], despite its all embracing name, is a volunteer service that is principally concerned with “storm and flood relief“ and will only assist with emergencies involving recreational divers under the guidance of the Police. Regards Cowdy001 (talk) 23:16, 27 January 2016 (UTC)