South Coast's Woebegone free divers get you close with whales, seals

Lara and Dylan Hindmarsh are inspiring people from the ages of six to 76 to let their woes be gone and be one with nature with their free diving experiences and courses in and around Jervis Bay.

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Seals, sharks and caves are on offer to explore, while some dives can involve swimming alongside 12-metre long creatures.

"We still have to abide by the mercy of the conservation [laws] but the idea is we find a whale that's interested in us and then I drop the divers off and take the boat away," Dylan said.

It is still illegal for divers or swimmers to actively approach a whale and try and touch them, but Dylan and Lara's Woebegone dive experiences have had a licence to get close for several years.

"We've had a lot of training on how to interact with marine mammals in the water and how to drive a boat safely around mammals," Lara said, noting in October they had four curious humpback whales check them out.

"A 12-metre animal coming over to say 'hi', is pretty incredible."

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She said the whales hung around for an extended period of time, playing beneath the group flapping their fins, turning around and upside down.

It's a spectacular line of work for the happy couple, who met while working in a Wollongong cafe 12 years ago.

"Lara had just came back from South Africa and she had this crazy perm and was just really dark [tanned]," Dylan said.

"I thought she was some kind of like exotic goddess, but she was actually from Gerringong."

The pair began their "dive journey" together and have travelled the world for scuba diving since.

It was an extended trip to Mexico where the pair fell in love with free diving (no equipment except snorkels and fins) and further in love with marine life.

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Watching how "eco tourism" helped other areas gave them "hope" to be able to make a living working in harmony with nature, while conservation has also become a big part of what they do.

Dylan said they saw sandy beaches in Costa Rica filled "waist-high with plastic", so drastically different from the pristine beaches of home where beach cleanups were common and initiatives like Take 3 for the Sea (picking up three bits of rubbish).

"It was just really confronting," he said.

"Over there there's no-one picking it up, whereas here, there's people constantly picking up trash."

Whether they are taking a weekend group snorkelling around whales or seals, or running after-school classes, instilling conservation principals around the ocean and its environment is important to the duo.

"We really want to introduce as many people as possible - not just to the ocean back to the Jervis Bay marine park - so that really excites us," Lara said.

In and around the bay divers can find sponge gardens, kelp forests, giant boulders, caves, an array of fish, dolphins, sharks, rays, mammals, birds, crustaceans and more.

Australian Community Media was lucky enough to experience their "above and below" dive experience with seals off the coast of Jervis Bay, and learnt much about the creatures of the deep as well as cultural significance of different places.

We met the tour group at Wollamia Boat Ramp, about an hour south of Shellharbour, and boarded the boat with around 14 others.

We sailed out through Jervis Bay, out to the open waters with the cliff edges of the mainland behind us and the horizon of purely open water and its inhabitants.

Our guides explained how Jervis Bay came to be and how it has an abundance of caves you could explore, while the often feared creatures from below - sharks - have been swimming around the earth longer than dinosaurs walked on land.

We then venture around to the Drum and Drumsticks to frolic with the the northern most permanent seal colony.

While people do liken them to dogs, us divers are reminded not to touch despite their cuteness as they might try and bite your hand off.

Everyone suits up with a five-millimetre-thick wetsuit encouraged (these can be supplied or BYO), weight belts, snorkels and flippers put on.

Splash!

Lara told me it was her first encounter with seals about 12 years ago that changed her life and set her career course.

"That was just a really life-changing experience to have wild animals want to come up and interact with you in their own environment," she said.

"I still remember that first time that I did that myself, so it's nice to take our customers there and they get to have that same experience."

Woebegone take snorkel tours around Jervis Bay year-round either at the beaches or on the boat. No tour is ever the same as sea creatures and the time of year will determine what you see - from whales to seals, sharks and other sea life.

They also take dive courses to teach people the art of free diving as well as the skills needed to hold their breath for extended periods so to explore.

Ocean School classes for children and teens are also held in Shellharbour, Ulladulla, Callala and Jervis Bays during school terms.

And for tiny tots aged two to six they run a "stingaree" program to help youngsters build confidence in the water and learn to snorkel.

https://www.woebegone.com.au/

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