rimski
Registered
Hi all,
Booked the Yongala trip a week after returning from a great week on the Undersea Explorer in the Ribbon Reefs area north of Port Douglas. Booking through Diving Dreams in Townsville. Trip plan fly from Sydney Friday morning, finalise booking at Diving Dreams, sail overnight from Townsville, 4 reef dives on Wheeler Reef, 2 early morning dives on Yongala Sunday morning. Sunday arvo steam back to Townsville. Monday return to Sydney.
Well the best laid plans......
Got to Townsville and turns out that new retail manager had been trying to contact me for weeks (unsuccessfully) to say the boat was out of the water - urgent engine repairs.
So with 4 hours before sail time what would they come up with? We ended up agreeing to relocate to a boat that had been chartered by the dive group of James Cook University for the weekend - same route, same dives. We were forewarned that the boat wasn't exactly plush, but it was the dive schedule that we were most interested in so said ok.
The boat - Hero - was about as basic as 20 metre boats get - one shower for 20 or so on board, no comfortable outdoor space. Food was equallly tight. Not typical GBR liveaboard standards. But this was a student's charter so in the circumstances bearable for less than 48 hours.
The boat might have been ordinary but the diving was anything but. Wheeler reef provides plenty of very healthy coral and marine life. Plenty of diverse seascapes - ranging from multiple bommies rising from sand floor, through to deep and shallow channels (those 5 metre deep sand channels near the reef flat are so much like being in a very opulent home aquarium). The very low tide exposed very pretty sand cay in the reef flat.
Overnight steam from Wheeler to Yongala. In spite of wind being less than 15 knots the wreck lies in unsheltered water so it's important to stock up on the seesick tabs. The Yongala is exceptional diving. Shelter in the middle of a sand plain whose currents arrract a huge variety of fish and predators. Fanstastic huge travally guide you down the bow line at around 12 metres. The notable attendees are lots of light brown large sea snakes, 2 metre turtles, and thousands of soft corals. There are reputedly regular tiger and bull sharks sightings, big rays (none on our dives), plus plenty of big potato cod. A dive site that well deserves its reputation.
Overall the dives were brilliant and are definitely worth doing if you are GBRing. The reason that most operators do the 4 reef then 2 Yongala approach is because the Yongala is considered sometimes tricky due to currents. The reef then acts as a reorientation day for people who mightn't have dived for a while. On our dive there was almost no current at all. And we would have been happy to have done 3 day dives on the Yongala and a night dive. If you are keen to spend more time on the Yongala the suggestion is to organise a group that is happy to go straight onto the wreck. There are 3 day dives operating from Townsville that leave Monday and return Thursday.
This was a great long weekend trip.
Some pics here
www.joshraymond.com
Booked the Yongala trip a week after returning from a great week on the Undersea Explorer in the Ribbon Reefs area north of Port Douglas. Booking through Diving Dreams in Townsville. Trip plan fly from Sydney Friday morning, finalise booking at Diving Dreams, sail overnight from Townsville, 4 reef dives on Wheeler Reef, 2 early morning dives on Yongala Sunday morning. Sunday arvo steam back to Townsville. Monday return to Sydney.
Well the best laid plans......
Got to Townsville and turns out that new retail manager had been trying to contact me for weeks (unsuccessfully) to say the boat was out of the water - urgent engine repairs.
So with 4 hours before sail time what would they come up with? We ended up agreeing to relocate to a boat that had been chartered by the dive group of James Cook University for the weekend - same route, same dives. We were forewarned that the boat wasn't exactly plush, but it was the dive schedule that we were most interested in so said ok.
The boat - Hero - was about as basic as 20 metre boats get - one shower for 20 or so on board, no comfortable outdoor space. Food was equallly tight. Not typical GBR liveaboard standards. But this was a student's charter so in the circumstances bearable for less than 48 hours.
The boat might have been ordinary but the diving was anything but. Wheeler reef provides plenty of very healthy coral and marine life. Plenty of diverse seascapes - ranging from multiple bommies rising from sand floor, through to deep and shallow channels (those 5 metre deep sand channels near the reef flat are so much like being in a very opulent home aquarium). The very low tide exposed very pretty sand cay in the reef flat.
Overnight steam from Wheeler to Yongala. In spite of wind being less than 15 knots the wreck lies in unsheltered water so it's important to stock up on the seesick tabs. The Yongala is exceptional diving. Shelter in the middle of a sand plain whose currents arrract a huge variety of fish and predators. Fanstastic huge travally guide you down the bow line at around 12 metres. The notable attendees are lots of light brown large sea snakes, 2 metre turtles, and thousands of soft corals. There are reputedly regular tiger and bull sharks sightings, big rays (none on our dives), plus plenty of big potato cod. A dive site that well deserves its reputation.
Overall the dives were brilliant and are definitely worth doing if you are GBRing. The reason that most operators do the 4 reef then 2 Yongala approach is because the Yongala is considered sometimes tricky due to currents. The reef then acts as a reorientation day for people who mightn't have dived for a while. On our dive there was almost no current at all. And we would have been happy to have done 3 day dives on the Yongala and a night dive. If you are keen to spend more time on the Yongala the suggestion is to organise a group that is happy to go straight onto the wreck. There are 3 day dives operating from Townsville that leave Monday and return Thursday.
This was a great long weekend trip.
Some pics here
www.joshraymond.com
