I was obtaining my Advanced open water certification during this trip, so our first dive down was our introduction to boat diving. We set up our gear on the deck and struggled into wet suits, strapped in, signed out, and giant stride-ed off the metal platform to our fist dive of the trip. We were greeted with a strong current that made us burn through our air supplies and gave us little time to enjoy the wreck. After ascending and waiting for a surface interval of an hour, we got back in to find the current had dropped off, giving us an incredible opportunity to see just what was living on the wreck. Highly poisonous sea snakes glided gracefully from one point to another. 2 huge bull rays, at least 5ft across flew above us and a grouper the size of a VW beetle sat beneath the bow. Trigger and bat fish swam through forests of tube worms and fan corals which sprouted from every point along the wreck.
It was incredible, breathtaking, inspiring, there are no words. We leveled off at 18m (~60ft) and explored the wreck until we hit 120bar left in our tanks and had to start the journey back.
(PSA. penetrating wrecks is not only dangerous for untrained divers, its also bad for the wrecks! not only is the Yongala a maritime grave, which is one reason no one should ever enter, but it is very delicate. Your bubbles get stuck inside her and speed corrosion, and you may disturb marine life. Archeologist may also be working on the wreck, so don't touch things!)
We then set off on the 3 hour boat ride to Little Broadhurst Reef.
Little Broadhurst reef is a beautiful dive. (unfortunately, my camera crapped out on me for this dive so no pictures.) Swim throughs, runs between huge coral walls, creating a maze like feeling that makes it a lot of fun to explore. Our first dive here was a fun dive, with no particular learning objectives. My dive buddy, Tom, and I took the opportunity to explore the vast, somewhat shallow reef. We started with a simple plan. go in one side and follow the swim throughs in a rough U shape. As soon as we descended however, all plans were forgotten. We saw a large green turtle and a small reef shark cruising the edges of the reef. Huge soft corals and sea cucumbers dotted the ground and clung to small outcroppings of rock and old coral faces. Tube worms seemed to grow from every sandy spot and fish darted all around us. After about half an hour of exploring the maze of corals and corralling fish through the swim throughs, we realized we were starting to get low on air. It was at this point that we also realized we were incredibly lost. With no workable compass heading and stuck in the middle of the reef, we mimed at each other until we came to a consensus that one direction seemed better than all the others, crossed our fingers, and swam out of the reef. It was a great relief to both of us when we reached the surface and saw we had come up on the correct side of the corals.
Little Broadhurst is also where we completed our night dive for our advanced qualification. After dinner, we suited up and jumped into a world lit by moonlight and phosphorescence. Every stir of the water kicked up bioluminescent bacteria that shined green and then disappeared. It was like watching a kid with a sparkler, each movement outlined and left with an after image. We swam back to the reef, shining our lights across the bottom in an attempt to spot anything unique to the night scene of a reef. The first creature of the night was a small octopus moving from one coral island to another. It was quickly followed by an epaulette shark (which looks like this) and some iridescent lobsters clinging to the reef, their eyes shining in the light from our torches. The real star of the night however was a sleeping parrot fish. Parrotfish are interesting because at night they excrete a protective mucus cocoon to prevent parasites from feeding on them (for more information on Parrotfish cocoons, go here). It was fascinating how much a landscape could change simply by turning off the lights.
We went to sleep that evening, exhausted, but excited for the next day, when we would be diving Wheeler Reef. A deeper reef that was absolutely beautiful.
Little Broadhurst is also where we completed our night dive for our advanced qualification. After dinner, we suited up and jumped into a world lit by moonlight and phosphorescence. Every stir of the water kicked up bioluminescent bacteria that shined green and then disappeared. It was like watching a kid with a sparkler, each movement outlined and left with an after image. We swam back to the reef, shining our lights across the bottom in an attempt to spot anything unique to the night scene of a reef. The first creature of the night was a small octopus moving from one coral island to another. It was quickly followed by an epaulette shark (which looks like this) and some iridescent lobsters clinging to the reef, their eyes shining in the light from our torches. The real star of the night however was a sleeping parrot fish. Parrotfish are interesting because at night they excrete a protective mucus cocoon to prevent parasites from feeding on them (for more information on Parrotfish cocoons, go here). It was fascinating how much a landscape could change simply by turning off the lights.
We went to sleep that evening, exhausted, but excited for the next day, when we would be diving Wheeler Reef. A deeper reef that was absolutely beautiful.
30m of visibility made our advanced qualification deep dive the most incredible dive I have ever experienced. It was like swimming though an aquarium. We descended to 26m (86ft), the point where red looks like a muddy brown
and orange, a mustard yellow, and settled on a field of white sand. We
were greeted by a little spotted ray, did a bit of practice with our
dive computers, and proceeded to explore. We saw a whole school of
extremely rare humphead (or bumphead) parrotfish (go here to learn more about this incredible species of fish!). Huge colorful hard corals extended above and around us. My favorite part however, was when we found a wrasse cleaning station. Wrasse are small parasite eating fish which set up places on reefs where other fish can come to be cleaned. It was so exciting, I must have sat there for 5min just watching these little fish fly all over two bigger ones who just hung above the reef, like two women in a beauty salon. (go here to learn more).
I had so much fun on the first dive, I couldn't wait the full hour surface interval to get back in the water and went for a short snorkel adventure with a few friends.
Our second dive here was significantly less exciting. Met with an incredibly strong current, we attempted to complete the navigation portion of our advanced certification. Swimming a box has never been more difficult. The current also killed the visibility, cutting it in half. We quickly burned through our tanks, and called for a pick up, too tired to swim the 100m back to the boat against the current. We shed our gear and suits and said goodby to the reefs, settling down for the 7 hour trip back to Townsville. If that wasn't exciting enough however, we got to see a baby blue whale just before pulling into port. I poked its nose out of the water several times, swimming toward and away from us for the better part of an hour. It was the best possible ending to the most incredible trip i have ever been on.
thanks to
for info and diagram of the Yongala
http://www.wannadive.net
and
http://www.superyachtsqueensland.com/cruising-destinations/the-great-barrier-reef/townsville/wheeler-reef-dive-site/
for maps
and Maddie Roth
for pictures of Wheeler Reef
http://www.wannadive.net
and
http://www.superyachtsqueensland.com/cruising-destinations/the-great-barrier-reef/townsville/wheeler-reef-dive-site/
for maps
and Maddie Roth
for pictures of Wheeler Reef
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