Location: Whitsunday Islands - Carins
Date: 22th May ......
Today we drove to Ayr to pick up our school books. Yup we are to be tested on our nitrox diving skills tomorrow so that means we have to do some studying! In the evening we find a nice camping nearby and immediately hit the books.
Te next day it is an early start for us because next to fulfilling our Nitrox course ( a different of blend of oxygen you use when diving) we are also diving to the Yongala. Only the most beautiful wreck in Australia (so we have been told).
"The S.S. YONGALA sank in a cyclone on the 23rd March 1911 and remained undiscovered for almost 50 years, not being positively identified until 1958. The wreck now lies on its starboard side in 14-28 metres of water and at 109m long is the largest and most intact, historic shipwreck in Australian waters.
She sank just 12 nautical miles off the coast of Cape Bowling Green in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park with the loss of all 122 passengers. Exactly what happened we will never know – although research indicates the vessel was steaming, the fact no life rafts were found indicate the loss of the Yongala was sudden and tragic. "
It is a no touch wreck which means you can’t go in it but there is enough to see from the outside. One of the main reasons of the “no touch” rule is because this ship went down so fast taht it took all its passengers on board with her. 122 bodies were recovered and their final resting place will always remain the ship. At the moment there is a spot ( i believe the bow) where they have bagged the remains and given them a final resting place. Another good reason is to preserve the wild life ofcourse. The area around the yongala is a green zone ( and this zone is pretty big) this means no fishing and no mooring with anchors ( there are special spots for the diveboats). The sea life is absolutely B-U-TI-FUL! .
Due to Cyclone Yasi earlier this year more of the ship has become visible as well ( before that it was completely overgrown with corals) which is really nice you can actually see it is a wreck.
Well what did we see:
A seriously big groper ( think 3 times my size), king fish ( very similar looks to sharks),
HUGE marble ray, millions of fish, colourful corals, great travelli’s ( ugly big fish), a wreck ;), sea snakes ( they paid a visit to us regularly and are 10 times more venomous than a sea snake!) and a big ass turtle and another curious turtle (it swam right up to us!).
These video’s will show a bit of our experience:
Sea snake & Remco
Turtle & Remco
The sea was very choppy coming out and in so for the unfortunate seasick people, some did see their breakfast on return ( yuk). Thankfully Remco and myself were all good! :)
This was definitely a dive i will NEVER EVER forget.. oh and we are also officially Nitrox certified!.... Whoop Whoop!
More pics here:
Current Location : Port Douglas
Ayo Marrem
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