Quick Stats:
4 dives
Max Depth 25m
Temp 27°c
Vis 10-15m
Album https://imgur.com/a/DBxrAFh
I had an RDO on the Friday so I was able to get a head start on the drive up, hopefully beating the mass migration north for the long weekend. First I had to swing by Ozaquatec and grab my twins that were just in for Hydro then off to the club house to pick up the boat. I arrived to find that Anton had already swung by to grab the compressor and also went to town with the whipper-snipper on some of the grass that was looking more like a jungle. I hit all the smaller ones in the rocks and cracks in the pavement with poison and then hooked up the boat and was on my way.
Drive up was thankfully uneventful, just a little delay due to traffic at the road works for the Mooloolabah turn off. Towing the boat with the Auto Dmax definitely makes a difference in both drive quality and fuel consumption though :o It wasn't too long though until I arrived at the Accom in Bundy to find the Gary's unpacking. Everyone else trickled in shortly after and some of us headed out for dinner. We went to a pub for a few drinks then onto RiverLife (Food Van / Truck setup, like Eat Street Markets) which had some good food options including a really tasty burger.
The next morning we met Michael and Justin with their boat at the Winfield Rd ramp and headed out Baffel Creek. Winding through the creek to the mouth and crossing a wide, but not to treacherous, bar crossing. It was then 20km bashing into tall easterly swell all the way. About half way out we had a visit from the police in their boat. One jumped on board and went over all the usuals (Jackets, EPIRB, Flares etc) and took my details down. He asked if we were a commercial operation in about 5 different ways (Commercial boats require additional qualifications) before hopping off and onto Sly's boat for much the same questions. It took just over an hour all up before we got to the wreck. I started to feel a little seedy after the police stop, I took a kwell but it proved to be too late.
Luckily we had Sly and Justin there as our Karma mark was about 70m off, they dropped pick and hit it in one go, while we circled over top to ensure they were on the mark and update our own. We tethered off to their boat and the first wave of divers jumped in. The surface was rocky and as we were tethered a little jerky. Not too long into the first wave I had to jump in the water to cool down but even the swell on the surface tipped me over the edge and I chundered. it's good for attracting fish life. As Nelly setup her gear air started rushing out, bummer, I think the final diagnosis was the catch O-Ring was missing from her DIN insert. With another tank and borrowed regs in case she was good to go.
 |
| Photo by Kristie Ford |
Well me being sick must have worked because the others came back with reports of Dolphins, Turtles, masses of fish life and even a Hammer Head Shark! Despite feeling like breakfast wanted to say hello again I quickly donned my gear and jumped in. Feeling 100% better before I had even finished my descent. There were heaps of schools of fish all over the wreck, at least 4 green turtles, Bull Rays, Leopard Rays, Some other big gray Ray's (with semi-pointy nose, know what they are?) all buzzing about. One of the newest attractions on the wreck was a couple of grands worth of trawler net. Lots of wire and long, long stretches of very expensive and heavy gauge, stainless chain.
A few people came back with shiny shackles and some chain on a lift bag, but a lot of the rest requires tools to recover. I wonder if that would count as a clean-up project? Back on deck and the others went down again. It wasn't long before I started to feel sick again opting to spend my surface time in the water. The others got back again, no shark or dolphins this time but still a good dive. I must have been a little slower gearing up and I was ready to hurl again before I was ready to backwards roll into the water. I held it together long enough to be in the water but couldn't hold it any more, good thing regs have purge buttons right!?
I threw up twice more on the descent before I was feeling good, switched over to my alt 2nd stage and tried to rinse off my primary a little before clipping it off, hoping to not need it for a buddy this dive... Another great dive with lots of fish, rays etc. Couple of Nudi's too, but all the same (black with yellow spots) type. Few Hermit crabs too hiding in the wreck.
I was still a bit off colour when back on the boat so Jeremy took the helm and took us in safely back to the ramp. Back on dry land and, after some cool water, I was feeling fine. We stripped down gear and headed off down the road to a quiet pull-out area to run the compressor and refill tanks. The Gary's offered to stay behind and do the tank duty while the rest of us headed back, thanks guys!
Dinner was a shared BBQ (minus the BBQ, we had to cook in the kitchen) with shared salads. A lot of salad... On top of all the biscuits/cheese etc we had for afternoon tea. All wonderful food, but I think Judy F's Mushroom sauce won the night. Nelly also gave us very good insight to the lack of quality in the steak from the foodworks across the road.
It wasn't too long before most headed off to bed, ready for another big day tomorrow. Tide was slightly later so we arranged for 15min (as we were probably just a tad later than ideal on Saturday) and got to the ramp with the mud flats in the creek exposed. I made sure to take a couple of Kwells before I even set foot on the boat today. We geared up and got moving, only 4 divers on Diver 1 today so plenty spacious. Trip out was still fairly rough, probably not as bad because the wind was a bit lower so the swell was rolling more (seemed like a larger swell interval as well) but it was still pretty big so we took it slow.
We anchored off separately today, we had 3 goes throwing out the anchor before we hooked solid and the others got it on their 2nd or 3rd as well. First in the water this time we got down to find the chain over the crane boom and the rope just scraping on the top edge of it. So I moved the anchor up and secured it for our dives. Right in the hull of the Karma was a pretty decent Nurse shark hanging about on the bottom. I then took off with Kristie into the blue a bit for the chance of some bigger pelagics (I wanted to see that Hammer Head!) and saw 2 Cobia shooting off into the blue. Again lots of schools of various fish all over the wreck and lots of big Rays. Less turtles today but still a few Nudis. There was also a huge Guitar Shark (Shovel Nosed Ray) cruising about looking for a spot to come to rest.
Second dive was more of the same with the notable sightings of a few Spotted Eagle Rays and massive Leopard Rays. We found some other rubbish (Snorkel, dive reel etc) to clean up before circling around the wreck again. As it sits at about 25m in depth it's pretty easy to accrue some deco. We were last from our boat to head back up so I also had to go a bit deeper to ensure the anchor was free and easy to retrieve, adding a few more minutes to my counter. Hanging out in the blue, with hardly/no current is pretty cool though. Vis wasn't good enough to see much but there were plenty of these little jelly fish things, all chained up in 'snakes' Kristie also spotted a Black Tip Reef Shark cruising about and was able to point it out to me before it swam off.
Ride back with the wind and waves was a little more pleasant. Justin had recovered a bit more chain, which was weighting down the front of their boat a little so they were taking it nice and easy to ensure they got back safely. It wasn't too much longer though before we were over the Bar and back at the ramp. No more diving so no need for tank duty today we said our goodbyes and headed back our house.
After cleaning all our dive gear and hosing down the boat we enjoyed some more snack food and a few drinks before everyone sorted something for dinner (there was still leftover salad.) Kristina and I enjoyed a good game of catch (with a small-ish beach ball) which had about 7 rule changes before eventually evolving into a Soccer match, she has a pretty decent kick on her! It wasn't a very late night either most people making it to bed around 8:30-9 and a few stragglers staying up until almost 10. Diving is hard work...
I didn't have much to pack up in the morning but I hung around for breakfast and a little bit longer before heading off just before 8. More fuel (both in my truck and the Boat tanks) before setting off home, hopefully avoiding most of the Public Holiday traffic. There were a few congested bits at the usual locations (Beerburrum) but it was only ~1hr of delays, not bad for SOBO on the Bruce HWY on a public holiday weekend! Back to the club house I flushed the engine and gave the boat another quick rinse before eventually getting home.
No comments:
Post a Comment