Tuesday 3rd Nov
The wind was more intense during the night causing a pole or two in the Nelly/Kerry camp to drop. It was still pretty blowy in the morning but with a few brave determined divers we still headed out. We tried for a spot on the northern end of the island but the current was hopping so we doubled back to opposite camp and dived the 'House Reef'. Lots of finger ridges with sand between. Fairly shallow site, ranging form 4-8m, but as soon as we dropped in there was a large Beehive Coral Bommie with a HUGE turtle in it, mostly obstructed by bait fish though. As we drifted along we finally came across a Nudi or two and as Coralie and I stopped to play paparazzi the others went off and found a nice swim through cave.
We changed over and went straight back out for a second dive. We had sat for a little while and marked the swim through at the end of the last dive. When we left there was a fishing boat heading past us. They must have thought we found something good as they dropped their anchor right at the swim through, where we wanted to dive...... Plenty of reef, even with the wind blocking us from heading afar, so we dropped in about another 150m north. As soon as we dropped we saw a few Ray's but after taking a quick picture I noticed we were one short. Kristie was still on the surface as she forgot her weight pockets :o We've all been there before once or twice and she was quick to catch up.
The rest of the dive were even more stingrays, over a dozen in total. Not many Nudi this site, but we did manage a Flat Worm. 57min into the dive Kerry also found a juvenile white tip reef shark. Back on land for lunch and then I wondered down to the compressor to fill some tanks to find them already mostly done by Mitch and Chi. Unfortunately with the wind swinging around it seemed like the exhaust might have been blowing towards the intake as a few tanks tested high on the CO meter. We reset the intake on a different tree slightly higher up and refilled a few tanks until they were all testing 0. Mitch and I also filled the boat fuel tank used this morning, just about emptying out first 200lt Drum (on top of the ~190lt of fuel we had already used from jerry cans.)
The Moths have been really bad this trip, first time I have seen these on any of these URGQ island holidays. There is a distinct lack of Rails (ground bird) which I think is playing a part. None to eat the caterpillar. Making dinner is a challenge, being dive bombed by moths the whole time.
Wednesday 4th Nov
Talking about moths, we had a pan with a bit of scorched stew on the bottom soaking over night. By morning it was almost an inch thick with drowned moths, almost as bad in the washing up bucket.
A lot more reasonable start times now for dive as the high tide has moved later in the day. 730am we were floating the boat and making our way over to a 'Superman' (strong Current) 'Wall' dive at Tryon Island. It was neither strong current nor was there a wall, but it was a nice pleasant drift on a gentle slope. A few Sea Hares, Flat Worms, Nudibranchs and a huge Octopus to cap off the end of the dive.
Dive 2 we went off in search of a Bommie that's meant to be just South of the western end of North West Island. We couldn't find it after 10 min of putting around the mark so we gave up and went along the south wall again. Coralie and I went a bit deeper in search of the drop... it must be further west because all we found was a flat area at around 17m deep. Pretty nice dive though, more current than the Tryon dive. We saw a few Nudi's but the best find was a Black and White leopard spotted Moray Eel.
Back on land to put the boat to sleep for the night. Sitting pretty on it's tyres. SNR tried to organise a game of 500 but everybody was too busy relaxing instead. I went down to the boat when it was fully exposed to unscrew the bungs and release some of the water in the hull. Quite a bit ended up coming out so it was good to get it done. My battery has drained down a bit, running the inverter sucks a bit of juice, it's also the main drinks fridge so opened frequently and warm cans being placed back in. So I wheeled it down to the beach to catch some rays. By the end of the day it was still only 12.7 volts, not bad but I was hoping for over 13. After the housekeeping tasks I went to look at my diving photos from the day. My SD card didn't have any of today's photos. Back in the Camera and I couldn't see them either. The card had heaps of used space, so they were there somewhere... but after trying to find them a few different ways (including Kristie's iPad) I gave up and reformatted the card. Luckily I back up the photos every day! Disappointed I'll miss the photos from the Leopard Moray though.
Jeremy had been fishing with Pete for the day and caught a few fish including a 90cm Cobia, so he was able to cook up fresh fish for dinner. A few of us huddled around a radio to listen to State of Origin game. After the game I went back up the tree again to try send off a message to let people know I'm alive and get an updated weather report. Messages didn't want to go through but weather did... Sunday and Monday look //bad//
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| 900mm Cobia! |
Thursday 5th Nov
I was up in the morning to skipper the first dive over at Tryon Island. Same 'Superman Wall' as before. One group managed to drift the phenomenal distance of 50 meters from where I dropped them. The others managed about ~200m. Wind was picking up a bit so the ride back was a little lumpy. Quick turn around for the second dive and we discussed doing something closer but ventured out to Tryon once more. This time we were on the South-Eastern edge of the island, a little more sheltered from the wind. This site had a really good Coral Garden. Massive plate coral, probably the biggest I have ever seen. Looked fairly untouched as well, didn't see one anchor scar and couldn't pick any damage from previous divers.
Giselle has been practicing launching her Surface Marker Buoy (SMB). We launch them just before doing our safety stop so the Skipper on the boat can have an easier time finding us. She looked a little shakey at the start of the trip but is doing them really smoothly now. With the assistance of the SMB Alan R was waiting near us to surface and it was time to head home. Wind had picked up even more and the ride home wasn't very pleasant. It takes ~20min in good water, we took at least twice that. Quite a few waves splashing over the divers on the starboard side.
Just as we were coming in the channel Peter and the Fishing crew for the day were rounding the last corner to come in as well. Alan D caught the bad end of a wave and landed awkwardly causing a bit of pain. He apparently had a cracker of a day fishing though, by all accounts everyone on the boat did. Tonight was our second group dinner night, Pajama party. Everyone came dressed up to Sunset Drinks (which didn't include a sunset as it was too windy on the beach) and I think Bruce stole the show with his sexy little number. Dinner was great, as always, so many tasty meals to eat. A few rounds of dessert too.
Friday 6th Nov
Starts are getting later so Jeremy was cooking pancakes for us, with the girls helping with the whisking. Mid cook there were reports of a Turtle swimming around in our 'Swimming Pool' (a thigh deep sand lagoon at low tide.) The girls raced off down to the beach and were very excited to see it. First dive was out near the end of the 'Fish Tail' of the reef, as soon as we poked our head past the eastern extend it got really lumpy really fast. A few min pushing into the waves we turned tail ourselves and hid on the northern side of the reef. Site was called a generic "Tail 1" but we've renamed it Boulder City as there was three large boulders (and many smaller ones) and was a pretty good site overall. It was also Coralie's 700th dive!!
With the turn around time and a bit of bad chop we were a littler later back for dive 2 so we decided to drop somewhere really close at "Kristinas Cave." Named last trip over here for the large swim through under some structure. Found a new Nudi I've never seen before, a White Tip Reef shark was swimming around and a nice Epilep Shark was snoozing in a small hole. Fairly shallow dive but minimal current and rather plesant.
Back on the island for the afternoon and we started to get some card games going. 500 has been pretty popular this trip but we had a few extra players to join in so I suggested 'Presidents / Warlords and Scumbags / Arsehole' which seemed to go well, but we only had one round before it was time to get ready for Sunset drinks. Weather report came in ok for Saturday but it's looking more and more likely that Sun/Mon is out. We've planned for 3 dives in total, the later 2 being really close in.
Saturday 7th Nov
Lazy morning with Bacon and Eggs for breakfast before a late morning 945am Dive. I was skipper for the first and we went back to the Boulder site near the tail. Swell was definitely up a bit and a very short swell period which meant we were bashing into waves most of the trip out. Everyone jumped in for the dive but Giselle lost a weight pocket, which apparently had a pretty complicated procedure to put in which was difficult to explain/complete underwater. So while Mitch and Kristie held Giselle down they transferred weights from the weight pocket into the back BCD pocket.
I went out on the second dive back to Kristinas Cave and dropped in with Kristie and Coralie. I went to the task of setting the anchor to prevent damage to the reef and when I was done I couldn't see either of them anymore. I started the search procedure and half a minute later found Kristie coming down the line again. Coralie had a stuck inflator hose button and had to surface to fix it. In the process her camera came unclipped but luckily Kristie was nearby to see and scoop it up. Later in the dive Kristie also found a Snorkle that Graham had dropped overboard while gearing up. The dive was pretty good, despite the added excitement, with a few flat worms and a few new Nudis.
Back again for Dive 3 of the day, to just another close site on the House Reef. I think our average depth for the dive was 4.5m . . . Still wasn't too bad a dive; We saw a Persian Carpet Flat worm, Giant Green Moray, White Tip Reef shark and for most of the dive there was a large Humphead Wrasse stalking us just on the edge of visibility. Up the tree for the latest weather report and Sun/Mon still aren't looking amazing. 20-25kn winds and 2-2.5m swell. Both from an Easterly direction though so at least the 'House Reef' should be protected. Despite the weather prediction we still had enough keen divers for at least 2 dives to head out on Sunday.
Sunday 8th Nov
It was spitting a little this morning, though definitely not enough to call rain. We contemplated collecting Rainwater again for rinse buckets but the tarp has a healthy coating of bird poop now so we thought maybe not. Even on the protected side of the camp we can feel the effects of the strong winds from the other side of the island. It's actually a nice breeze down at camp at ground level but every now and then the tarp flaps up and the tops of the trees are definitely moving.
I'm off the hook for the 'morning' dive today (leaving at 11am) so plenty of time to start sorting some photos and start to tinker/organize gear for the mass packup. Jeremy and I emptied out a fridge to create a spare battery for charging. In this site (and not being near the panels to chase sun as I was on the boat) the battery had been struggling a little. Down on the beach now but, of course, it's an semi-overcast day. Started to gather some gear that had spread out over the last 1.5 weeks. ThermoCore hanging on someone else's line, clothes over the tent, main packing boxes with scattered gear and half full smaller containers that can be repacked. Stocktake on food (we had some fresh fish, so left over meals, extra Custard from the Firefighters etc and a few things we used more of than we thought we would.) I've finished the Cider right on time and have a few bourbons to tide me over to the end. Still have the emergency Scotch, but if we're doing House Reef dives with the bad weather it might remain untouched until a later trip.
Monday 9th Nov
With no planned dives for the day (just 3 'maybe' divers) it was a very relaxed morning and the last of the Bacon/Eggs were cooked up. Most of the morning was spent doing a tidy up of gear and some initial pre-packing to make the actually packup tomorrow a little easier. Water drums were decanted and empties rolled to the beach. Dive gear was set out to dry and lose nick-nacks that you always have camping were returned to their allocated position in boxes. We also decanted the last of the fuel drums into our Jerry Cans. Counting the boat Fuel tanks we have almost 275lt left over, which would have been easily consumed with good weather these last few days. When we had a few strong hands free we also moved the compressor from the bunker back to near the fuel depot. We'll move it onto the beach when we can see the barge.
Continued the slow pack in the afternoon consolidating boxes before enjoying an afternoon swim. One of the nearby campers were a little short on food for their next week on the island so we were able to pay it forward from the Firefighters group and pass on some extra safety meals we had which should keep them going. I took a few things closer to the beach including my table (which was going home with Graham) and my dive gear. When Kristie's and Jeremy's dive gear was dry I packed the drying rack and poles and carried it down as well. Every little bit I can do today is one less thing I have to carry tomorrow. Beside the table I'll also be retiring my camping chair (has served me well for over 10 years) and my Wet-suit which has developed even more holes this trip.
Tuesday 10th Nov
With the efforts made the day before there wasn't too much in our camp to get done. My tent was down before others had finished breakfast but the rest was left up a little longer. There was plenty of little bugs, cockroaches and quite a few Centipedes that scattered as soon as they were exposed to the light. Another negative about the lack of the little Rails was more bugs, and less excitement as they rush in to claim their feast.
The pack up for most of the other gear seemed to be going along well. Mitch/Chi/Giselle still had their tarp up for lunch which made a good spot to chill and have a rest. About 1pm we could just make out the barge as a dot on the horizon so the last of the water bottles were filled and the barrels emptied for transport. When it got closer we moved the fuel and empty barrels onto the beach along with all our camping gear we had lined up. It seemed to hang on the horizon for ages, then again hanging off the reef, like we had all the time in the world. When it starts to move in though, it's a mad dash to load!
Luckily we were the first group to be picked up. We had six crates to load and as it was the ones at the back there was often traffic jams. Once our entire crew was loaded the barge moved up the beach to pick up two other small groups. A few of them came down to help us so naturally the URGQ members with more endurance than most put in the effort to help them too. It was my task to retrieve Diver 1, which was now in very deep water because of high tide, and pack the anchors and be ready to load it onto the barge too. It's an interesting task carrying/swimming with the anchor, in water that's about 100mm over my head... They lowered the ramp and I drove it up and then we were on our way.
One of the other groups (picked up after us) had walked down the beach when the barge first came in. They pushed past Kristie and the kids to claim 'their spot' up stairs with mattresses taking up a 1/2 dozen seats... It wasn't too bad, still plenty of seats to go around. We also had a few kids beds setup in the middle, which took out about 12 seats too... We had managed to leave the island a little ahead of schedule but we were still late back to Gladstone. Getting in around 10:30 we stood around for the barge to be unloaded of crates first and then began repacking into trailers/cars/roof racks.
As the club trailer was out of action before the trip we loaded the compressor onto Bruce's truck... which left a little less room for the rest of our gear... Luckily there were a few people that could take the excess gear with them so we could sort it out in the morning. By the time we had finished rearranging gear it was midnight before we left the port.
Wednesday 11th Nov
It was only a short 15min drive to the hotel. I had a quick shower and went straight to bed. Most woke fairly early ready to start the day, some found it a difficult sleep... no wailing mutton birds to comfort them to sleep I guess!? Tracey and Kerry headed off in search of Coffee for everyone while others talked strategy. Gary and Marg fronted at the RACQ depot to find that they "didn't have time" !! in the two weeks! they had the trailer to change the tyres.
To much amusement and jokes in the group chat (I think that's the only way we could have coped) we pondered how long it normally takes to change two tyres... To their credit though, they were pretty efficient (while under the careful watch or Gary and Marg) that morning... It wasn't too long before they were able to get the trailer to the hotel and we could rearrange the excess gear for safe transport.
We set off shortly after the rest of the group but just overlapped for the lunch stop with a few others before everyone continued their journey home.
I would like to thank everyone again for all the massive efforts they put in to making the island trips viable. Props to Nelly for organising, Alan D for being the point man on the compressor, Gary and Mitch for their awesome help with Diver 1 duties, Skippers and Surface Watchers and all of us for all the extra little bits of help we offer everyday that add up to a really enjoyable trip away.
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