Ayr and diving at Yongala wreck

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Went to tiny village of Ayr to go diving at the Yongala wreck which is yet another one of Australias greatest dive sites 😉
It's only 40 minute boat ride from Alva beach, where I stayed, to the wreck and stayed at the dive company night before and after to be fully rested.
The Yongala dive site is famous for its big and even huge fish, but unfortunately the visibility underwater was only 12 meters due to strong currents.

I did 2 dives and the for the first time I experienced really strong currents. We went down along a rope to the wreck located at 20-30 meters depth.
At the same time I saw the wreck, I also saw a huge manta ray with a 4 meter wingspan 😊 It was still in the current and slowly started to fly around us and went back to its place at the top of the wreck. Good first impression of the Yongala!
We left the safety of the rope to swim along the side of the wreck that was protected from the current, but still it I had to paddle hard with my feet and at 25 meters depth it ment I was using up my air like there was no tomorrow.
Due to bad visibility I didn't see as much fish as I hoped for, but everything I saw were huge versions of the fish from the great barrier reef.
Midway along the wreck I noticed a huge shadow just outside my range of visibility, but it seemed to be a 2 meter long maori wrass or something. Nice fish for a home aquarium 😉
At the end of the wreck we went to the other side into the full strength of the current and quickly floated bad to the other end and the rope and with the little air left did 2 safety stops on the way up.

For my second dive I was prepared for the current and managed to stay more calm and hide from the current more and use less air. Sadly my dive buddy had gotten seasick during the dives and had to abort just before she went under so I ended up diving without a buddy :/ Due to safety reasons it is always good to have a buddy if something bad happens! We were however diving in groups so had safety still.
During my second time I saw a sea snake, although it could have been a murain eel, since the visibility was not the best 😉
When it was time to turn back at the end of the wreck I managed to change groups since the other groups instructor was waving me to come, so I thought he was in my group. When I went there and didn't recognize the faces, which is quite difficult with mask and regulators, I thought I might as well stay with them for safety since it wouldn't be good to go drifting in the current alone.

All went well, but the safety margins were not the best for the 2 dives, since as I remember I had after my first dive 20 bars or air left and after 2nd 30 bars. I've been tough to surface with preferably 50 bars and at least 35 bars of air.

Unfortunately no photos from the diving, so will show some of the dive company dorms and Alva beach, which was just mud and dangerous due to crocodiles 😉

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Photos

The muddy Alva beach
It felt very strange and gross to walk in the mud

Dive boat
Looks like guy is blowing it up, but it was actually constantly deflated at the left side in the rear.

Back at dorm after diving
Diving make you very sleepy

Comments

[judy]

What is this about crocs ? no crocks here at Alva .

[Tompai]

Crocs
I think there was a river flowing out into the ocean and someone at the beach warned about crocs or thats what we thought since it's usually a problem up north. Either way, the mud didn't really invite for a swim ;)