Diving the Great Barrier Reef

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We had considered diving/snorkeling the Great Berrier Reef (GBR), up at Port Douglas as it's the closest point to the GBR. However, our time up there was spent doing other things so we didn't get the chance. On the road back down the coast we decided to call in at a tourist info centre to try and book a dive/snorkel trip on the route down. We managed to find two places on a boat leaving Townsville for a 3 day liveaboard reef and wreck dive, so we put our foot down and cracked out the k's to make the boat which they'd kindly held back for us.

The GBR is of course, stunning. We spent a day out on a reef with a sand cay, that is a little sand island that rises out of the ocean at low tide. It's amazing to be out in the iddle of the ocean and see the crystal clear blue waters and coral, and be able to walk on to an island.

We also spent another day at a large reef where we anchored the boat and the divers went off (D dives, I snorkel - can't stand being under water for too long, strange but true). Each day D did four dives and on the last day two dives. He saw the most amaxzing aray of marine life he's ever seen, but the highlight was the wreck dive on the last day.

The wreck was the S.S. Yongala which sank off the Townsville coast in 1911. The Yongala story is tragic but suffice to say, all lives were lost, and the ship lay on the ocean floor until it was discovered by chance in the 1950s.

The dive is renowned as the the best wreck dive in Australia, partly because the Yongala lies in the middle of a shipping lane, on the sandy ocean floor, therefore the wreck is like an oasis in the desert for marine life. D did a dawn dive and a second morning dive. The dawn dive was the best dive he has ever done. The amount of marine life was staggering and the fish, turtles and sea snakes get so close to you, they almost touch. He also saw whit tip sharks and other creatures, that whilst can be deadly, are not interested in divers as there's just too much food around for them on the Yongala.

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Photos

Free Diving
Dan is to the right on the photo