August 4: Not Wrecked At Yongala
Geared up in my Shark Skin and wetsuit on the stern of my chartered boat bouncing up and down on choppy seas with cold saltwater spraying me in the face as I headed towards the world famous Yongala Wreck, I couldn’t decide if it was crazy or courageous of me to take on such a deep dive just a few days after obtaining my PADI certification. Boy, am I glad I did!
Following a 7:30 am pre dive check the other tour participants and I walked across the wet sandy beach and waded through knee deep water to climb on the boat. Just as we departed for open waters the skipper encouraged us to be ready for a rough ride, rather large waves, and water repeatedly hitting us in the face. Having already seen the weather forecast, I decided to sit facing forward and enjoy the ride, grateful I had taken my seasickness tablets before leaving.
Since I had just received my nitrox certification (required for this dive) but not yet done my deep dive training, I arranged for an instructor to go down with me, making sure I kept within my no deco limits as we dove down to 27 meters below the surface to explore the bottom of the ship.
As we made our way to the top of the wreck, down to the sea floor, around the perimeter of the downed ship, and then back to the tour boat, a whole new world of wonder opened up around me. Larger than life schools of silvery fish enveloped me and a sea turtle with a brown and green carapace and missing part of its left front leg lingered nearby and then leisurely swam away.
After a brief respite for our lungs back on board, we descended again to explore more of the sides and top of the wreck, seeing huge grouper fish with wide open mouths and tiny eyes swimming along the outside and a long sea snake slithering in and out of the openings of the rusted steel wreckage. A majestic brown and black manta ray with its cephalic lobes open for feeding appeared below and gracefully made it way past.
Drying off the top part of my body once back on board, I wrapped up in a wool hoodie and waterproof jacket for the ride back to Alva Beach, grateful that the dive had gone so well and that I had so many beautiful memories to take home with me. What a great day on the road!
