Diving the Yongala

We had heard so many great things about the Yongala shipwreck that we decided to take a detour on our way to Darwin to experience it for ourselves.  The boat left early so we cruised down there in our campertruck and spent the night in the dive shop parking lot, which we struggled to find in the dark the previous evening.

The wreck itself is just off of Ayr, six hours south of Cairns and 45 minutes past Townsville.  You can get there via short thirty minute ride from Ayr or a longer three hour ride from Townsville on an overnight boat.  Naturally we chose to go from Ayr but I had no idea what we had signed up for.  The boat that took us out to the wreck, 16 nautical miles from shore, was little more than an inflatable dingy and we had chosen to go out on a day with six foot swells.  Here we are, happy and excited, in front of the boat with our awesome dive group before any of us knew what lay ahead.

I wasn’t the only one who got sea sick and, fortunately for me, even though I felt terrible, I didn’t puke.  Our thirty minute cruise ended up being closer to an hour due to the rough seas and it didn’t take long before I was regretting the trip.  We were a green bunch by the time we tied up amidst the open ocean waves (though Alex and the dive team appeared no worse for the wear) so they got us quickly into the water.  We were literally out in the middle of the ocean, no reefs or anything to break the surge, so the water was quite forceful and we had to pull ourselves along the rope out to the buoy before descending.  The waves were crashing into us and one hit me so hard it knocked my mask off and took my breath away.  Alex got tangled up in one of the mooring lines that a wave washed over him, wrapping it around his neck, until one of the dive instructors was able to free him.  It was a rough start to say the least. 

Underwater wasn’t much better; the surge was tossing us around like rag dolls until we got within a few meters of the wreck.  But then the amazingness unfolded before our eyes and it was unlike anything Alex or I had ever seen.  The wreck lies at the edge of the continental shelf and is the only thing to be found on the sandy bottom for miles so everything, big and small, flocks to it and it is teeming with life.  As you can see from our dive map, the Yongala lies on its side; we began both our dives at the front of the ship, swam down the topside then came back to the line on the underside of the boat. 

I was first struck by the enormity of the wreck.  Lying on its side with coral growing everywhere and more fish than I could ever count; it was breathtaking. 

 

It was awesome; it is illegal (and a $5,000 fine) so swim inside the ship but you could see everything from the outside and these are the remnants of pistons in the ships enginge.

 

The fish were so used to divers that you could just swim amongst them.

 

 

Though some were content just lined up looking out to sea.

This one doesn’t look that big without anything for comparison but this grouper was as big as Alex or me.

There were also lots of other big fish.

And no shortage of little fish or coral either...

 

 

 

It was creepy but we were excited to see a few sea snakes, like this one, too!

And this huge sting ray which we saw immediately upon descending on our first dive.

 

At the end of the day it was worth the hellish boat ride and was, by far, the best diving I had ever done.