Can you remember the first time you dived on a coral reef? That feeling of your senses being overloaded, of not knowing where to look.  Well, I had that exact feeling all over again recently while on a trip to the Yongala wreck on the Great Barrier Reef. The Yongala really is something special!

I have dived in a few places around the world, PNG, Solomons, Red Sea, Fiji and USA but I can’t remember the last time I experienced the sensory overload that came when I descended to the bow of the Yongala wreck located in the warm waters off Townsville.

See more images from the holiday at http://www.dive2000.com/blog/Photos/TravelPhotos/Yongala05

The Yongala was a 120m long coastal passenger and cargo liner which sank in a cyclone in 1911, with all 121 souls lost without a trace.  The ship lay undisturbed until 1958. It must have been a terrible storm because they did not even get a chance to launch the life boats from the Yongala.

We gathered in the salubrious Courtyard Café at Jupiters Casino in Townsville for our $8 roast dinners prior to boarding Mike Ball Dive Expedition’s Spoilsport at 8pm. Our party consisted of Helen, Gosia, Malcolm, Phil, Diane, Ros, Jane and myself.  We were met in the lobby of the Casino by Richard with the standard liability forms to complete before boarding our floating palace for the next 3 days.

A short stroll across to the dock to board Spoilsport and were greeted by the dapper crew and given our room allocation. It was then time to set up our gear ready for an early morning dive.  (Ros realised her gear was nowhere to be found, but this was solved with a mercy luggage dash by taxi from the Holiday Inn.) 

All up there were 14 guests on board, with the 8 Dive 2000 crew joined by a mixed bag from Brisbane & Melbourne.  Out of Townsville Harbour we steamed.  The weather was good, so we were off to Yongala on the first day and everyone retired to their cabins full of excitement and anticipation.

The morning dawned with tour director Richard knocking on our doors and we rose to find Spoilsport moored up to the bow of the Yongala!  The first dive on the wreck was magical and overwhelming.  Can there really be this many fish in the world?  The wreck rests on the sand at about 30 metres with the top of the structure sitting in approximately 14 metres of water.

Currents in the area means that the growth on the wreck, along with the incredible fish life makes for fantastic diving over and over again.  In fact, there was so much going on that it took me about 3 dives to actually absorb anything.

Notable residents on the Yongala include: friendly turtles, napoleon wrasse, a giant shovel nose ray that cruises up and down the wreck and inquisitive, but somewhat off putting, sea snakes.  And if that isn’t enough, there’s numerous giant trevally, mackerel and barracuda holding position above the wreck.

The Dive 2000 group was busy, with Ros being led through her Advanced Open Water course by the irish dancing dive instructor Dennis; and Malcolm and Gosia learning the joys of Nitrox with ‘little Jess’.

We had seven dives over 1.5 days on the Yongala.  The night dive got the adrenalin going with a 2.5 metre bull shark swimming through the centre of a group of divers … which made for an interesting safety stop!

Conditions on Day Two were a bit rougher (apparently still not bad for the Yongala) but Spoilsport rode the swells very nicely.  The exit from the water tested Malcolm’s ribs and Diane’s knees but it was worth it for the privilege of diving in such a great location.

The other fantastic experience diving on the Yongala was the whales.  On almost every dive you could hear them singing and calling to each other.  It was a bit like being on the set of Nemo.  They also put a show on for us on the surface, with some spectacular fin slapping by a pod of five humpbacks only 100 metres from the boat.

The second afternoon of our adventure saw us doing some exploratory diving on Bowden Reef, which was nudibranch heaven.  Orange, yellow, black with green spots – this place was full of them.  Bowden was the venue for the afternoon and night dives.

The next morning we arrived at Wheeler Reef with friendly octopus, barracuda and my favourite, the Barramundi Cod, all putting in an appearance.  It was also a triumph for Helen and Gosia as they found their first nudibranch of the trip!  Diving around the massive bombies rising up from 25 metres was an excellent way to round out our diving holiday. 

Once we disembarked in Townsville, all the divers from the trip including our new friends from Brisbane and Melbourne were united by such a wonderful dive experience – we just had to celebrate with a locally brewed ale …. Or two!  Back in Townsville we all gravitated towards The Brewery which had an excellent range of locally brewed ales.  Not always recommended for those trying to regain their land legs but we were celebrating a fantastic trip to the Yongala.  The pizzas at The Brewery weren’t bad either!

The next morning the group headed for the Museum of Tropical North Queensland which houses an excellent exhibition on the Pandora.  The Pandora was sent from England to chase down the Bounty mutineers in the South Pacific but became shipwrecked on the Great Barrier Reef, off Cape York in 1791.   Since her discovery in 1977 marine archaeologists have done a great job in excavating and recreating life aboard a British Naval vessel of that period.  The displays at the museum are interesting and interactive and we were very impressed with Malcolm’s skilful display and salty language as part of the Pandora gun crew.  But I’m not the Pandora expert … if you want to know more, I’m sure Helen’s notes from the various video presentations & displays are very informative – while the rest of us were enjoying a bottle of Riesling for lunch in a seaside café!

In my opinion, Mike Ball Dive Expedition’s Spoilsport is the only way to experience the Yongala wreck.  From the time Richard, our cruise director, met us at the Casino we knew we were in good hands.  The cabins are spacious & comfortable; a well laid out dive deck; and a comfortable saloon all contribute to the enjoyment.  The dive operation is first class with informative dive briefs and helping hands at every point.  Facilities onboard are top rate and we’re even happy to forgive Lisa for the Irish rock cakes for morning tea, keenly marketed as scones!

I was always a bit suspicious when I heard people say that Yongala was one of the top 10 dive locations in the world, but it really is true.  Now having experienced the wonderful marine life, history and pure spectacle for myself, the Yongala is at the top of my recommended dive site list!