Apart from some strong seasonal trade winds here and there winter has been great. Visibility has often been 25m plus and the whales are singing and joining the diver’s every now and then. A few early mantas have turned up and the usual throng of species have all been enjoying the sunny days. Water temp is slowly warming up after getting down to 22 celcius (freezing for us!), it’s a great time to dive the Yongala.
Water clarity has been exeptional so far this winter and everyday has been awesome diving, all the critters have been performing on cue. The stingrays are mating, with the smaller males vying for the females and putting on quite a show. Unfortunately the weather has gone bad and we’ll lose the next few days.
Vis: 20 metres Water Temp: 24 degrees celcius
There’s been some great diving in the last week, very minimal tidal movement and nice sea conditions. The wind’s coming up this arvo and will probably ruin the weekend. The Humpbacks should be here soon with winter just around the corner.
Vis: 10-15 m water temp: 25 C
Great diving this week with sea life in abundance with appearances from tawny nurse sharks and our resident bull shark. The giant Queensland Gropers have been a permanent fixture hanging out on the bow and plenty of sea snakes cruising around. There have also been plenty of marble rays. Sea temperature approx 25 degrees C. Visibility – approx 10 metres
After strong winds over Easter the conditions have turned magnificent with light winds and great vis. This weekend and early next week are shaping up for some awesome diving with 5-10kts of wind and smallish tides. The Qld groupers are very active and getting even bigger with the quantity of food on offer. Come and try one of the world’s best dives!
Apparently a cyclone is threatening North Qld. We however have been blessed with smooth seas and great diving. Everyone came backed stoked today with another awesome day’s diving on the S.S. Yongala, a few are going again tomorrow. Visibility is back up around the 10-15 metres.
Whist the visibility on the wreck has been down around the 5-10m mark with the recent fresh water run-off the good thing is the Yongala always has plenty to see, the fact that its all big certainly means you dont need 20m vis to see anything. With the usual bevy of turtles, maori wrasse, GT’s, cruising around we usually find some of the larger species come out to play after the winds have kept the boats at bay including the large cowtail rays, giant queensland gropers and the shovel nose ray. Visibility has been gradually increasing and we’re hoping that after this bout of wind lets us out to play it should be back to normal.
Current forecast – SE20-25 up to Sunday, with a very vague forcast for Monday to Tuesday (come on BOM) so we’ll keep you posted or check our weather link for more info.
The Yongala Express is up and running again. Our first day out to the wreck again in 11 days and its great to see the fish life in abundance - marble rays, shovel nose rays, leopard sharks cruising mid-water, turtles popping up all over it was spectacular. With the forecast still 10 knots for the next few days its spectacular.
Literally, as our motor decided to do this on the 2nd. Currently being repaired, we hope to be diving thursday 11/1. Check in for an update.
The start of summer has been awesome, some great viz and perfect water temps. Manta Rays most days, large feeding frenzies including one where spinner dophins were schooling large chevron barracuda, and some great reef fish spawning aggregations.
