August and September brought in some warmer weather and the start of the spring breeding on the wreck. We started to see some big schools of eagle rays with over 20 rays at a time. Some of our luckiest divers got some footage of two Leopard sharks with the male holding the female’s tale as she dragged him along.( His plan to make her tired so that he can have his way with her  :-p ). As the water temp came up to 24 degrees the smaller bait fish moved in by the thousands making it very hard to see anything past them at time. The GT’s and sharks soon took care of the bait fish numbers with massive feeding action and even an olive sea snake fell victim to a Maori Wrasse. We had a pair of divers contact the Australian Natural Museum to identify a ray that baffled the gurus here at the shop and came up with a Small Eyed Stingray. They are rather rare to see, very cool.

Diving News-It’s whale season!! Whale season is definately upon us and we are spotting whales almost every day. We can hear them under the water loud and clear when they are close and it seems like all our giant marine life are excited too, as we saw 9 Queensland gropers  all in one day in late July.
Non Diving News – The Yongala Beach Café is now in full force with plenty of compliments to the chef already. We will be serving anything from fish and chips to our new and tasty wreck burger. Come and enjoy what we have on offer.
Our café hours will be Weds – Thurs 12-3pm & 5-8pm, Fri- Sun 10-8pm.
Now at Yongala Dive/Lodge you can eat, sleep and dive deep!

Can a Queensland groper swallow a giant trevally whole ?! Apparently yes, it can and our instructor Matt captured the shot so we could enjoy the incredible sight. Check out our Facebook page to see the picture. We also counted 4 different species of sharks this month: Leopard shark, friendly bull sharks, nurse sharks, guitar sharks…And the start of March was as eventful as February ! We had a 8m whale shark cruising around for the entire 2 dives. Amazing!

Busy new start of the year! We love it.
Scuba divers are as passionate as ever and it is a joy to share that passion with all our customers coming through. Every daytrip brings its lot of new experience and amazement.
We have certified quite a few divers too from open water to dive master level. Keep learning and discovering. This is what life is about. And this is what scuba diving is about.
Check our Facebook for new photos and video footage as we intend to share more and more for this new year. 2012 is about social media and social we will be.
The Yongala Crew 

A new month at Yongala Dive and more good news…Yongala Dive were the proud winners of the Adventure Tourism Category in the North Queensland Tourism Awards 2011 on Friday night December 4th. We also had an added bonus of being voted Finalist in the Queensland State Tourism Awards 2011. The Yongala Dive team would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and to offer their best wishes for the New Year.

What a month on the Yongala, not one experience of a life time but two……firstly some of our lucky divers had whales cruising around underwater with them and a calf actually swam right up to them to check them out. Only one week later a lone whale shark, yes thats right Whale Shark came to visit – lost its way maybe ? check out our facebook page to see the video footage. Great weather towards the end of the month …. cant wait to see what November will bring…..

What a wonderful past few months we have had! Beautiful flat seas, great visibility and Humpback whales serenading divers and putting on surface displays. Lots of ‘big fish’ action with the Giant Trevallys racing over the wreck, Rays being spotted on every dive- we believe its a mating season for a few species with all the groupings and paired chasing happening. September’s Australiasian Shootout is coming up… dont forget to enter!

Our Dive Instructor Chris Salter’s comment for the day 06/07/2011 “In 1 and a half years of being here at Yongala Dive I have never, ever experienced visibility like there was today. It was fantastic!”
With flat seas and excellent visibility the wreck has been seen from the surface. Underwater the diving has been magical. With visits from Bull Sharks, Marble Rays and towards the end of the month juvenile Humpback Whales divers have had memorable experiences that will stay with them a lifetime. Check out Facebook for photos!

“AMAZING diving on the wreck at the moment…15m visibility (the best since Cyclone Yasi), no current and fish life galore… turtles, rays, giant trevally, large schools of fingermark, bull sharks and sea snakes galore etc.  While hanging on the line at the end of the dive we were completely surrounded by around 300 pinnate batfish which was so cool, while underneath a lone 2m marble ray just cruised around the wreck”    

Heather Batrick- Director

…now you don’t. A month of Mantas popping in and out of view enthralled divers, who were lucky enough to see them! One moment they were there, the next not. One day they were seen the next day they were not. For one staff member at Yongala Dive, who had yet to see a Manta on  a dive, hopes were high. After focusing the minds of all the divers onboard via chanting and facial expressions, to send out positive thought waves to entice them in…hopes were dashed after the second dive without one being seen. The next day though! Manta! You just never know at the Yongala.