SALTY TALES
Location: Great Barrier Reef, Australia
Max Depth: 40m
Last Visit: 28/07/07
Operator: ProDive Townsville
The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef eco-system. The reef is approximately 1430 miles long and contains 1500 species of fish and some 400 species of coral.
One could spend a life time exploring this reef system and still never see it all.
Sadly, it is predicted that by the year 2050, 95% of the reef's coral will perish due to a rise in sea temperatures caused by global warming.
Davie's Reef is located approximately 54 Nautical miles North East of Townsville and is just over 5.3 miles squared in area.
The reef is a lagoonal system and as such provides shelter for anchoring vessels.
The reef itself is an abundance of coral canyons, bommies and caves. A wonderful dive site for the avid marine life enthusiast.
Prof Toad viewed more fish than he'd had hot dinners! The water was warm and the visibilty approxiamtely 40m.
Of the varieties viewed, Barracuda and a huge school of Bat Fish were the high lights.
Sadly the night dive was somewhat anti-climatic after the three dives during the day. There wasn't too much to see other than a large Leather Jacket.
The operator was also somewhat niggardly as the 12 litre cylinders were only charged to 190bar, and they want you back on the boat with 50bar!
My advice for this live aboard, take your pony cylinder!
Location: Great Barrier Reef, Australia
Max Depth: 30m
Last Visit: 27/07/07
Operator: ProDive Townsville
A shallow reef laying 48 Nautical miles off the coast of Townsville.
The reef is approximately 0.7 miles squared in size, but don't let that put you off as it has an abundance of life.
Descending down the permanent mooring line you will find a Moray Eel on the first bommy. From there warm waters and shallow reefs present an average visibilty of 30m for you to view all that is on offer.
Prof Toad viewed, Sting Rays, Potato Cod, Clown Fish, Parrot Fish, Maori Wrasse, Trumpet Fish, Emperor Fish, Blue Stars, Nudibranchs and much more! For the more adventurous there is also shark alley to the west where the depth increases to 40m. Sadly Prof's assigned buddy didn't fancy exploring for sharks.
Prof Toad also met his Australian cousin hiding under a coral leaf. A Toad Fish!
Fantastic dive for the fish spotter. More aquatic life than you can shake a stick at.
Location: Great Barrier Reef, Australia
Max Depth: 28m
Last Visit: 29/07/07
Operator: ProDive Townsville
The SS Yongala is regarded by many to be one of the premier dives on the planet. The Australian dive community certainly believe her to be the best dive in Australia.
The Yongala was a luxury steam ship that sank on the 23rd of March 1911. 124 passengers and crew were lost with no survivors.
She sank in a cyclone 48 Nautical miles South East of Townsville. The wreck is 109m long and had a displacement of 8686 tons with a beam of 13.8m.
The Yongala is nothing short of spectacular. If you are ever in this part of the world, you must visit her as she is an incredible site. View Prof Toad's Yongala video!
The video sadly doesn't do it justice as the wonderous colours aren't apparent to the viewer.
You aren't allowed to penertrate this wreck due to the Historic Ship Wreck Act of 1976. There can also be very strong currents as she lists on her port side inside a shipping channel.
Swimming on the hull side, you would swear that this was a reef and not a wreck. Prof viewed a Hawks Bill and Green turtle chewing soft coral as he drifted down to the stern.
Hovering over the stern were three Marble Rays, the largest of which was approximately 2m across.
You were having to bat Red Snapper out of the way as you swam deck side back to the bow line to find another large turtle at the mooring.
Sadly Prof only managed two dives on this wreck when many more were required.
All divers should dive this wreck as its something you will tell your grand children about.
5 Star Toad Rating!!!!
Location: Plymouth, Devon, England
Max Depth: Various (32m dived)
Last Visit: 06/05/07
Operator: Discovery Divers, Fort Bovisand
Bank Holiday weekend in May. The weather was beautiful and the sun was shining across the water as you had to squint at a sky so blue.
Sadly, beneath the water the plankton bloom was in reducing visibilty to about 3m of pea soup.
Prof dived the Elk, Scylla, Bovisand Harbour, Shag Stone, Pinnacles and the Poulmic.
The dives were quite good. Sadly the two Dive Masters I dived with on the Elk lost the wreck and then dragged a young Advanced Open Water Prof Toad into 9 minutes of decompression. All of this in 32m of water on his first sea dive! Well done lads.
The Scylla was the high light as full penertration is permitted throughout the wreck.
We also dived two drift dives over a reef which was actually quite full of life. Prof viewed a Cuttle Fish, Tope Shark, Sea Urchins, Dog Fish, Wrasse, Pollock and star fish o'plenty.
Plymouth is a very popular location with divers as there is much to see. Sadly last time yours truly visited Plymouth we got blown out!
English weather!
Great place to dive.
Location: Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt
Max Depth: 32m
Planned Visit: 22/03/08 to 29/03/08
Operator: Planet Dive aboard MV Juliet
Itinerary: Northern Wreck Tour
This was Prof's first visit to the Red Sea so as you can imagine Prof was rather excited. The vessel the Juliet was adequate and on the basic side but was nice and quet as there were only twelve divers aboard.
The live aboard consisted of twenty three dives over six days and nights viewing reefs and wrecks. The wreck portion of the tour consisted of the Carnatic, Chrisoula K, Ghiannis D, Thistlegorm, Dunraven, Ulysses and the Kormoran. A turn in the weather prevented us from diving the Kingston, Barge and the Rosalie Moller.
Overall the wrecks were very good dives. Prof's favourite dive by far was teh Ghiannis D. Yes that's right, the Ghiannis D and not the Thistlegorm. Why?
Well the Thistlegorm has a massive stigma of being one of the best wreck dives in the world. Why? The innards are impressive as is the cargo. Locomotives, rifles, motorbikes, aircraft parts, trucks and a boat load of wellington boots. The external part of the ship is nothing special. The visibilty was somewhat cloudy as i'm told it always is. The dives were led with no freedom to explore and we missed our night dive due to the weather. So yes, great dive but not "one of the world's best" for Prof.
The reefs were somewhat boring as Prof and company are all wreck heads. That said the highlights were a male Hawksbill sea turtle, a Leopard Shark and a large Eagle Ray. Other than that a fish is a fish is a fish. Oh look more coral!
Overall the trip was a great introduction to the Red Sea. Upom Prof's return he will seek a live aboard which requires more experienced divers so that there is less hand holding from the dive guide.
Prof's next visit will be out of Port Sudan to follow in Yoda Toad's footsteps on the Umbria.
Location: Mudjimba Island, Sunshine Coast, Australia
Max Depth: 27m
Last Visit: 25/07/07
Operator: Scuba World, Mooloolaba
The HMAS Brisbane is a fairly recent diving attraction. The Brisbane was deliberately sank on the 31st of July 2005.
The wreck was a guided missile destroyer, 133m long with a displacement of 3370 tons and a beam of 15m.
Considering she has only been under the water for a short while there is a considerable amount of life inhabiting this artificial reef.
The wreck is inside an exclusion zone which prohibits unregistered diving and fishing.
The Dive Master on these dives gave value for money! We entered the water with 200bar and exited with 10bar followed by 5bar. Prof also racked up 7 minutes of decompression on the second dive. That's what we like!!!
The two dives consisted of an external dive followed by an internal dive which penetrated the bow and exited the stern. Both dives were dive master led so we were taken to all the great spots.
A large Marble Ray and Grouper can be found at the stern along with two huge Crey fish in the engine room.
The visibilty was about 20m and the water 18 degrees. For Prof, this was quite warm. However the DM's were in semi drys. Pussies!
Great dive I would gladly dive again if given the chance.
Location: Weymouth, Dorset, England
Max Depth: Various
Last Visit: 11/11/07
Operator: Skin Deep
Weymouth is possibly the most popular diving destination on the South coast of England. There is an abundance of wrecks and reefs for the experienced Toad or the fledgling Tadpole.
Weymouth is one of those places that needs to be visited many times over to try and see as much of it as possible.
Prof has dived the M2, Portland Bill, Aeolian Sky, The Dredger, Lulworth Banks, Countess of Erne, SS Black Hawk and the Landing Craft.
The visibility is variable, ranging anywhere between 2m to 15m. Yes, that's right, I said 15m. Prof witnessed 15m visibilty on the Aeolian Sky. A fantastic dive!
The M2 should also be dived as its not often you get to view a submarine. If you keep an eagle eye out for the HUGE Conga Eel inside the hangar you can get some great photographs.
The Toads love Weymouth due its variety and cost. There are some bargains to be had for weekend boat and B&B packages.
Prof recommends Weymouth. Great location.
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Max Depth: Various
Planning to visit summer 2008.
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