Dive 054
| Date | Jan 9, 2002-07:35 PM |
| Location: | S.S. Yongala - Coral Sea, Australia |
| Dive Shop | Mike Ball |
| Purpose | Recreation |
| Buddy | Mark Robinson |
| Exposure Suit | 3mm |
| Other Equipment | |
| Weight | 12 |
| Viz | 0 |
| Max Depth | 65 |
| Start Air | 3000 |
| End Air | 1200 |
| EAN | 0 |
| Minutes Under | 26 |
| Surface Interval | 152 |
| Remarks |
The night was warm and sticky. There were six of us going down into the dark waters. Three of us, myself included, were relativly new to night dives. But we were in good hands. Two crew members and Mark would be going down and keeping a watchful eye on us at all times.
As we each stepped off the boat and plunged into the abyss we knew this would be no pansy dive. The current was ripping thru the site. We had to grip the line or we would be washed out to sea (until the crew came and picked us up). As we made our way to the descent line I saw a mistake that could have been costly. One of the new guys released the line and immediately started to float away. Luckily Mark was there right beside the poor bastard. Mark grabbed the guy's wrist and pulled him back to the line. The guy was lucky. If it had been me beside him he would have floated off to never never land. A few minutes later the guy released the line again. Idiot. Mark pulled the line to the guy and made him swim to catch it. I still would have let the guy float away.
When we got to the bow of the wreck the current wasn't as bad. We could easily get to where we wanted to be, but we were constantly swimming.
The highlight of the dive was the rays. I think they were called Bull Rays. They were swimming along the top of the wreck. The first sighting consisted of two rays. One was big (about five or six feet across) and another was relativly small (about two or three feet across). I think the smaller one was a child of the larger one. These two rays just floated along like UFOs.
About the same time in the dive we came across a big sea turtle. It appeared to be heading up for air. I guess someone had awakened it.
The next noteworthy animal to grace our presence was another ray. This was a little smaller than the first ray, but still an impressive animal. Like the two before it, this ray floated along the top of the wreck doing what rays do at night.
Heading back to the boat was the normal routine. Everyone holds onto the line for dear life, and we slowly ascend to the boat. One thing that made this ascent a little more interesting was the jelly fish. They weren't hard to see if you are looking in the correct place. I saw the first one ride the current by me close to the end of the ascent line. During my trip from the ascent line to the boat I kept my flashlight trained up current to where I was. This proved to be a good thing, because I was in the path of another jellyfish. Dodging it wasn't that hard, I just stopped and let it fly by me. I'm just glad I was looking at the right spot. Two of the divers have already been stung and they say it hurts a bit.
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