The window of time for us to do this dive has been getting smaller and smaller. There is even the chance that we wont get to dive the famed Yongala at all! Yesterdays talk with the dive operation from Ayr, a less known and newer establishment, put us as the last 2 spots for today but no guarantee on the weather.

In the morning, we arrived with our gear and my camera ready to dive. Dan decided not to shoot video and be my buddy. If the conditions are great we'll switch roles and stay another day. This is a deeper dive, max of about 100 feet with relief up to about 70 feet, and therefore requires more planning and care. We were lucky to get 2 Nitrox fills for the dives! Even though scaring up some 'oxy' on a weekend in a wee-bit town is tough, we got it.

We were immediately pleased with our choice to go out of Ayr instead of Townsville. We heard one of the boats there was broken, and was not running. Other boats were worried about the weather turning bad. The rib (fiber-glass base with pontoon-like air sides) is 10 meters long (33 feet) and can load 12 passengers and 4 crew. It travels at 25-30 knots (that is almost lightspeed in relative boat terms) and would get us to the wreck in 20-30 minutes if all went well.

The seas were incredibly calm, and we spotted dolphins, turtles, jellyfish and some feeding-frenzy on the surface on the way. When we arrived, 2 overnight boats were already moored there. One was Mike Balls Spoil Sport, the liveaboard boat which shall be home away from home for The Scuba Connection this coming August.

We were told that divers have lodged complaints recently about the dive. A woman trying to take a picture just couldnt get the fish out of the way, others cant see the wreck through the mass of life on this wreck! These are all legitimate complaints.

I've never seen so many, in number and species, kinds of life in one area. There were countless fish cleaning stations. Turtles, maori wrasse, queensland grouper, parrot, goat and bat fish, tuna, shovelnose shark, tobaccofish, glass-eye, moray eels...and tons more. The schools of fish hug the wreck like a thick blanket. Often you cannot see the shipwreck underneath, as gangs of tuna and wrasse envelop you in their dance. The distance is studded with silhouettes of millions of fish of all sizes.

I could not stop shooting, but worse I could not be bothered to spend too much time in one area to perfect the photo. I managed to get a few good shots. For the first time I shot 2 full memory cards in 2 dives, and I certainly did not get enough!