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Less than 30km from the shores of Townsville, in the middle of a sandy shelf is the wreck of the Yongala which went down with all 121 hands in 30m of water in 1911 during a Cyclone.

The wreck is now encrusted with Coral and is the only habitat for miles around for many smaller reef fish. A  days diving here crammed in almost as much as the week before in terms of variety and abundance. And despite having less than 20m visibility, it yielded some incredible sights - no small wonder then that its been rated a top 20 dive site world-wide...

Heading out on a 18 man dive boat, we cross the channel to the scenic and backpacker encrusted Magnetic Island to pick up a group of 7 students.  All told we're a group of around 12 and yet the boat seems crowded and leans alarmingly to one side when all of us stand on one side.

It takes around 3 hours to arrive at the site - time Iso and I take to catch up on sleep on the flydeck under the blazing sun which is nicely tempered by the sea breeze.  On arrival, its gear up and off the back for the first of two dives. Iso and I are first in.

The plan is that we all follow a line out to a buoy and descend as usual in pairs - but in our case we're on a 'guided tour' with a another pair of divers and a dive-master.  We wait for the rest of our party while all the others go under - struggling past two by two while we cling on to the line. Our tour party are the last off for some reason.

As we duck under with the other pair (consisting of a Japanese girl and a incomprehensibly personality devoid Canadian) and the dive-master, its evident that the Canadian has been holding up proceedings.   He's soon holding up things below water too, mask fogged and unable to equalise.  We eventually get bored and pass him and hit the bottom.

For the next 30 minutes we're rewarded with an outstanding sight - the coral has completely enveloped the Yongala yet left the shape of the hull, broken mast and anchor are clearly discernable.  Thousands of fish in vast schools circle us fearlessly - tame from thousands of divers.  A giant turtle is grazing on an winch and we're eyed with no great concern by giant Angel fish, a strange looking Moari Wrasse, Parrot fish and a deadly but docile sea snake.  

The wreck is only 150m long yet has a myriad of different communities of coral and fish arranged almost neatly in clusters - its as if they were paid to hang around in colour co-ordinated zones.

Arriving on the surface, we chatter excitedly about the sights we've seen. We talk with the Canadian, who we'd put down as a novice only to discover that in his eyes he is a seasoned diver.  He comments on the Carribean being much better and Canada having more great lakes but is totally ignorant of the fact that he almost ruined the dive for the Japanese girl (who joined Iso and I halfway through when he bolted to the surface with our guide!).  Apparently he'd run out of air within 10 minutes.

So on the second dive its no surprise that we pass the Canadian again on the way down, and the Japanese Girl has a new buddy.

This time the current is stronger, and we fin deliberately to hold position.  A few minutes in, I feel something bump into my fins, then legs, then body and finally mask... its the Canadian, going at breakneck speed underneath me, barging past the others in the group as he piles headlong for the bow of the boat with one arm flailing in front and the other outstretched with a hired underwater camera which flashes madly at nothing in particular.  Its clear he wants some photos before his air runs out again, which is not going to be long at this rate!   He's chased by a dive-master who had stopped at the bottom of the descent line to check it was securely attached when our Canadian friend bolted...  Its all too much for me, my mask fills as I laugh and the wrinkles on my cheeks cause the seal to break...

And so back to dry land. All of us safe, even the Canadian who is droning on to the bemused dive-master about how great Canadian lake diving is, and explaining that flailing the arms in front of ones self is standard practice there as you "can't see Jack-shit".

Well, we certainly saw a lot of it here.

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