Our Ex HMAS Brisbane day broke the seal for the club after a spell of rotten weather, cancelled dives and pea-soup viz. There were two waves of five divers each, diving from the magnificent Strawberry Girl. We had booked the private mooring all day.

It was a beautiful morning, particularly for our Noosa resident Greta who for once did not have to get up at 3AM and drive for four hours to the dive site! Divers on the morning wave were happy to have 10m visibility near the wreck - low for us but business as usual for Dave, one of our new members, fresh from Stoney Cove in Leicestershire. The surge that the Brisbane is famous for was pumping, making for some boisterous moments. My buddy, Ray, handled the conditions like a veteran and kept his cool in the churn. There was little large marine life around the wreck that we could see. Around the mooring line Batfish were in abundance and there was a large school of Kingfish flitting around, checking out how cool and streamlined Andre and I were looking in our sidemount gear.

We returned to shore around lunchtime for a fast and efficient change of shifts.

The afternoon wave included a duo doing a long dive by rust addict, Chris and the intrepid Mel. Hannah and Mark did two single dives. Unfortunately Wally had succumbed to a cold and couldn't dive but the afternoon sunshine was some compensation. All went well on the afternoon wave, although by this time the viz had diminished slightly and the surface current had started to really rip. The swim to the mooring line was clearly the hardest part of the dive!

Overall a successful and happy trip that offered a mix of diving.

Thanks, as always, to Chris Joyce for the use of his beautiful boat. Thanks also to Dave Bisson for his atmospheric video.

Gavin Wills