We departed the Gold Coast Seaway and headed South on Strawberry Girl. On board were Chris Joyce, Gavin Wills, Andre Parsaoran, Andy Mason and myself, Tom Postin.

It was my first dive with the club and I was excited to be going diving with a BSAC club in Australia.

We reached the dive site and found the wreck very quickly from its GPS position, standing clear on the sounder. We deployed the shot line which fell spot-on the wreck and quickly Chris and Gavin got kitted up. Before we knew it I took the controls of Chris’ Boat and Chris and Gavin were in the water starting their decent. We monitored times, which seemed a long time by the time the boys surfaced after a long decompression. We had stood off while they were down and collected them quite quickly.

Next it was the turn of Andre and Andy to dive. They followed on to enter the water and quickly were at the top of the shot line and started their decent. This time Chris took control of his boat and we anchored off to save drifting and motoring near the Buoy of the shot line. The boys surfaced after they had decompressed and we quickly got them aboard. The debrief followed and it was considered that all had successfully dived the plan and everyone was satisfied with the outcome.

Quickly our minds turned to the next dive and it was decided to travel to the wreck of 'Draggin 2' which was some distance North of the Seaway and just out from Jumpinpin Bar.

We traveled for some time to get to the site and as we went the weather was slowly getting worse and waves were getting higher. We persevered and reached the wreck site. This time It was my turn to dive together with Chris and Gavin. We quickly got ready and entered the water following the shot line deployment.

It is a small wreck but like any large man-made structure underwater you try and determine the look of the ship when it would have been on top of the water. The fish life was quite prolific as you would expect and we continued to tour the wreck. Time to surface following a safety stop and we both waited as the boat came up to us. All went well until I was just taking off my second fin when bang a big wave hit us and I lost my grip on the ladder. I couldn’t get back to the boat and after a few attempts the crew managed to pick me up.

The trip back was better as it was a following sea and we soon saw the seaway following a slightly rough trip.

For me it was a great introduction to the club and I observed good teamwork and a great friendly camaraderie  which warmed me . Well done to all involved and thanks for the dive!

Best Wishes Tom