Trippple mystery dives off Mooloolaba – who could resist?  Well, apparently quite a few.  A mixture of BSAC and Unidive divers came together over the long weekend in May to dive with Scuba Steve on his relatively newly acquired boat “Sea Searcher”.  All we knew was that there would be three dives on Saturday, three dives on Sunday, and two dives on Monday.  The third dive on each of Saturday and Sunday was to be a night dive.  As it turned out, the Monday dives did not go ahead.

The club has chartered some dives with Steve in his smaller boat “Jim Carey”, which takes a maximum of 5 divers, most notably during the visit of Sophie Rennie, British National Instructor.  “Sea Searcher” however, is large and roomy enough to take 12 divers, at least 36 cylinders and crew.  It is also well equipped, having a toilet and shower.

The week prior to the dives we were all keeping a keen eye on the weather, it was not looking good.  With predictions of high winds and 4m swells, many of us were thinking these dives couldn’t go ahead.  Well, as you know, weather forecasts are often misleading, and by the time Saturday came around, the weather looked great.

Whilst it was overcast, and there were some showers, there was certainly not much in the way of swell (although some might disagree, because there was burley over the side on both days).

Saturday’s dive sites were:

- Little Egypt, so-called due to three pyramid-shaped bommies; and

- Avatar, due to apparently floating bommies' (broad at the top, narrow at the bottom), reminiscent of the landscape of the movie of the same name.

There was not a lot of marine life at Little Egypt, but Avatar provided more interest with wobbegongs, crayfish and a large school of yellowtail kingfish.  The highlight of the night dive on Avatar was the sight of an enormous loggerhead turtle in our torch lights as we descended the anchor line.

Sunday’s dive sites were:

- Outer Beacon; and

- Wobby Rock (also known as Grey Nurse Reef).

Of all the dives over the weekend, Outer Beacon was the most disappointing.  Clearly some of us missed something important in the dive briefing, because we saw nothing, just bare sand and rock – the chain of the beacon had scoured the ocean floor, and there was no marine life in site.

In complete contrast, Wobby Rock was the best site of the weekend.  It got its name because there are often a lot of wobbegongs in residence.  None were seen on either the day or night dive, but it didn’t matter, there was so much marine life, including yellow and brown trumpet fish, eagle rays, a turtle, crayfish, potato cod and nudibranchs.  There was also a large variety of corals and small fish.  In addition to the marine life, it is just a beautiful reef with various outcrops and swim-throughs.

Generally speaking, the visibility throughout the weekend was not great, 5-10 m, but it was a good opportunity to dive sites rarely dived, with some of them certainly worth return visits.

Thanks to Mel for organizing an interesting weekend of diving.

Bernadette Hawkins