I Got Wrecked at SS Yongola

I had to get up at 05am to walk to the bus 20 minutes prior to departure. I boarded the bus at 06:10am. In the bus a guy from the other end of the bus came up to me, I guess because I was the only one else awake. He asked if he could borrow my phone to confirm a booking for his future trip, sure why not, so he borrowed it and he was really thankful.

I arrived at Ayr a city where I had to get off the big bus and get picked up by the dive shuttlebus. You just know it is going to be a good day when the driver starts, by playing Red hot chili peppers at 7:30am and shifting gear to the music, ahahah, it was hilarious. Just a really good vibe and good information on the way out to the dive base.

We got there around 08am and started doing the paperwork and finding gear. Then we had some time to say hi to the others we were going out with, we were 11 in total, a couple from Australia, a couple from Spain, a couple from Germany, a guy from the states, a Japanese girl, a German girl, an English guy and me. 9:30 we got in the back of a car with benches, like in the military. The first guy hit his head on the way in and I hit my back on my way in, awch… We got to the beach, just another 10 minutes of waiting for the staff to get the boat in the water with an old International and we were good to Sail. A good vibe and really nice people all the way out. On the first dive my gopro died again… I found out that the pressure hits the off bottom in so that the camera turns off, so that is too bad, but it is alright because I saw it all. I Saw my first big ray, yaaaaay!!! And a large napoleon fish. On my second dive we got a really good view of the 110-meter-long wreck and it is as they say the fish at the wreck are so used to divers that they are not afraid of them, so you better watch out or you will get so close you think you are about to hit them. Back on the boat we saw a Loggerhead turtle in the surface, amazing!!!

When we were back in the tide was a bit lower, so we got dropped off the front of the boat into knee/hip deep water while the boat was reversing, we had to walk about 200 meters through the swells and knee-deep water. Back on the strand we got picked up by the car again.

We got back to the base and all got a chance to shower and change while the crew made us late Lunch, Yummy, we got build yourself burgers one with beef and one with sausage. I got arranged a lift with the Australian couple, they came from Cains and were planning on staying a night in Townsville, so I saved the dorm room and the bus ticket home, yaa. What a day I got a lot of good friends, we left the dive base around 04:30pm and I was back in Townsville around 06pm, right at the door. The rest of the day I just chilled and packed out and talked with a new roommate from England.