Adventure: Australia - Diving and Searching
Greg Hawk • April 8, 2020
Australia - Diving and Searching
While owning and operating Fantasy Dive Charters out of Port Douglas, Australia we took weekly trips up the Great Barrier Reef to the top of Number 10 Ribbon Reef and then into Lizard Island for a night with a barbecue on the beach.
During the summer season, when the winds changed, we were able to go out into the Coral Sea to visit Osprey and Bougainville Reefs. These reefs are about 100 miles offshore and in approximately 6,500 feet of water.
Bougainville Reef had a steel hull of a ship, that had gone aground on it, lying on the windward side of the reef. From the years of continual spray of salt water on it the steel hull was slowly melting away. One could only dive on the windward side of the reef when the ocean was calm or else you were putting yourself into peril by getting washed up onto the reef. We dived this area and found parts to the ship still lying on the underwater shelf on that side. There was also an abundance of sharks in this area, so we didn’t stay long. The rest of the reef had some nice wall dives and very clear water.
Osprey Reef was about twelve miles long and offered a lot of different diving experiences on it. The south end of the reef offered some amazing wall diving and one had to watch your depth gauge as the water was so clear you could easily drop to 100 feet without realizing it. There was also a shelf running down the leeward side from the south end that was about 140 to 160 feet down. One day I counted eleven sharks lying on that shelf as we drifted along.
On the north end was called shark point and it was easily to see why. At 40 to 60 feet down one would have a lot of small reef sharks swimming by you. There was a shelf down at about 120 to 140 feet that was used as a shark feeding point by some dive vessels wanting to film sharks feeding. We didn’t do this as it drew in the much larger whaler and oceanic white tip sharks and who wants to be in the water during a feeding frenzy.
One day, when there was no wind, we were able to go on the windward side with our 78-foot dive vessel, Si Bon, and anchor up. We did a couple of nice dives and started back along the outer edge on a dive when I noticed an iron oblong ring about 18 inches long and 12 inches across. It looked as though it could have been part of an old wooden sailing ship. At the time I was at 80 feet in depth and down to 500 psi in my tank and it was time to head to the top. I picked up the heavy iron ring but couldn’t inflate my vest enough to bring the ring up with me without running out of air. I dropped it and thought someday I would make it back to dive that side once again. Did an old wooden ship run aground here and disappear?
A short distance south of Osprey Reef was what was called Shark Reef and the top of it was at a depth of 50 feet. We found it once and dived on it. The diving wasn’t that great and after 30 minutes I gathered the divers up and headed them back to Si Bon. Once onboard I asked them if any of them had seen the seven oceanic white tip sharks that were slowly moving in towards us. Luckily none of them did and there was no panic.
If you are an avid diver there are still many places to explore on the Great Barrier Reef and into the Coral Sea. Make sure you take the time to explore it on a “live aboard” dive vessel, if possible, one with a good reputation. Cheers!
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