ANTIPODEAN ADVENTURE
Australian liveaboard out into the Coral Sea

by Phil Harrison

• Fly into Sydney by easiest routes (and also the only one available for BA Miles flights that we were using to reduce the cost!) then take some time looking around the city.
• Move on to the Blue Mountains to enjoy the scenery and walking.
• Travel to Townsville for the diving trip, the boat being based there.
• Then take some chill time on Magnetic Island, which is very near to Townsville.
• Travel to Cairns and then join a four-wheel drive safari where you fly up to Cape York (the northern tip of Australia) and then travel back to Cairns in a converted truck, sightseeing and camping.
• After this fly back to Sydney and then home to the UK.

• Kit - wetsuits 5mm, September is still 'cold', although you can dive without hoods (sometimes) and gloves. We also took dive computers, torches, BCs, regulators and DSMBs as we wanted our own kit. The boat does hire some kit but not suits.
• The boat offers air or constant blended Nitrox at 32% to qualified divers (you can do a course on the boat).
• Camera - one of the main reasons to go was to take snaps, though it is not a wreck diving area.
• Do some research about when to go - for example (although this did not affect us in September) between November and March they have a "Box Jelly Fish Season" where near the coast you cannot swim in the open sea (except in special areas) as these infest the waters - their sting being very very nasty!
• Book early as these trips are very popular with both Japanese and American parties and fill very quickly. We booked six months in advance and got the last two places.
• There are a variety of trips that will cater for different duration and abilities.

• Starts 07.00 with a wake-up call
• Light breakfast
• 08.00 Dive briefing
• 08.00 - 12.00 Open dive deck. Diving takes place, limited only by your desire and deco limits. Guided or accompanied dives are available if you require
• 12.00 - 13.00 Lunch
• 13.00 - 16.00 Open dive deck - Diving again, limited only by your desire and deco limits. The dive marshall does check your depth and time and reverse profile or those exceeding limits receive feedback and in some cases banned from diving
• 17.00 - 19.00 Night dive or evening entertainment (Bar B Q / landing on sandy spurs many miles off shore etc.)
• 20.00 Dinner

• There is a Tour Director who looks after all the diving and makes sure the boat runs efficiently (on our boat a guy called Matt, who was very competent) and the Boat Skipper who makes the final decisions regarding safety
• The sites are obviously known to the boat crew, who have a permanent mooring in place, so limiting damage to the reef. We only saw one other dive boat the whole week and that was on the Yongala. The dive crew once the boat is anchored, swim out and attach a guideline from the Dive Deck to the permanent mooring point on the reef. They also assess the tide and any particular dangers, which are fed into the dive briefing.
• The dive crew then assess the dive for difficulty and offer three options, an accompanied dive, a buddy dive or a solo dive (aimed at photographers subject to kit configuration and conditions)
• Each diver is logged in and out including gas, time and stops - all dives have a safety stop. In addition each cylinder has a tag attached to show number of dives you have done to help the guides assess your experience underwater in case of emergencies
• The Dive Crew watches you kit up and also provides surface cover by inflatable and by standing watch on the dive deck
• Pre and post dive you are encouraged to drink water, post dive you are helped out of your kit with filling done for you - towels are provided after each dive
• Meals during the day are good and served in the saloon, there is no alcohol served until after your diving has finished. Tea, coffee, soft drinks and biscuits are available all day.

• The system operated is smooth, safe and very efficient, Mike Ball has a set of standards that his people operate to which are abided by even down to dress code!
  
• The boat is a good boat - although on the trip we were on the swell was pretty big, 3m / 4m at times, at so it was not a smooth trip by any means. Although diving was not really affected it meant a few rough nights. Quite rightly they do long steams at night so it does not reduce diving time.
  
• One issue is that all the cabins are air-conditioned and water makers are used so there is no limit to showers etc - which is good. But it means that the generators are on all the time which is noisy, so bring your ear plugs if you are a light sleeper.
  

• The best by far the Yongala, wreck on its side starts about 8m and goes down to 32m. It is now surrounded by an underwater nature reserve and is covered in life corals, fish, turtles, sea snakes loads of stuff!! The fish are said to be one third larger as a result.
• Shark Feeding is also an experience. We were a bit dubious of this to start with based on our feelings about staged events and developing bad behaviours in the sharks. However, on the day it was thought out well and used a construction (based on ropes buckets and pulleys - a bit like a First Class Diver task) that meant the dive crew did not hand-feed the sharks nor go near them. The divers retreated to cages for the actual feeding moments.
• Other sites where on reef areas and ranged from OK to excellent. There has certainly been damage to the reef from bleaching but on each site the dive crew pointed out where the best creatures could be spotted. Visibility ranged from 30m to about 10m depending on the site and the weather conditions