City of Brisbane - 21 May 2005

[MartinS]

Well, never did I think I'd be going diving after the reports on the web, but when I finally got the call it was to say it was a goer!
I was surprised at how calm it seemed when we turned up at Brighton Marina just after 8AM, and the trip out to the wreck on 'Nauticat' was by no means the worst trip out to a site I've been on so once we were ready to go, it was action stations to get kitted up and in. Ended up kitting up and then realising that my main reg was tangled up out of reach so after my budy sorted that we headed for the back of the boat, entered the water where I realised that my BCD inflator had got snagged out of reach so again, my buddy came to the rescue before we left the surface for the wreck below. I usually struggle with my ears at about 10mtrs but this time all was fine with my ears, shame I couldn't say the same about my mask. It constantly kept filling, and at one point filled to the brim, my reg gave a stutter as I was obviously breathing too hard, but managed to calm myself down, clear my mask and get my breathing back on track. During the course of the dive, I was conscious of my mask, but no amount of fiddling and adjusting could stop it totally so I just put up with it for the duration of the dive. The water was about 12-13c, viz no more than a metre but we swam along the length of the wreck and ended up leaving for the surface after just over 50 minutes. The wreck had lots of starfish on board and in places, you could see large shoals of fish (pouting/bib). My buddy spotted a couple of large tom-pot blennies and the only crab I found, I decided to put back and let it fight another day.
On my ascent, I realised that I probably need just a tad more weight next time as I felt slightly too bouyant. Managed to control my bouyancy for the stop and surfaced to a rough sea but the boat was waiting close by. With a lift on-board, getting back on was a breeze and hot tea was ready and waiting. The second dive was set to be a drift but all but four of the boat decided to give it a miss due to the plankton bloom. The sun had come out anyway but the wind was picking up and the ride home a bit bumpier than the way out - luckily I don't suffer with seasickness, but two of the guys on the boat spent the return journey looking very green around the gills!!
We ended up back at the marina before 2.30 and after a swift shandy in the bar overlooking the marina, home by just after 4PM. Not the best dive ever, but as it was my first sea dive this year, didn't think it too bad - a few lessons learned, which is ongoing anyway. As always the other club members made the day a good laugh, so mustn't grumble - I got wet and added another 50 minutes to my dive log.
Regards, and dive safe
Martin