February 2015 on the Great Barrier Reef

The Green Zone
Trevor Jackson – Spoilsport Captain

With so many different trips on our agenda this year we’ve had to create an ‘Expedition Schedule Planner’ to go on the wheelhouse wall, just so the crew can keep up, it is after all a complicated affair. And you know when you make one of these types of things, whether it be for work or for the kids sporting events or even just the weekends, colour coding can go a long way towards making it all make sense. Ours is colour coded. Blue for Coral Sea Exploratory Expeditions, purple for Deep Reefs, orange for Minkes, yellow for far Northern stuff….but the predominant colour is green……and there’s a lot of green…..the green zone is for Yongala.

The wreck of the Yongala probably needs no introduction for Australian divers….in terms of the sheer volume of marine life she produces, she has absolutely no equal…..Nothing even comes close! And everything is BIG…sharks, rays, pelagics……it’s all at the gigantic end of the scale, brutally BIG. Yongala takes no prisoners, and makes no pretentions…she is quite simply a stunning shipwreck….

Like anything worthwhile however, she sometimes gets a little difficult…. a little cantankerous …She’s way out in the open and access can sometimes be a bit of a challenge. The weather can ruin the best of plans if you’ve travelled a long way only to get stuck on the beach looking east. This of course can happen to anyone and in a strange untenable way, it can make Yongala just a little more alluring. Like climbing a mountain and not knowing if you’re going to make the top, or running a marathon not sure if you’ll even see the finish line. Yongala’s stubbornness helps make her a genuine bucket list dive.

This May, Spoilsport gives divers who like to experience the best, the chance to tick this one off in style. With 4 different itineraries running back to back, there’s something for everyone, including side trips to the wrecks of the SS Gothenburg and the Lady Bowen. All trips leave from Townsville. All trips include a night dive on Yongala. All trips will demonstrate why this shipwreck needs no introduction. Later in the year, several week long expeditions will include both Yongala and the far offshore Coral Sea reefs. There are so many choices you will have trouble figuring out which one to take, every single trip has a different itinerary. But for us here on board, for the time being at least, we are simply thinking of them affectionately as, the Green Zone

$ 200 Off Yongala Expeditions 1 – 14 May 2015

Rogues Gallery