Moreton Island
Tangalooma. Artificial reef, Moreton Island
Went snorkelling on Sunday. Failed to realise that here in Brisbane, you have to travel to get where you want to snorkel. In other words, a reasonably long boat ride, an hour across rough seas, and then all snorkelling to be done from the boat. Wetsuits a requirement. I also failed to realise that we would be a mixed bag of snorkellors and scuba divers.
We anchored off Curtin reef (another artificial reef), reasonably deep, and not suitable for those snorkelling. And when all the divers had returned, headed for Tangalooma. There was a very strong tidal current ripping alongside all the wrecked boats, and the idea was that we were to drift along in the current, close by the rusty oyster-incrusted hulks. The trouble was that drift wasn't quite the right word. The current was racing. And the thought of being snagged on all that rusty iron was not attractive. They took us in an inflatable to the top of the race and in no time flat we were back at the boat having seen very few fish. At that point, having seen how incompetent, I and my buddy were, they sent us back with one of the Garys to help us and this time we saw lots of fish.
Originally they had planned to take us to Flinders(?), but the weather was not improving so they decided that the dive after lunch would again be at Tangalooma. By this time, the tide was no longer so swift and we took our time 'drifting' back. The visibility by this time was less than a metre, but we still saw lots of fish.
In the end I thought it was a pretty good trip with most of us well looked after. But snorkelling off Sydney or off Rottnest seems a good deal simpler. I do hate struggling in and out off a wetsuit and in and out of fins.
