4/12/2006 - Trip Report - Lady Musgrave Island (Bunker Group, Queensland, Australia)
After my crazy departure and lack of preparation – I was somewhat worried what would happen when and if I actually arrived.
We got off to a terrible start.
Gloria (from dive club) collected me from work with two others who were carpooling up. We drove 15minutes and I went to get my wallet to pay for the toll that was coming up…. No wallet. Dillon (in the backseat) checked the bag that I said it was in (shopping bag with three bottles of wine) and informed me that the bottom of the bag was spilt open and there was no wallet. I was more concerned about my CCard being lost mere hours before I was due to flash it to dive. I called the office to run outside and check to see if it was still on the sidewalk… Just as I was about to hang up – I said – “just look on my desk in case I am a complete tosser.” Luckily it turns out I am a complete tosser. So we turned around and headed back, collected the wallet and made our way back to the motorway.
5.5hours later we arrived in Bundaberg. For all of us, Bundaberg was a huge surprise. We were expecting some sleepy little county town and were worried that we would find nowhere to eat. One of the trip leaders called us to order our meals from the pub before it closed… so we were confident that we would drive into a sleepy hamlet with a pub, a post office and a marina – with little else. It was a huge town with everything – more than everything. We had dinner at the Grand Pub – it was an average dinner – however when we late four were to pay we were told not to worry. SWEET. It made an average meal for $18 a really good meal for free.
We went to our home and dive platform for the next three days – Venus II. Venus II is a converted trawler – and while it isn’t 5 star, everything was neat, tidy and well set up – and the food was most nummy! I didn’t care if my cabin had its own DVD player and that there was no hot tub on deck. The diving was first class, the staff were fantastic and the beds were comfy!
We did ten dives over 2 and a half days on the Southern Barrier Reef in the Bunker Group. I did all ten dives, though aborted the last dive due to sinus pressure shortly after we set off.
The dives we did were:
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Top Dive – Hoskyn Island
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Big Bommie – Hoskyn Island
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North Western Cod Hole – Llevellyn Reef
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The Big Bite – Llevellyn Reef
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The Edge – Llevellyn Reef – Deep Dive
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Zig Zags – Llevellyn Reef – Drift Dive
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Jacksons Bommie – Fairfax Island
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Jacksons Bommie – Fairfax Island – Night Dive
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Manta Ray Bommie – Lady Musgrave Island
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Smurf’s Hut – Lady Musgrave Island
We hit some roughish weather on the second day and it was a tad rough on the way home. The crew were very attentive to everyone making sure you were OK, and if you weren’t, they were keeping an eye on you.
I thankfully made it through without getting seasick – though I wasn’t sure if I was getting seasick or not during the crossing between Llevellyn Reef and Fairfax Island – I napped outside on the engine housing and came out unscathed.
Positives of the trip:
Mitch – our Dive Coordinator was VERY good and exceptionally safety conscious. He had a good sense of humour but knew when to be serious about safety.
Fish – Huge variety and some really biggums. We saw Maori Wrasses, Napoleonfish, Flying Ganards, huge Potato Cods, White Tip Reefies, stacks of Turtles, lots of Trumpet Fish, Clown Fish, Ramoras, Trigger Fish, Spanish Mackeral, Crocodile Fish, Parrot Fish, Big Gropers, Trevally, Scorpion Fish, Lion Fish, Blind Sharks, Bull Rays, Dolphins riding our bow wave, etc
Corals – Good condition with only storm damage. Great colours and variety.
Food – ROCKED. Though feeding us spicy food after a rough crossing and before diving made for some interesting burps.
Company – Well, as all but one were members of our dive club and the lady from Sydney was a hoot – it made for a very enjoyable trip – with great conversation and of course – lots of joking!
Dive Times – We weren’t limited to set times. So long as we were back on the boat at 50bar all was cool. Almost every dive I did was an hour with few exceptions (aborted dive and night dive).
Negatives:
No Matas – but you can never be sure what you will see.
The long drive home – next time I will stay overnight in Bundy.
Slipping off the side of the boat when striding off on the night dive – I luckily didn’t hit my head on the tank on the way down.
Only one night dive.
Thinking I could fit between two bommies only to get myself stuck and make a huge wally of myself.
2.5 days on the reef – next time I would go on a week long charter.
Forgetting Shampoo and Conditioner and a brush.
Overall, it was a wonderful weekend away. And I would highly recommend it.
Oh, forgot to add:
Dive Musgrave
Devocean Dive
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