HMAS Brisbane

10 March 2007.

Once again, we headed to Scuba World in Mooloolaba on Queensland's Sunshine Coast for a couple of dives on the EX HMAS Brisbane. Sound familiar? It should.. We've been here, oh, just a few times..

During the first dive, we went straight to the bow to get my obligatory photo.

As you can see, the bow of this ship is unrecognisable these days. Except for the railings, this could just be part of a natural reef.

The nozzle of the aft gun. Hard to believe that projectiles the size of a small football used to fly out of here at a great rate of knots.

When I saw this Octopus, there was about 10 divers around it flashing away with their cameras. I waited my turn just off to the side and hoped that they wouldn't scare it off.

The second dive was a non event for me in a way.  I had trouble staying down on the deck of the ship. Checking weight pockets, I noticed one was missing. I remember putting it in, but the Surelock system must not have locked correctly and I think I lost it at the surface.

After signalling to my buddies that I had lost it, I left them and headed back to the surface. I got to where we landed on the deck after the descent and had a look around. I even went to the bottom and had a look around under where the boat was and could not find it. So I headed back to the radio tower and did my safety stop, adding a few extra minutes to allow for an extra safety margin then surfaced. Ian was surprised to see me so soon as when I dive here, I am usually first in and last out. I explained the mishap and when Jason got back to the boat, he headed back down directly to have a look. Jason also checked from the boat to the Brisbane as I did, but he also could not find it. So, this dive was a tad more expensive than usual as I had to purchase a new weight pocket for $80.00, and a small shot weight as I had borrowed one from another diver.

These things happen..

Back to the main page.