When I first explored the 133m long guided missile destroyer only days after she was sunk off Mooloolaba, on the 31st July, she was very clean and there was no marine life to been seen on or around the ship.
“Within days the ship had a coating of algae and then small barnacles started to appear, you won’t believe the amount of marine life on her now!” Paul White of Sunreef Diving Services informed me when I returned to dive the HMAS Brisbane in November.
Once tied up to the mooring, Helen, my wife, and I quickly entered the clear blue water. It was Helen’s first dive on the HMAS Brisbane so we joined John, one of Sunreef Diving Services dive guides, on an orientation dive around the former destroyer.
The visibility was 20m, and in the clear water I was stunned to see how much the ship had changed. It looked like the ship had been on the bottom for years, not months. The hull is now completed encrusted in algae, ascidians, anemones and millions of barnacles - there is not a patch of white or navy grey to be seen.
We descended onto the bow deck, staring up at the towering funnels, which were completely engulfed in baitfish. This shimmering silver cloud was constantly moving and parted as a school of kingfish charged through to catch a feed.
John lead us over to the bow gun turret, which now looks like a relic from World War II with all the growth on it. We then followed John along the port side of the ship, past the bridge, mag deck and second funnel. The fish life was astonishing – morwong, pufferfish, leatherjackets, gobies, blennies, surgeonfish, damsels, lionfish, rabbitfish and wrasse just to name a few. Invertebrate species are also well represented with octopus, crabs, cuttlefish, nudibranchs, feather stars and squid observed.
We stopped at the rear
gun
turret for more photos before descending into the guided missile silo and
entering the ship. Here we briefly penetrated a number of rooms – mainly the
crew living quarters – which served to whet our appetite for further
exploration.From here we dropped under the stern to the sand at 26m to find a large school of yellowtail swarming under the ship. Stingrays are now regularly seen here, but none were in residence today. We swam under the stern looking at where the props were once attached and were very surprised to find a family of ornate ghost pipefish home in the algae.
Following John up the starboard side of the ship we could see large grinners sitting on the sand. We next saw a very unusual fish – like a brown flutemouth with a ragged tail and long pointed snout. I didn’t know what it was, but after consulting a number of reference books discovered it was a bearded leatherjacket.
The next surprise was finding an anglerfish sitting on the sand next to a piece of pipe – how did this little fellow get here?
Returning to the bow John waved us goodbye allowing us to do our own exploration for the last twenty minutes of the dive. Helen and I headed to the tip of the bow, hoping to see the ‘pirate smurf’ that had been placed there prior to the sinking, but the little toy had disappeared. We then dropped over the side to see if the bow number 41 was still visible, however it was now covered in algae.
We had time to explore a number of rooms behind the bridge area, including the mess and lounge, a washroom and the crew galley. There is already a lot of algae and silt inside the ship, meaning you have to be careful with your fins not to stir up any sediment.
We ended the dive on the funnels, where a lone batfish has taken up residence. Baitfish were all around us and we watched then being hounded by the kingfish and a couple of bonito.
Back on the dive boat we were grinning after such a brilliant dive. Paul told us “Each time I visit the ship she changes, with more growth and more marine life. Just last week I saw two gropers inside.”
After a surface interval and we were in again, this time we were going to do our own exploration. Helen and I headed over to the funnel and descended down to the engine room. Here we could see the huge GE steam turbine engines. We next moved into the boiler room. The access holes let in a lot of light making it very safe to explore.
Even though we spend the next twenty minutes exploring more rooms we had the most fun watching all the marine life that now resides on this artificial reef.
Back at Sunreef Diving Services shop at Mooloolaba, Greg Riddell told us “Everyone is amazed at the amount of life on the HMAS Brisbane, no one expected it to happen so quickly.”
The team from Sunreef Diving Services are now waiting to see now much hard and soft coral appears on the ship after the summer coral spawning.
During the three months the HMAS Brisbane has been on the bottom thousands of local and interstate divers have explored the old destroyer. “A lot of the divers come from interstate and stay for at least three days to dive the ship, but miss out on diving our local reefs as they didn’t know we have any.” Greg informed me.
When you come to dive the HMAS Brisbane don’t forget to allow a few more days to dive the local reefs. Mudjimba Island, Inner and Outer Gneering Reefs and Murphys Reef are all brilliant dives with plenty of hard and soft coral and marine life to be seen. These reefs are like a little patch of the Great Barrier Reef on the Sunshine Coast.
Sunreef Diving Services run daily dive trips out to the HMAS Brisbane and local reefs, and have recently purchased a second larger dive boat. The new boat is an 11m Kevla Cat surveyed to carry 12 divers plus 4 crew. With her very quite twin 250 Merceries and a cruising speed of 18 to 25 knots, she can be over the HMAS Brisbane in only 12 minutes. A very comfortable boat to be on and dive from, she has side tank ranks, gear storage under her wide seats, a hard top canopy and a toilet onboard.
Sunreef Diving Services are also selling a brilliant slate showing all the rooms and features of the HMAS Brisbane. This slate is being produced by local underwater photographer Gary Cobb and is a wonderful reference before, after or when on the ship.