The ship was a 42m long gravel barge called the MV Karma, which was travelling up the coast to Rockhampton to be scrapped. The 450 tonne vessel lost power during the journey and ran aground at Deepwater National Park.
She was refloated a few weeks later, but the salvage attempt had to be aborted when she started to sink. On December 23rd 2003, the divers of Queensland were presented with a wonderful Christmas present when the MV Karma sank 8 miles offshore.
In the short time the MV Karma has been on the bottom she has quickly obtained a reputation as one of the best s
hipwreck
dives in Queensland. While the wreck is occasionally visited by passing charter
boats, Don Growcott of 1770 Undersea Adventures takes divers out to explore the
old barge almost daily.I joined Don recently for two wonderful dives on the MV Karma. It takes about an hour to get to the site of the MV Karma from the Town of 1770 in Don’s 6.8m rigid hull inflatable dive boat.
Once over the wreck the water was calm and blue, and we could clearly see the wreck below. Descending onto the bow the visibility was easily 20m, about average for the area, allowing us to see much of the MV Karma.
The wreck sits on a sandy bottom at 26m. We dropped down onto the sand at the bow to follow an olive sea snake as it swam across the bottom.
On the bow were two large wobbegong sharks, a tasselled wobbegong lying under a hatch lid and an even bigger spotted wobbegong resting under the crane. Also under the crane were two big estuary gropers and schools of bannerfish and black-spot snapper.
The crane was fascinating to explore, with the crane boom extending towards the stern. The crane and the crane boom are in perfect condition, though now covered in oysters and algae, with the crane boom home to silver batfish, trevally and rabbitfish.
Below, in the hold, I could see another olive sea snake, so we dropped down for a closer look. This sea snake was fast asleep, curled up under some rope. Also in the hold were angelfish, tuskfish, butterflyfish and sweetlip.
As we swam towards the bridge area we were surrounded by a large school of short-fin batfish. There must have been hundreds of these silvery batfish swimming slowly along the side of the ship.
The bridge is a two level structure with doors still swinging on their hinges. I had a look inside a room and found it full of cardinalfish with a large estuary groper hiding amongst them. The next room was the same, the gropers looked like they had each claimed a room.
On the stern were more batfish and a school of striped barracuda swarming around a ladder. Peering into a hatch I could see a very dark and silty engine room, so wasn’t tempted to enter. Under the stern were schools of sweetlip, a few more estuary gropers and a large cobia sitting out on the sand.
We then explored the upper level of the bridge, looking into the wheelhouse, which is home to more snapper. Following the crane boom back to the bow suddenly a shadow past overhead, a massive school of amberjack, a wonderful sight to end a spectacular dive.
In the short time the MV Karma has been on the ocean floor it has become a haven for marine life and is already one of the ‘must do’ shipwrecks in Queensland.
The MV Karma is not the only brilliant dive site off the Town of 1770. The Cetacea, Polmaise, Shannon II and Barcoola are all fishing trawler shipwrecks in 30m to 45m of water. Though compact in size they are packed with marine life. Don informed us that there are also excellent rocky reefs at Middle Rock and Outer Rock off Bustard Head, and a pretty coral reef in Pancake Creek, one of the few estuarine coral reefs in Australia.
The Town of 1770 is located on the central Queensland coast, around 500km north of Brisbane. The town is famous as the first landing place in Queensland of Captain Cook in May 1770. Most tourist come to the town to fish, surf and relax, however the town is also the gateway to the southern section of the Great Barrier Reef, with day trips to Lady Musgrave Island very popular.
Don is in the process of setting up a second larger dive vessel, a 13.7m long Harris craft, which will be used to dive the local dive sites and for trips out to Lady Musgrave Island and the rest of the fabulous Bunker Group. The vessel will have a compressor onboard and be set up to run both day and liveaboard trips.