Snorkeling tangalooma ship wrecks

in #photography16 days ago

So the other weekend we went back to the beautiful Moreton Island for another day of snorkeling the ship wrecks.

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It is such a unique experience exploring these wrecks. Every time I have been here I have seen something new.

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And this time was no exception!
As always the swim across the channel from the beach to the wrecks is challenging due to the extremely strong current. So its best to snorkel the wrecks at either low or high tide as the changing tides it gets a bit wild.

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This time we swam the channel just after low tide and it wasn't too bad.

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As always under the water was full of life!
This large blue grouper caught my eye so I followed him for awhile.

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Then by accident we spotted an octopus camouflage amongst the steel.

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I had never seen one of these guys here before so it was a pretty special treat. A matter of fact this was possibly the largest octopus I had ever seen!

The one thing when snorkeling around the wrecks is don't touch the wrecks with your hands as the metal is extremely rusty and it cuts you up very easily. But it is good to be able to stand on the wrecks every now and then to have a little break.

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My mate Paulie found a cool part of the old ship that he could swim through under the water.

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As we were exploring the submerged ship. We noticed something was living inside part of this ship.

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With a closer inspection it was a fully grown Wobbegong!

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Wobbegongs are a species of carpet sharks and are pretty harmless unless you corner it. Like any wild animal I guess. But also around the time they give birth, they have been known to bite humans, sometimes unprovoked, which can produce severe wounds.
So we kept our distance and he didn't seem to mind us being there.

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The pattern on this guy is just beautiful!
It reminds me of an aboriginal art painting.

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I followed this big hound fish for awhile until he got sick of me and swam off.

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As we were swimming along some bubbles started to rise to the surface from the deep.

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Some people were down there scuba diving. I wonder what the wrecks are like on the ocean floor?

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We came across another cool spot to swim through the wrecks.

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You don't realize how far down you dive when you have to eqalise your ears so they don't pop from the pressure.

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But this was a fun spot we did a couple of passes through.

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As we came up to a large part of the ship sticking out of the water some cormorants have called home.

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There was a lot of sting rays getting around here.

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It's always so much fun exploring these wrecks and I look forward to next time.

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Let's face it it will prob be in Spring haha getting too cold now 🙂

Thanks for stopping by and happy travels!

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