Bundaberg Aqua Scuba.....SSI Dive Facility

Boat Diving Trips

Offshore Wrecks and Reef

AQUASCUBA CHARTERS and BUNDABERG AQUA SCUBA

are proud to announce the arrival of their new dive boat MV DEEP EXPLORER to Bundaberg.

About the boat.

Deep Explorer is a 7.6 Cougar Cat powered by two Suzuki 200hp 4 stroke outboard engines. With these 2 quiet engines running at 4000 rpm Deep Explorer will get you to the dive site quickly and comfortably. The open area of the floor deck is great with scuba gear stored on both sides and secured with other dive gear stored underneath the seating area. Plenty of room on this boat for 12 divers and 2 crew.

MV Deep Explorer

Sites

The sites that Deep Explorer will be visiting are the local reefs and wrecks off the Bundaberg coast. These sites include Evans Patch, Barjon, Beaufort Bomber, Karma, Baffle Cat and others. Most of these sites are in depths ranging from 20m up to 27m.

The Karma trip you will need to allow all day, meeting at 7.00 am and returning approx 3.00 pm. Evans Patch trip is a shorter trip. meeting at 8.00am and returning approx. 2.00pm.

On our dive trips, there are 2 dives and pricing is as follows.

The cost of the Evan’s Patch/Barjon trip
           2 x dives including all dive gear
           2 x dives with own gear
                    (Tanks & weight belts provided)

Deposit required on booking
All diving subject to weather conditions and availability

$160.00
$130.00

The cost of the MV Karma/Baffle Cat trip

           2 x dives including all dive gear
           2 x dives with own gear
                    (Tanks & weight belts provided)

Deposit required on booking
All diving subject to weather conditions and availability

$180.00
$150.00

Some more information on the dive sites

The Barjon/Evans Patch is approx. 15 miles offshore & will take approx. 45 minutes by boat. These sit in approx. 23m in depth.

The Barjon is a trawler that sunk many years ago & is home to a large variety of marine life including Barracuda, Black King Fish, Large Sting Rays & huge schools of Trevally.

Evans Patch is a relatively small patch of rock, but is home to a abundance of marine life such as the possibility of Wobbegongs, Lion Fish, Morays, Sting Rays, Schooling Fish, Manta Rays to name a few.

The MV Karma is a 45m vessel situated approx. 8 miles off Baffle Creek in approx. 26 meters in depth. It hosts a massive amount of Marine Life including Turtles, Rays, Pelagic Fish, Moray Eels & Bat Fish etc.

You may like to visit here to see some pictures of the Karma and Artificial Reef

Cochrane Artificial Reef.

sweetlip at Artifical Reef We run regular dive trips to the Cochrane Artificial Reef.
The Cochrane Artificial Reef started by Alan Cochrane and a group of dedicated divers in the late 80's wanting good easily accessed offshore dive sites in the Bundaberg region. The Artificial Reef is the only approved artificial reef site within a marine park in Australia making it quite unique.

Situated in the Woongarra Marine Park and unlike the coral reefs that surround the island of Musgrave the Artificial reef now consists of four ships three Airplanes some steel structures hundreds of tons of concrete pipes and building blocks to which more is being added each year.

The Artificial Reef is sited some 3 miles off the coast between Barolin Rocks and Elliott Heads on the seaward edge of the marine park. Easily accessed by Little Ripper a positive floatation vessel licensed to carry 6 divers.
Dive Bundaberg dive boat Little Ripper with her Skipper Jarrod. Visit Dive Bundaberg

Resting on a sandy bottom in 16 to 20 metres of water most of the wrecks are now well covered in growth and the fish life is prolific and very diverse. The wrecks are now home to many large shoals fusiliers, trevally, snapper along with several resident Queensland grouper up to 2 metres long and numerous estuary cod.

student divers Frequent sightings of turtles, large rays, dolphins, barracuda and wobbegongs are common on many of the dives and as with any offshore site you never know what will appear next.

The wrecks you can dive.

The Ceratodus II

A 50 metre long Dredger scuttled in 1992 lay on her side in 10 to 20 metres of water, suitable for divers of all experience levels, can be explored inside and out.

Well covered in growth, large schools of baitfish hang around the top of the wreck attracting larger predatory fish like tuna and barracuda.

Two Mohawks

Two Mohawk aircraft approximately 20 metres long were sunk in 1996 have attracted a lot of interest from divers who have already visited the sites. Well established they are now home to several large Queensland Grouper the largest one VW is around 2 to 3 metres long. Turtles and large rays are also seen here frequently.

Resting 16 to 18 metres below the surface they can be explored inside and out.

King Air

A 17 seater light aircraft broken in half with the plane and tail section separated about 20 metres apart was sunk in1997 making access to the inside very easy.

The Barge

Once used for the shipping of goods to Lady Elliott Island, she was sunk in 1999 and is already covered in much growth and many schools of small fish already call this home. She now rests in 15 metres of water at almost the most easterly point of the reef site.

The 2 Light Ships

Sunk in 2000 they rest upright in 18 metres of water about 100 metres apart.

They are 35 metres long and raise 8 metres off the bottom and growth already on them is incredible. Many times we have visited these 2 wrecks and 20 metres away have been unable to see them for the amount of fish around.

What Will It Cost

Double boat dive with hire gear $133.oo
Prices include tanks & weights.

And When Can I Go

Trips run Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday & Sunday. You could even combine your dive trip with a PADI speciality course, or gain credit as an adventure dive towards your Advanced open water for a small administration and or certification charge.