The St. Paul.
Lying in approximately 42mtrs of water is the rusted remains of the ST.PAUL. She was a French freighter heading for New Caledonia when it struck Smith Rock on March 27 1914 and sunk 18 lives where lost on this 1633 ton freighter. Visibility can be anywhere from 10mtrs to 25mtrs. A thermocline can be present on decent around the 30mtr mark. On surveying the wreck you'll find two big boilers, pipe work, the hull and places where artifacts were removed from the wreckage of days past. Today it is home for a great number of marine life. It has become a popular site for divers and fisherman. The last time I dived this site it was swarming with king fish, a very large grouper has become a resident here along with the wobbegong sharks and marauds of other fish life.

The Aarhus.
Heading to Brisbane form New York she become a victim of Smith Rock. Her cargo partly consisted of kerosene, bails of wire, sperm whale oil, and glasses, some of which can be seen today on the dive. Settled in about 26mtrs, the 1875 German built timber hull Tall ship didn't take long to rest after hitting Smith Rock in February of 1894 and her bow is quiet prominent on the dive.
As she is a historic wreck, legislation exists to protect and preserve this wreck for the future. Pictures are the only things you can take from this site.
Visibility is always good here, strong currents can exist and there is always something to been seen swimming around, it never stops to surprise me as to what pops in for a look at this site. During the spring and autumn months the sweet sounds of migrating whales can be heard underwater.

Kaptjain Neilsen
On service here in Brisbane for the extending and dredging of the then new shipping channel was the Kaptjain Neilsen from Denmark. On September 18, 1964, she met with an unfortunate accident in which made the record books for the most lives saved from within an overturned hull. In total 9 persons lost there lives from the 24-crew members. The capsized vessel, which was stuck in the sand, had the top floor of the wheelhouse cut free so as it could be righted and pumped dry. She was then repaired in Brisbane with a make shift wheel house and sent home. Today the top floor and some deck structures remain and makes for a very interesting 16mtr dive.
Usually there is a few resident wobbiegong sharks and cod making the structure home along with some nice dinner size fishes, there has also been seen a leopard shark and a bronze whaler visit the site on occasions. The other good thing about this site is that you never know what you may see or find.

Crusader 2, aka "The Cement Co".
In 1985 a local sand and coral badge was on her voyage to a resting ground further out to sea when she had other ideas. Several plates on the underside became loose and fell off. She took on water and sunk resting upside down in 25mtrs, exposing her 6 large propellers, and missing hull plates. This site is popular for wreck penetration diving. It is advisable to dive here on a slack tide and suitable for experienced divers. A very large amount of cray fish live inside this wreck and is home to the most beautiful of all lionfish. This very large and beautiful creature has been present on all dives that I've done here guarding the wreck from all intruders. Although he is not camera shy getting a decent picture is almost impossible due to it's inquisitive nature.

Curtin Artificial Reef.
There is plenty written on the placement and selection of the debris that makes up this regularly dived artificial reef. This is not one of those places, as we dive this site at least twice a week, writing here each and every piece of information on this site would take over four or more pages in text. The Underwater Research Group of Queensland started the reef in 1968 with the placement of one "Amsterdam" barge. Today there are 19 vessels, 1 tram, a dry dock gate, concrete pipes, tires and some buoys, with marine life that surprises every dive. A good time to dive this reef is on the slack tides, however, it is remarkably an easy drift dive with the wrecks so positioned that you can get into the wrecks and out of the current or just drift along in the 15 - 18mtr float. The marine life around the wrecks has and is increasing greatly, it has become home a few very large groupers (one of which is 2mtrs long), bream, trevally, sweet lip, king fish, parrot fish, wrasse etc. A word of warning, stone fish have m site there home and breeding is very popular around the reef so please be careful. Many dive instructors use these wrecks as training for numerous courses and specialties,
such as wreck penetration, night dive, drift dives, nitrox dives etc.

Tangalooma Wrecks.


Popular mooring grounds for small vessels at night and for shelter during rough weather, the wrecks are situated approx 2klms from the Tangalooma resort. In 1963 the Queensland government started placing 6 old steam dredgers and barges to make this reef. Seen sticking out of the water and lying in about 10mtrs of water, 15 wrecks have become home to bird life and marine life, with snorkellers, divers and fishermen taking advantage of the planned site. The scuttled remains make for some great long interesting dives. There is plenty to see and always something of interest and areas where the local inhabitants still let you know its there home your in. The "Morwong" has some great swim throughs and for the trained diver some excellent penetrations. Many divers use these wrecks for checking gear configuration, time control and divers comfortability for those extra long dives. Night dives on these wrecks are just amazing with activity around each corner.