exHMAS Brisbane - Mooloolaba

After 3 cancelled dives due to bad weather, we finally made it out to the exHMAS Brisbane, and we weren’t disappointed. The highlight was without a doubt the thousands of silver-side covering this 130 meter wreck. There were moments when we lost sight of the other divers due to the amount of fish surrounding us. Outside and inside the vessel, these guys were everywhere!

This wasn’t a planned diving trip to the Sunshine Coast, I was missing my 2x WeeFine Smart Focus lights, so I really didn’t think I was going to get the quality of photos that I did from this dive. However with the stunning low-light performance of the Sony A7R3 and a bit of good fortune with visibility I was able to capture some fantastic scenes.

The fish hugged around the entire wreck, quickly changing directions and occasionally breaking away for a brief moment, before returning to the ship. The constant movement of the fish made the ship feel alive, almost like a heartbeat.

I think the image above in-particular captures the immense number of these fish around the wreck as they tower high up to the surface. The image below was captured a few moments later as the fish quickly darted away from the wreck, and then instantly returned.

Even as we ventured inside the wreck, they didn’t let up. It almost became hypnotic as they quickly darted in and out of the vessel.

In many ways, I’m happy that I didn’t have my camera lights on this dive. The lack of light source inside the vessel forced me to shoot into the outside openings and I couldn’t be happier with the results! The images above and below really capture the dramatic movements of the silverside.

I highly recommend this site if you’re passing by the Sunshine Coast in Australia and I look forward to visiting again when I’m next along the Sunshine Coast.