Our regular snorkelling writer Duncan Leadbitter is back in the mix – and he’s struck history

After an extended period out of the water due to an ear operation (to fix swimmer’s ear or exostoses as the bony growths triggered by cold water are called) it was so good to get back in.

I visited the reef at East Corrimal, just to the north of the entrance to Bellambi Lagoon. I had not been on the south side of the reef before so it was an exploratory snorkel. The entry point is from the beach into a channel that runs along the edge of the reef. Despite the low swell there was a current heading out to sea due to the runout tide.

Immediately I saw what I took to be ship wreckage on the bottom along the edge of the reef. Unlike material I have seen at Bellambi and Sandon Point which is all metal, I saw what looked like wood amongst metal. The nearby rocks were clean of any seaweed and other growth, suggesting that sand had been recently removed from the area, possibly due to the big seas we have been experiencing.

I assume that the wreckage is part of the Queen of Nations, most of which lies off the entrance to Towradgi Lagoon (close by to the south) but some bits (like lots of bottles of rum and cognac) were washed north towards Bellambi. There is some great information about drunken sailors and threats with pistols to be found at this website: Queen of Nations (hemnet.com.au

The water was cold and it’s a time of year when there aren’t many fish to say hello to. There was a school of luderick around one of the breaks and plenty of undersize bream in very shallow water close to shore. There were more crimson banded wrasse than I see normally and I also saw a southern eagle ray.

The reef is very shallow and finding deeper drop-offs required a long swim. A lot of the reef is covered in the invasive seaweed, Caulerpa filiformis.

It’s a place I will go back to and explore as it’s a short walk from the car park and an easy entry/exit if the swell is low.