Nemo and all his friends

Thanks to a birthday gift from Mom and Dad :-) I spent the first week in January learning to dive on the Great Barrier Reef! I can't imagine a better way to do it.

The first two days were spent at a dive center in Cairns learning technique and taking tests. This is the wet season for Cairns, so the weather is usually pretty bad. Thankfully the first two days were sunny. Pool diving would have really sucked in thunderstorms. The training and tests went well and everyone in the class was heading for the reef.

Wednesday morning started off really early with the boat leaving around 7am (ouch!) Thankfully they had coffee and breakfast to tied us over. The schedule for the next couple of days was four training dives and 5 fun dives. We arrived on Millin Reef around 11am and were off on our first dive! After descending down the line to 10 meters, the group of 6 of us waited to do a few training maneuvers before going off on a guided swim. The first thing we noted was the blue spotted stingray swimming off in the distance. Very cool. It was only ray I ended up seeing all trip. Unfortunately no cameras are allowed on training dives. The next three dives proceeded well and I was dive certified by noon on Thursday. Yippee!

We moved dive sites every two dives or so. The weather had turned bad so if conditions were not good at our site, we would aim for something more sheltered. During my first pleasure dive, we were told to go out to an area on Flynn Reef called Mickey Mouse. Yes, it was three coral towers in the shape of Mickey. My buddy and I were in search of sharks, turtles, and Nemo! After jumping in the water, the first thing we saw was a turtle swimming around. I have never been so excited and not been able to express it. I imagine I was pretty funny. We continued our swim to Mickey Mouse and found Nemo. Prior to this we had seen the Pink version of Nemo but no true clown fish. I was very happy. The sharks managed to elude us on this dive. For those of you who don't know, Disney was wrong. Bruce the Great White Shark does not live on the Great Barrier Reef. It is much too warm for them. They are off the coast of Melbourne (or San Francisco). On the way back to the boat, much to my delight, we encountered Brian. She is a very large turtle (yes Brian is a girl and I didn't name her). Surprisingly turtles are very friendly and not at all afraid of divers. They look at you and then continue on their way. This results in great photos. :-)

Next on the schedule was a night dive! After dinner we jumped in the water for a guided night dive (with torches of course). Sharks were definitely high on the list for this dive. The chop was pretty bad so our goal was to get in the water and under as fast as possible. I was the first off for our group. I jumped in and came face to face with a reef shark! He was as shocked as I was! We proceeded on our dive and saw four more sharks, a lion fish, and a sleeping turtle! I think it was Brian. No pictures unfortunately as it just does not work at night. Definitely one of the more unique experiences I have ever had.

The next day was our last, but we were planning three dives before lunch. Visibility at our first dive site was pretty bad. We saw some colorful fish but it was impossible to get any pictures. My dive buddy was attacked by a Trigger fish, so that made for an interesting dive. He was fine and managed to get away. He was attempting to take a picture. What we later found out is that trigger fish are very protective during mating season. Oops! The next dive site was great. It was on the edge of the outer reef. Our swim took us along the outside wall. There were tons of gorgeous and colorful fish. It was also breakfast time for the big guys. We were swimming through tons of bait fish. Looking into the ocean you could see the larger fish looming. I spotted snapper, cod, tuna, and even a shark. The sharks are so fast. I never did manage to get a picture of them. Oh well...next trip.

It was certainly a great week. I was very sad to be headed back to work on Monday. Okay I have to run. Tiff and Nikki will be here shortly for there visit from New Zealand/US respectfully. Have a great weekend!

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