Blogs from Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia, Oceania - page 18

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Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Great Barrier Reef January 23rd 2007

On Tuesday it was time for another flight, this time to Cairns. I had a quiet night at the hotel, and the following morning i had a 6.15am pick up to take me to the dive boat that would be my home for the next 3 days. The boat was scuba pro II which was one of the Pro-Dive boats. We spent 3 days out at sea on the outer reef, and although i was shattered at the end of the 3 days, and nursing a very painful wound on my ankle where the fin had removed several layers of skin, it was a brilliant experience and it is somewhere i would definitely like to return to in the future. Whilst onboad, I obtained my advanced scuba diving qualification, did a dive to 28 m, plus ... read more
Nathan in a moment of concentration
David doing what he does best
Jack

Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Great Barrier Reef January 22nd 2007

We went out to The Great Barrier Reef from the Cairns Reef terminal. The sea was a bit rough, causing a number of people to turn quite green once we reached the pontoon out in the reef. We then went in a glass-sided semi-submersible, which gave us our first glimpse at the beauty of the reef and all it's colourful marine life. Due to the rough sea, the view wasn't as good as it could have been (so sorry no photos worth publishing). As the Sub swayed from side to side a number of people grabbed the sick bags, meaning more casualties to add to those already left clutching their stomachs on the Pontoon. I wasn't far behind them myself after all that swaying!! Sally attempted an introductory dive, but couldn't quite get her head round ... read more
A disappointing view of the reef

Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Great Barrier Reef December 1st 2006

Waking up on our second morning on the boat, I was soooo ready for dry land. At this point I must take the opportunity to thank Dan for his patience, kindness and tolerance of me for the previous 48 hours as I am sure by this stage I was certainly wearing him down! Doing my usual pill popping and cotton wool trick, we made the decision that the 06.00am dive really wasn’t necessary and so stayed in bed while others faced the early morning exercise drill! We joined them for breakfast and then decided to not dive at 08.00am but have a snorkel instead as several people had come back yesterday afternoon reporting sighting's of Turtles whilst snorkelling. This was lovely although the dive site was really designed for divers and a lot of the good ... read more
Trigger Fish - these buggers bite!
Some of the reef

Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Great Barrier Reef November 30th 2006

Woke up much better (thanks for asking!) but started the day with the drug and cotton wool saga to help me on my way! Wake up call was at 05.30am as we were to be in the water for our first dive at 06.00am- this was hard! It was a lovely dive, the sun had only just risen in the sky and everyone was so excited about the day ahead. We were down for about 30 minutes again and to about 18 metres which is our certified deepest depth. Our Dive was an exciting drift Dive along the Wall at Brigg's Reef - which meant we kinda coasted over the coral in the current. We saw many giant clam's again, some parrot fish and bat fish and all manner of fish and critters we couldn't possibly ... read more
Barbary's Hair Salon Style No. 1
Clare & Brett
Stingray Stingray

Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Great Barrier Reef November 29th 2006

Up early and off to board our smaller transport boat which would take us out to the ‘Kangaroo Explorer’ which would become our home for the next 2 nights. The nearly 2 hour boat ride wasn’t too bad, for someone like me (Clare) who does not make friends with boats on any occasion! We were shown to our rooms, had a quick lunch and then our first dive on the Barrier Reef was at 1.00pm. This was a little bit of a shock to the system, although the water was 26 degrees (mmmm cosy!) we had to wear stinger suits (not wet suits) due to the jelly fish risks. Out here they have jelly fish called Sea Wasps and various types of Box Jellyfish. To put it bluntly, you'd be lucky to survive for more than ... read more
The boat - Kangaroo Explorer

Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Great Barrier Reef November 29th 2006

25/11/06 - 28/11/06 Diving the Great Barrier Reef The dive trip that we booked was a 4-day trip on board a Catamaran M/V Nimrod out of Cooktown, to the Cod hole and Ribbon Reefs. This meant that the trip included low-level flights each way between Cairns and Cooktown. The plane flies at under 1000 ft/ 350 meters to enable us to make 2 dives in the morning and then fly the same day and was a real bonus to the dive trip looking down over the rain forest and the reefs and cays of the coast. The pilot announced a “Real treat” as we passed the ‘Devil’s Thumb’ a rock formation mountain peak high up above the rainforest. Supposedly it’s usually too windy or too cloudy to pass close to it and this was only the ... read more
Anenome fish
Circling reef shark
Yellow Boxfish

Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Great Barrier Reef November 22nd 2006

Hello Hello!!!!!!! So I have been busy with my scuba lessons since Monday. It doesn't leave me any time to do anything. I get picked up from the hostel at 9 am and then dropped off at 6:30 pm or so. The first two days were combination of theory and pool lessons. Ok first I have to say my instructor, Dave, is super hott and he is an Aussie. (Hmmm I wonder what he is doing for Christmas?? hehehe) Anyway, we went into the pool in the afternoon on the first day of course. We geared up and went under. I had a slight anxiety attack and had to come up. Oh my god, you mean I really have to breathe in and out of my mouth and not my nose? How the heck do you ... read more
Mayo and I
Turtle Reef

Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Great Barrier Reef November 13th 2006

One of the challenges we set ourselves for this trip was learning to SCUBA dive. It seemed like the best way to see the Great Barrier Reef too, so we signed up for the SSI certification course with Cairns Dive Centre. Two days of pool and theory, followed by two nights liveaboard on the Kangaroo Explorer at various dive sites on the reef, including a maximum of nine dives. Not bad. It was hard work at first. The most intellectually challenging thing we've had to do for a while is reading between the lines in the guide book. But here we were, up at 7 a.m. text books at the ready and an exam to pass after a day and a half of study. There's a lot to take on board, but we got the hang ... read more
Early morning, soggy wetsuit
Beautiful reef
Checking our equipment

Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Great Barrier Reef October 23rd 2006

Today was the cruise on the Ragamuffin. And how typical- it was terrential rain when we woke up! We decided to stay positive and hope that it would stop so we made our way back to the mainland on the ferry to maat the yacht. It didn't stop and we were getting drenched! I was in two minds whether to go back to Long Island but we carried on. The crew onboard gave us yellow raincoats- very attractive they were too! We had a safety briefing and started our sail to Blue Pearl Bay on the coast of Hayman Island. I wanted to try scuba diving so I got kitted up into my wetsuit and the guy taking us down there had a chat with us about the different communication signals and safety etc... The rain ... read more
Kate in her yellow raincoat!
Me in my wetsuit!
Elerie, Tanya, Me and Kate

Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Great Barrier Reef October 22nd 2006

Hej igen. Vi har nu vaeret paa en paradis oe. Den hedder Heron. Det skoenneste var at vi moedte nogle dejlige mennesker, en familie fra Hilleroed. De havde en datter paa Idas alder og en dreng paa Emmas alder. Der blev bare leget igennem:) Det vilde var, at vi saa skildpadder, rokker, hajer og flotte fisk. Faktisk var det rent luksus, da vi fik serveret maden 3 gange om dagen og boede paa et dejligt vaerelse med koejeseng til Ida og Emma. Helt vildt. Jeg var ogsaa ude og proeve at dykke, hvilket maa siges at vaere en fantastisk oplevelse, men nok ikke noget jeg goer igen. Jeg blev aldrig helt vild med at traekke vejret gennem en slange. Mystisk. Men hold da op et liv der er under havoverfladen. Nu er vi ved Hervey Bay, ... read more
Koralvandring.
Skildpadde.
Rokker




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