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Published: August 8th 2007
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My new friend!
What you looking at!?! Another blog already!! I just couldn't wait to share my photographs from my scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef and I am taking shelter from a warm downpour - well I am near the rainforest! It is very warm and humid and the skies have decided to give us all a light warm shower to cool down!
We are staying at Dougie's Backpackers hostel and campsite and it is lovely. All the places I have stayed in so far have been soo different to eachother. We are in a small wooden cabin surrounded in palm trees, greenery and the sound of crickets. The room is spotless and secure! There is a huge kitchen within the bar area so it seems very sociable. Erin and I have just stocked up on groceries for some healthy home cooked food instead of all the junk food meals out I have been having!
On to the good stuff....the Great Barrier Reef....one word, WOW!!! We were picked up from Cairns yesterday by the coach and took all our bags with us, we caught a big Quicksilver boat to the furthest reefs which were told had the best fish and they didn't lie.
Sick scuba diver!
I look like Queen Victoria with skin that pale - I had just been sick!! The only problem was that the sea is so choppy around the reef which acts as a barrier around the coral keeping it calm in the reef. I was watching my intro diving video when I felt ill! I was sent out on the deck where a man was being sick and each time he was sick so was I so I spent the 1 1/2 hour journey being sick. As soon as we arrived at the first reef the ship photographer took our photos and we went into the reef. One way to make me feel better quickly. Vanity was going to stop me posting the pic but it is quite amusing just how pale I look! As I'd not been well I suddenly realised that I was about to scuba dive minutes before and panic started to kick in. Since it was my first ever dive three of us went down, 1 instructor, 2 beginners. The other man had already dived but years ago so wanted some assistance. My first dive was really scary, the fish and the underwater world didn't bother me but the oxygen mask and lack of gravity did. As I was breathing rapidly I
kept floating to the top so he had to weigh me down, he was holding on to my pressure gauge as if I was a balloon. As panicked as I was I was also amazed, it was like a magical dream world with lots of multi-coloured fish and strange organisms. We saw a giant clam bigger than me which closed when you touched it. I was down for the full 30 minutes, got out and sat on the back of the boat taking in what I had just seen and where I had just been! The instructor told me that I shouldn't have been trying to swim and to just float but my head knew that but my flailing legs didn't! I snorkelled a bit but it was very rough at the surface and my snorkel tube kept filling up with water and near drowning me! Erin had been on the certified dive so when she returned we sat on the dock and the boat moved us to Turtle Bay where a few more people where diving and we had a seafood lunch. We saw turtles from the top deck but they were camera shy.
By the third site
(said to be the best) I had cleared my ears and was being persuaded to dive again, guaranteed by the instructor that I would enjoy it even more as I would be more relaxed, he didn't lie. We went down, he fed fish and I met a new friend who was bigger that me both length ways and width ways. He was a vegetarian fish with a bit of an itchy back which he liked people to rub. I started laughing and nearly swallowed half the sea so panicked a bit and he just swam over and looked me in the face which helped. I bought some of my pics from the underwater diver as they are fantastic. I also saw neon glow in dark fish, schools of fish, I found nemo hiding in the coral and after looking at a video of my dive I also found something unexpected......a shark about 3 metres away from me sat in a cave measuring about 1 1/2 metres. I'm glad I didn't see him or I'd have been out like a shot! The video was a source of amusement for Erin and the crew as my legs struggled to swim and my
eyes were at fully opened at all times. I did really start to enjoy myself as time went on, it really was an experience! Looking back I am proud of myself and amazed at the fantastic sites I saw.
Rainforests, koalas and kangeroos one day, Great Barrier Reef the next......life is good! I am off to attempt to get into a hammock! Next stop Magnetic Island.
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Jan (LWH)
non-member comment
Wow!
Those scuba pics are amazing and it sounds like you are having fun and some wonderful experiences - good for you! Im really enjoying reading the updates, have had a bit of trouble posting comments but hopefully this one will go through! Good to hear you are in a small, clean, secure hostel - all that about some random man climbing in your bed in the small hours was a bit worrying!!! Hope you and your new found friends carry on having fun, and I look forward to an update from magnetic Island (that sounds wierd - what is it?!) Jan xxx