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What have I been up to the last few days?
Well I arrived back in Airlie and it was nice to see some old friends there again, and just chill by the lagoon for a bit. I think I have been tired ever since the whitsundays, I'm not really sure why, I think perhaps all the sunbathing, topping up my still non existant tan, took a lot of energy out of me!
But yeah, not much to tell about there. Airlie is an ok place, but not for hanging out for extended periods.
We then left for Townsville/Magnetic Island. Maggie Island is a nice lil place, with lovely beaches and some nice walks. I decided to do 'the forts' walk, which is where you're almost guaranteed to see Koalas. It was a lovely lil wander around a WW2 fortification, which is pretty much just trees and wildlife now. I didnt see Koalas, but never mind.
The following day I headed to Cairns, my final stop on this trip in Aus. I got here on the Sunday, in time to see Lawrence, Anwen, and Nicola before they headed to places new. Cairns isn't that big, but has lots of shops
and is where I had decided to do my dive course from. I book with Pro Dive, and have nothing but praise for the whole Open Water Course process. Ok, its not the cheapest company around, but I think it is definitely worth considering.
It started with an early morning pickup and learning about the equipement and various techniques on using it and surviving underwater. and then we got the chance to test out are new found 'skills' in the swimming pool. I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty scared I would freak out, and at first I wasn't so comfortable with the whole breathing underwater thing. But I did get the hang of it. Plus, it was great to have a wicked load of people learning to dive with me, AND Scuba Steve and Kai teaching us how to do it. They are both mental, and O, for Owesome. (thats awesome).
Next day, we got back in the pool to start off with, and once again, I thought I was gonna lose control, balance is not my strong point, and staying neutrally buoyant in the water, floating, produced the same effect as trying to ride a motorbike, me not
really having faith in myself and bouncing all over the place.
I passed the theory test afterwards though. My roommates in the hostel I was staying at, for the most part, tried to be considerate, but i'm sure I must have appeared like one of those shit, non-sociable travellers who don't know how to party. I went to bed (and tried to sleep) at about 9.30pm each day, because it was bloody knackering using my brain, trying to concentrate on learning how to dive, and practicing it, AND getting up early. eugh. But they were party animals, so i basically had very little sleep whilst I was staying there. On my last night, they deiced to go out early, and i put my earplugs in and managed to get 8 solid hours. woo woo.
Then it was my turn to head out in the Pro Dive boat to see the reef. A nice early start (5.45am) to get us out there for a full day of diving. I managed not to vom on the trip out there, but was seriously close, despite taking two motion sickness tablets (which are obviously rubbish). And then it was time for our first, at
sea, open water training dive. We each had our buddy partners, I had Izzi, which is good because she's a swimmer, so I knew she'd look after me if I was drowning. well hoped anyways.
On our first dive we saw a stingray gliding about, and then some Clown fish (aka NEMO!).
We then went up for some lunch, i was feeling not at all sick at this point, which was good because unlike with my whitusundays trip, there was heaps of food.
Then, dive 2 of the day, and this time a moray eel which our instructor had great fun talking to using his hands. We then surfaced for cake, and then the open water learners went snorkling. And a pefect spot for it. The coral was so close to the surface so we saw all kinds of fish and, 2 turtles, and some lil reef sharks :-).
The evening for us was spent eating and playing Taboo. Fun times.
Next day we woke up eaaarly, and it was our turn to go to 18m. Just before we leave, a minkie whale is pointed out under the boat, so our instructor goes to have a look, for ages,
and promptly tells us that we're not gonna get to see it, even tho the other half of the group (with another instructor) gets to snorkle over and say hello. ANGRY. So we sink down, and then have to do tasks underwater, like filling our masks up with water and trying to clear them, underwater. This would be fine, except for the stupid shape of my face which means I can never get a mask to fit it properly. So, on this ocassion, I had managed to get to the bottom without having water in there, and then they make me fill it up, and from then on, i can't get it to stop leaking. cheers. The next task was to watch our dive computers and stop at 17m under, I fail miserably. Our instructor holds a board up saying "stop at 17m" and i look at my computer and see "16m", so swim on, only to have him grab my and yank me back up to his level. I look at my comp screen "18.2m". Whoops. Then, we swim on, and suddenly, a huge shape approaches. A Devil Ray. 2.5 * 4m. A monster. So So cool. And the best thing, the other group didn't see it.
Dive two (after breakfast!) was our last open water training dive. we saw more clown fish. Awesome. Then, we're certified!
Our first dive alone was, to say the least, interesting. Izzi and I attempted to follow the given directions, to see the underwater rock,coral formations where all the cool fish hang out, but i'm not sure we went where we attempted to. We did surface only 20m from the boat though. So we must have got some of the compass reading correct! We saw, giant clams, anenomefish (nemos), unicorn fish, parrotfish, barracuda and cleaner fish, round batfish. and loads of beautiful coral.
We were then given the option to upgrade to an adventure course, which would leave me as a certified diver to 30m, without having pay out for a separate, advanced diving course. Obv money was involved, but it seemed like a good deal, so after a lot of umming and ahhing, i went for it, and am so pleased i did!
We did a night dive that evening and saw Brian the massive sea turtle, a lobster, a pulsating colour changing octopus, parrotfish in its sleepy spit bubble, and there were sharks about by the boat when we went down too!
Next morning we did out deep dive, to 30m. It was pretty weird at that level, as its where nitrogen narcosis begins to occur. This is basically meant to alter your abilities a bit like drinking, and it took me 35 seconds to count to 20. That might just be because i'm an idiot tho. And I also nearly lost my regulator as my mouth just couldn't seem to keep a grip on it when i first got there, so i nearly died. But not really, at all!
Because of this deep dive, we had to miss out on the after breakfast one, so i went snorkling, and that was pretty sweet too. But our last dive, WOW.
The weather was so calm, which meant we could go to one of ProDives, least dived spots. I did my naturalist dive, meaning i had to try and spot and identify lots of types of fish on the coral. But it was so packed with life it was difficult to remember what i'd seen after. It was truly amazing. I saw, two sea turtles, a napolean wrasse (huge fish), loads of different types of parrotfish, 3 different types of anemofish (which i did identify, but my dive log is upstairs!), moorish idol fish, and so many others!
The whole thing was a great experience, and i would urge people to give diving a go. Especially with pro dive, fantastic trainers, awesome food, nice boat, great crew, can i get any more excited about it?
In the evening we went out and got crunk, nuff said.
Yesterday I just tried to get rid of my hangover, ignore the fact that i was still swaying with the motion of the boat (and still am!) and sort my life out, as today....
Singapore here i come.
I jsut picked up my credit and debit cards, and a dry bag my wonderful mother sent over (drybag = useful in monsoons in Asia!) and I've now booked my flights straight back to Aus on 17th August.
Won't be back in the UK till 2010, unless i fail to get a job....but i'm thinking positive here!
Talk to you from Asia! x
Oh, and I saw some Lion fish too. how cool are they, all spikey and raaaaawr.
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Toby
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Diving
Wow, that sounds pretty cool. I did an open water course in Koh Tao and it was amazing too! You should def go diving there. Schweet. We're off to KL tomo and then to Singapore- you should wait around for a couple of days...