Scuba Diving

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Since leaving Noosa Heads we continued our voyage North, stopping at 1770. We anticipated staying there for a couple of days but upon our arrival it was a dismal town with nothing to offer but a beach. We have seen so many beaches on our travels North that it was just not enough of a selling point for us to stay more than a night.
The next morning we continued our journey and wound up in a place called Airlie beach, which was amazing. It was beautiful, quaint, and very good for our tans. One thing we did not realize until this location is the lagoon's that much of Australia offer. Little pools just off the ocean where you can swim, lay out and tan or just enjoy the sights. We got lucky and happened to arrive in Airlie Beach during a festival that was going on so we watched part of a parade followed by beach activities and rounded out with a dark sky full of fire works. It was lots of fun. The rest of our time in Airlie Beach was spent bronzing ourselves and wandering the city.
Upon our departure from Airlie we drove straight to Cairns, which was no small feat. Quite a lenghty drive but we finally made it, found a caravan site and parked our van there until the day we had to return it. After one full day in Cairns we started our diving course, which was two full days of training and book work. The training was a lot of fun, half of each day was spent in their pool with full scuba gear on, doing skills and adapting to breathing through an oxygen tank.
After surviving our training we boarded a rather large boat where we lived for three days and two nights. We had to complete three additional dives before we were officially certified open water divers, which means we can dive down to 18 metres, roughly 60 feet. Upon succesfully completing this we both decided that it was not enough for us. It also so happened that they were offering a screaming deal at the time. We jumped on the deal to become adventure divers, which means we are certified to 30 metres, 100 feet. On top of that we got to choose a specific skill to take for our dive, we both took photography so were blessed with a CD full of pictures we had taken.
The diving was absolutely unreal. We started having a guide taking us around, showing us what was out there, making sure we knew what we were doing. After several dives we were on our own to navigate the waters, which was a lot of fun. We got to partake on a night dive as well during our live aboard. Both of us had concerns with it due to the lack of vision under water in the pitch black. It was a LOT of fun though. We both enjoyed it thoroughly. The life underwater at night is much different than during the day. It is quite interesting being underwater in the pitch dark seeing nothing but what your sole torch illuminates.
The morning after our night dive we finally got to dive to 30 metres, 100 feet, as part of the Adventure Diver course. That dive had to be a guided dive as they needed an instructor down there with us when we experienced nitrogen narcosis for the first time. Nitrogen narcosis is when you, to put in simplistic terms, get drunk under water due to the amount of nitrogen going into your body. The deeper you go in water the more nitrogen you suck in from the tank, slowing you down and making you feel drunk. You are then asked to do simple tasks under water to see if you can perform them without fault. Our task was to count to 20. Ryan and I did it in roughly 30 seconds. Two guys in our group failed that task completely. One became completely mesmerized by his guages, the other just stared off into space like he was in a trace. It was very, very funny to watch.
During our dives we got to see a plethora of sea life. From coral, to fish of all colors of the rainbow, to sharks. It was unreal. We got to see several very large turtles, clown fish, aka Nemo, parrot fish, surgeon fish, amarie wrasses, GT fish. So many to see. We got to see a white tip reef shark and during our night dive we JUST missed seeing a huge, what was said to be, hammerhead shark. That would have been a sight to behold. There was so much to talk about from our scuba experience but it would take all day to list it all off. Instead, you will have to hear it from us verbally upon our return to sanity.
Once we disembarked the live aboard, the crew threw a break up party and everyone on the boat went out for some drinks for one final goodbye. Our departure from the boat also signified that we had only one more night to spend in a campervan that smelled like what you would find in an elderly persons diaper. We were both relieved to get out of that thing. Six weeks of stewing in our own filth was enough.
We moved from being in that camper van to an airconditioned two bed room at a hostel for three nights. We slept like babies there. The airconditioning was very comforting. Several people from our live aboard trip were staying at this same hostel as well, so it was a chance for us to establish more of a friendship with these individuals.
After our stint at this hostel we flew to Sydney for our final day in Australia. Hostels were a nightmare to find as they were all fully booked. We decided to stay in Sydney Central because it is closer to the airport than our last accomodations were when we were in Sydney. There is an area in Sydney called King's Cross, where we stayed at the beginning of our journey, which is said to be like the Downtown eastside of vancouver. I believe the area we are in now, Sydney Central, to be the Downtown Eastside of Sydney. It is very dirty, drunk people sleeping where they can, barred windows everywhere. We also find ourselves staying in a very dirty, unkempt hostel as it was all we could find. The room we are in is under renovations so it is a disaster, there are people outside of our window arguing all through the night, people playing really loud music until all hours of the night and constant sirens wizzing by. This is why I am sitting on the internet at 0400 hours on our last night in Australia.
Tomorrow we catch our flight back to San Francisco where we spend a bit of time before finally returning home. This is going to be the last entry into this travel blog as our amazing vacation has finally come to an end. It has definitely been an amazing one with lots of beautiful sights to see down under full of amazing people that we have befriended. We both look forward to telling you guys all about our trip upon our return to sanity.

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