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Published: November 29th 2008
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Finding Nemo...
Here's the little guy, but we think his gimp fin grew out! He posed for the picture before we swam away... Happy Thanksgiving (yesterday, but it’d be today for the folks back home in the USA.)
So after last night’s late night with the crew, we thought waking up at 5:50 am would make for a rough early morning SCUBA dive. After dragging ourselves out of bed and brushing our teeth, we set off for the sun deck for our morning dive briefing. Barely half of the crew was awake to assist, but it was still a manageable size diving the morning dive. After the dive briefing and suiting up in our wetsuits, we eagerly stepped off the back diving deck at 6:25 am! Early morning dives are best because this is when all of the fish and critters wake up to get their breakfast…hopefully not us!
As we had been alternating dive photographers, Frank was assigned the underwater camera duties this morning. As we started down the anchor line, we were met by “Wally”, the 1.5 m large Maori Wrasse. Wally is a very photogenic fish and is very intimidating when you first see him. He’s big enough where you could probably put a hand into his mouth…but we would not recommend it!
We were directed to a
Wally!
Now, he may appear to be larger than the diver, but he's smaller...by just a bit...and NO, he is not about to eat the other diver! small circular reef just west of the boat anchor line as a good place to start our dive. As we got down to the reef at around 12-14 m depth, we were treated to sightings of lion fish and a large, menacing eel. (Eels always have that menacing look because of their toothy smile.)
We then swam to the main reef where we were hovering around the 17 m depth to setup our day’s dive profile. During this dive, we saw a small stingray and as we were swimming back to the boat to conclude our dive, we were treated to our first underwater sighting of a sea turtle! It was approximately 1m in length and swam gracefully, but quickly, near the surface of the water. He was also swimming away from us so we were only treated to a side and tail view as he swam away. Maybe SOMEONE will be able to get a better picture later during the day of diving!
When returned to the boat after 26 minutes of bottom-time, we slipped out of our wetsuits and got a quick de-salting shower. It was breakfast time!
For breakfast, the crew had prepared some
Lion Fish
Out for his morning swim... toast, scrambled eggs, poached eggs, spaghetti, bacon, lamb sausage, creamy mushrooms, cereal, and fruit salad. Breakfast was served buffet style with plenty for large portions.
After breakfast, the SeaQuest released the anchor line and moved to the “Wild Side” reef. This reef is difficult to anchor and dive at due to tides and currents, but conditions were favorable to allow us a great day of diving.
We got suited up in our wetsuits again and stepped off the back dive deck at 8:55 am. Kip was the photographer for this dive.
While we were underwater, we were treated to our first sighting of a clown fish! Since these were just babies, we knew right then and there that we had found Nemo! Nemo had two smaller clown fish friends swimming around his anemone so it must have been early morning playtime. Nemo smiled as you can see by the photo!
This dive saw plenty of giant sea clams, schools of large and smaller fish, and one lone passing white-tipped reef shark. (I guess we didn’t look appetizing enough to be his breakfast…thank goodness!)
As we began our ascent, we were surrounded by a school of
Kip's Underwater Wave
Just posing for a picture... fish that split us and continued on their way. We will also try to attach this video as it gives you an idea as to the number of fish there were on the reef.
We surfaced with a bottom-time of 29 minutes and a depth of 18 m maximum. We had exceeded our previous dive, but only by 1 m so no worries!
After a quick rest, we suited up for our final dive. We plopped into the ocean at 10:15 am, but this time SOMEONE decided not to bring the camera. This proved to be a tragic lapse in judgment that almost ended in their air supply being turned off during the dive. We won’t name names, but if you can see by the previously alternating method of photography, SOMEONE thought we had enough photos of the reef.
As we descended to a depth of 11 m, we encountered the coupe de gras of the diving adventure sans one digital camera! The most beautiful sea turtle was resting on the reef in such a relaxed state that you could swim around and right up to him! My, this would have made such beautiful holiday cards had
Turtle tail...
Our one picture of a sea turtle! Maybe next dive we\'ll get more...oh wait... FRANK brought the camera…oh wait, did I drop a name…maybe we did! ;-)
Nevertheless, the dive had to continue (sans one digital camera). We swam the shallow part of the reef so as to remain within the safety constraints of SCUBA diving. This allowed for a longer bottom-time of 41 minutes.
As we began to swim back to the boat and realized we had a little more air left, we decided to see if the most beautiful sea turtle was still resting on the reef. We were initially disappointed to find that Mr. Turtle was no longer in his usual spot. As we turned to return to the anchor line, we caught a glimpse of our friend Mr. Turtle up a little higher along another part of the reef still resting and well camouflaged, so we decided to swim back around him for a few more looks. Of course we will only have these incredible images in our heads thus unable to share with our family and friends thanks to SOMEONE forgetting a vital piece of dive equipment when scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef here in Australia. (Okay, despite all the ribbing Frank received for not bringing
Frank gets a closer look
Good buoyancy as he floats and looks around! (Is that a shark behind him...naw!) the camera, Kip will eventually forgive Frank...EVENTUALLY!)
We returned to the boat and got out of wetsuits. We got cleaned up and it was time for lunch! For lunch we were provided another large buffet style meal complete with numerous salads and pasta dishes. The food was surprisingly tasty as this was not what we had grown accustomed to after our 9-day cruise around New Zealand.
After lunch, we rendezvoused with ReefQuest to begin our 70 km sailing back to Cairns. The trip was quick and relatively smooth despite storms brewing back on the mainland.
We arrived back at the hotel and promptly took a 5-hour nap! I guess you could say that we were a little tired!!
We woke up and ventured out to a tapas restaurant/bar called Sapphire in downtown Cairns. It was recommended and very near to our hotel. After a few drinks, we were greeted by the restaurant/bar owner, David. He spent the better part of the evening introducing us to some of his friends, DJ’ing songs we preferred on the automatic DJ system, and buying a couple rounds of drinks. Before the conclusion of the evening, we had received an invitation
Peach found her "happy place"
For you "Finding Nemo" fans... to attend a BBQ the following day at a home in the rain forest.
The evening was quite relaxed and saw Kip return to the casino and Frank to the hotel room before turning in for the evening. Kip was less than pleased with the drunk patrons of the casino who did not know the proper rules/etiquette for blackjack! He left slightly disgusted and poorer!
Only one final day before the trip home! :-(
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Yancy
non-member comment
Safe travels ...
Sounds like you must be on your way home now. I want to see all the pics!! As I write this, the Gators are 1st and goal with a current score of 38 - 15 with 12:13 left in the 4th. Goooooo Gators!!! Love you Kipster!