Day 25 - Cairns - "SHARK-BAIT...OOH-HA-HA!!"

---

We booked our dive trip with Deep Sea Divers Den based on recommendations made by Frank's dive master, Terry, and also because they hold a 5-star PADI rating. As we found out late in our planning process, the best way to experience the Great Barrier Reef is to plan "liveaboards" where you go 2-4 hours out to sea and live aboard a large hotel-like vessel that is fully equipped with all the dive gear you might need. The majority of liveaboards range from 2-7 nights, the further you get out to sea, the better the diving. Because we can't dive for 24 hrs before our flight home, this limited us to finding an outfit that offered a 1-night liveaboard and we got lucky with Divers Den. The 1-night doesn't offer the best dive sites available since we only travel an hour and a half to sea but as you'll see, we have nothing to complain about.

For one all-inclusive price, this makes diving very easy, no need to carry heavy gear across the world if you don't want to. We had our own cabin with two beds and private bath. Nothing fancy like on a cruise ship but it was simple and served its purpose. Three hearty meals a day are included and prepared by a resident chef on board; no microwave junk here. And for the 1-night liveaboard we got 6 day dives and 1 night dive... when the predators come out to feed on the unsuspecting sleepers.

They picked us up at the hotel and took us to the dive shop where we completed the registration process and they verified our diving credentials. We then got back onto the mini-bus and were taken to the marina where the ReefQuest was waiting for us. It's a large, two story catamaran ship. This is where we'll do our first two dives before transferring over to the larger liveaboard vessel. The ReefQuest has a crew of about a dozen men and women. They're all divers in their own right, some are instructors, some are volunteers working aboard. These volunteers agree to do support work onboard (clear tables, wash dishes, make beds, clean rooms, etc.) and in exchange they get to dive and liveaboard for free. Some are just doing it for a month, others have been there six months, work 4 days at sea then get two days off back on land. It seems to be a win-win situation all around.

The 90 min high-speed trip on the ReefQuest took us 70 km out to sea to Norman Reef where we did our first dive. As a new diver, I'm beginning to learn that first dives aren't always what you might expect. If you haven't gone diving in a while or in my case, this is my first, real, open water, out at sea dive, things can be a little nerve wracking. You're trying to get a feel for how the dive operator works, maneuvering around 30-35 other divers, making sure you remember everything you've learned in class, "right, remember to breathe underwater!" So finally, we got our gear on, checked our tanks, checked our breathing equipment, made sure everything is strapped on where it's supposed to be, and now the 6-foot leap of faith off the side of the boat!

Frank's first thought upon entering the water was, "oh right, salt water! duh!" Having only trained up until this point in pools and fresh water lake, the saltiness took him a little by surprise. After that, letting the air out of the BCD (the vest that holds the tank and all the other gear), descending and getting neutrally buoyant was always a bit of a challenge in class but this time it went relatively well and quickly. We reached a max depth of 21m but the whole dive lasted only 17min. In part, visibility wasn't the best, it was somewhat murky and there was a lot of sea weed scum floating on the surface. We were also trying to make sense of our dive computers and it seemed we spent more time getting a feel for them and getting our underwater sea legs than really enjoying our surroundings that much. There were plenty of fish swimming around, looking as perplexed as we did.

For our second dive, ReefQuest journeyed a short 10 min trip up the reef to the Troppos section of Norman Reef. This is where we really started to enjoy the underwater world. Visibility was much improved, we were back into our dive groove, and everything came together nicely. We really got a sense for how big these reefs are, some are as high as 20m (60+ feet) and teaming with life and activity. Small cities in their own rights with thousands of multicolored fish going about their business; small ones, big ones, tiny ones; zipping around, dilly-dalling, or just plain immobile if that's your thing. A lot of the coral looks brown and battered and as we later found out, Cairns was hit by a very bad cyclone three years ago that damaged large parts of the reef and things are starting to come back. There are some amazing fluorescent pink and purple coral in beautiful shapes and sizes. Words can't really do the beauty of it all much justice so we'll try to upload more pictures. During the dive, we reached a depth of 19m for 29 min.

After getting back onboard, lunch was served. It was primarily cold cuts with bread and salads. While we were enjoying lunch, the boat traveled to meet up with the SeaQuest. The SeaQuest is where we will do our liveaboard. It's a much large vessel and we'll be picking people up coming off of their liveaboards while we transfer over to begin ours.

After boarding the SeaQuest, we assembled in the large dining room where we were given a 20 min briefing to introduce the crew, the ships layout, rules of etiquette, and safety procedures. Then it was off to our cabins to drop off our bags and then assemble back on the sun deck for our next dive's briefing. On the SeaQuest there are about 20 crew and 40 divers. About 2/3 of the divers were there to complete some level of SCUBA certification- some beginners, some advanced. Deep Sea Divers Den schools all levels and you can get your certifications while on vacation. The rest of us were just there to go out and splash around with the fishies and we got to do just that.

For our next few dives, we are in The Playground area of Norman Reef. Our max depth was 15m for 26 min. Visibility was clear and we got a glance at our first giant clam. They're several hundred years old, measuring about 1m wide by 1/2m high. On this dive, and the previous ones as well, we see plenty of sea cucumbers. Some people pick them up to play with them but we're from the school that taught - DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING while you're down there, you never know how it might react.

After we finished this dive it was dinner time! For dinner, you sit down and the crew serves you. They only do that for dinner whereas breakfast and lunch are buffet style. Tonight was fried fish served with a mild curry-cream sauce, yellow rice with mushrooms, peas and corn and some tasty fluffy bread. It was delicious and went down easy. Maybe they were fattening us up for the sharks? ("Humans are friends, not FOOD!" - Just a note to our night dive companions...)

By the time we wrapped up with dinner, night had fallen and so it became time to start planning for our night dive. For this dive we were paired up in groups of 3 + 1 guide and only about a dozen of us went. Kip has been night diving before but this would be Frank and Andrew's first night dive. Night dives offer their own set of challenges. Primarily, how to effectively communicate with other divers while holding a flashlight or how to signal for different situations on the surface. All of this was covered by the dive master in a special 15 min briefing. After it's been explained to you, you realize it's mostly all common sense stuff but imperative to know.

Now, I know many of you will think we've just completely lost our minds when I'm about to recount our little night dive but it really isn't as bad as it will sound. Trying not to think too much about the fact that we've just been well fed and fattened up, we are about to enter shark infested waters!! As I mentioned earlier, at night, the feeders come out to feed. The feeders are primarily dozens of white tip reef sharks. They measure about 1-2m in length and really don't want anything to do with us. We're way too big for them and we don't taste nearly as good as they can get with much less effort below. When they turned on the massive flood lights above the diving deck (the part where we actually step off the boat) we could see 5 or 6 sharks just below the surface swimming around. Truth be told, we got a momentary sense of panic, but the crew's primary responsibility is your safety and when you realize that they wouldn't do anything to purposely put you in harms way and that they do this for fun every night, then at that point, you do what we all do when we step onto a plane, you place your fate in the hands of a higher power and make the most of it.

Everyone stepping off the ship has an electric torch. For $6 you can rent their wide-beam ones, we both had the free narrow beam torch while Andrew and our guide, Cecile from Switzerland, had wide beams. As you can see from the picture, sharks eyes glow when you shine the light at them- that was creepy but totally cool!!! Everywhere we shine our lights there something swimming around looking for something else to eat. So we're basically swimming around their buffet.

Being enveloped in complete darkness is a little unsettling for anyone but after a few minutes, fear gives way to fascination and curiosity. We had been told during a briefing that there's a type of fish (and I'm sorry, but we're both blanking on its name right now) that is very intelligent and they linger just behind you waiting for you to shine your light on something unsuspecting that they can dash down and gobble up. The unsettling part is when you get the feeling that there's a presence behind you, you look back but naturally you can't see anything and then these guys will dart by your head or under your arm while they go munch on their next meal. Sometimes they even like to play a little game of tag with the divers. Kip swears someone was trying to play tag with him underwater in the darkness!

The only source of comfort in a night dive is seeing the beams of lights from all the other divers or looking up at the surface and seeing the glow of the ships flood lights. During this dive, our max depth was 15m for 36 min.

We made our way back up the rope line to the surface and after all the divers had exited the water, the real frenzied shark feeding began as the crew threw in chicken legs and wings, bones and all, into the water. Within milli-seconds of hitting the water, a dozen predators promptly devoured it. Along with some of the other divers, Kip went down to the diving deck and laid down with diving mask and snorkel on to watch the feeding frenzy take place first hand. The diving deck acted as a one-sided shark cage, but would occasionally dip under the surface. As you can see from the video clips, it's an awesome site.

We ended the night with a hot shower and getting into some dry clothes and then going up to the lounge deck to hang out and chat with the crew and other divers. (And the crew can put away a few beer!)

---

Photos

Kip showing us the reef
A little obvious, but here it is, the Great Barrier Reef!

Clammy Frank...
I mean, Frank and the Giant Clam! Don't get sucked in! (Would he come out a pearl?!)

SeaQuest as viewed from the ReefQuest
This is our arrival onto the live-aboard boat.

Peach finds her "happy place"
A "Finding Nemo" reference for you all! Peach is the starfish from the movie!

Eyes in the dark!
If you see two little dots close together, you are safe. The farther apart they are, the faster you should swim!

Comments

[Yancy]

Wow ...
Glad you didn't leave anything behind on this adventure. :-)