mmmm....diving

Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Great Barrier Reef
December 20th 2007

Published: December 20th 2007

Alrighty then, our day of diving has come and is now coming to an end. It was spectacular. Since Daniel was snorkeling we spent a lot of this trip doing our separate things but I'm still gonna say "we" about everything. We got on our boat a little after 8 this morning and this part was really hectic because we had to get our rental gear organized on the boat. This meant getting everything we needed ready along with the other 30 or so people who were also planning to dive. It was pretty early for us and I haven't done much diving in a while plus everything is measured differently here so all I could do was hope that I had all the right stuff for me (which I did). It took about 90 minutes on the boat to get out to the reef and this was spent mainly hearing about boat safety and getting our diving paperwork filled out, but also with a little lounging on the roof of the boat in the sun. When we got to our first location on the reef, we dropped anchor and all the people doing introductory diving and certified people doing guided diving got ready to jump in while the 4 of us going on our own got a detailed description of the location and recommendations as to where we should go once in the water. We were paired up for the day with someone about our level of experience and my "buddy" was a German girl who was studying in Australia so her English was almost perfect. For anyone from San Diego reading this, she was a copy of Katie in both looks and personality which means she was very friendly and good to be around. 2 other new divers asked if they could join us and we agreed so that the 2 people who got low on air first could split off and head back together.

We planned our route and due to everyone else's claims at poor navigational abilities I got to be our leader and guide. This was pretty good actually because it meant I could go where I wanted at what pace I wanted and they were all happy to just follow along. All the beginners and those with guides The reef was gorgeous. We followed a wall of it which was about 14m tall and that is a large chunk of coral with a huge amount of variation in it. There was a lot of other coral patches around, but the wall was the dominant site for us. There were tons of fish of all different varieties there, similar to what we see snorkeling in Hawaii but a few more varieties in each spot. One of the 2 other divers with us was halfway out of air when all the rest of us had 3/4 of our tanks left so he and the poor guy who was his buddy broke off and turned back pretty early on. We had been told that the Triggerfish were nesting at this time and that made them aggressive so we should avoid them (they don't hurt you badly, but they do bite people and even small bites lead to bleeding underwater which is not a good idea) but we saw a few and they seemed pretty docile...but then on our way back I was a good 40 feet from the bottom of the ocean and a very large triggerfish came swimming at me from directly underneath. He started at the very bottom and rushed straight at me with incredible speed. When he got close I waved my arms to quickly put myself feet down at him and he turned around and darted off within about 3 feet of me. A little scary but great fun. Elsa (my buddy) said it was one of the more amazing things she had ever watched happen. We got back to the boat and went into a shallower bay which supposedly had turtles, rays, and clown fish but I ran out of air before we saw any of that.

We got to have some lunch on the boat after that which was pretty good and then we headed to our second dive spot. Now most of the people who had paid for a guide on their first dive didn't pay for it again so there were about 10 of us diving on our own. We got a quick introduction to our next site and told that we could suit up and get in the water whenever ready. 2 of the other people diving still felt somewhat uncomfortable guiding themselves and my group told them I was a good leader so they were added to my pack. We were told that white tipped reef sharks loved this area but they were shy so it was likely only the first people in would get to see them up close at all so I hurried my group down, got suited up and we were the first ones in the water. Me being the "leader" and everyone else following at a decent distance led to me being the first person swimming away from the boat into our new dive site - I liked this idea very much. This area had a similar wall in the reef and as soon as we got into the thick of it we saw a reef shark swim by. They are only about 3 feet long and they are very scared of people so they aren't really dangerous but they are beautiful and still somewhat thrilling to see. We also saw a couple Napoleon Maori Wrasse which were about 4-5 feet long, 2 feet tall, and a foot thick. They are said to weigh up to 420 lbs. Farther along we came to a very large barracuda which was surrounded by schools of fish. It didn't move at all and wasn't even opening it's mouth, which I wanted it to do so I could see the teeth. I swam a little closer to it and the schools of fish scattered but it just stayed put. It was at this point that we turned back toward the boat - like the last area the best thing to do was follow the wall down a way, backtrack along it, then explore around the boat. When we got back under the boat we split up again into groups of 2 and Elsa and I had considerably more air left than the others because she used much less and I had more air in my tank than anyone else to begin with. This let us go farther than anyone else in the other direction which payed off nicely by getting well out of sight of all other divers and snorkelers and then finding a turtle which we got to swim with for a while. We then explored the shallower areas of the reef for quite a while swimming through narrow channels and under archways. We found a pretty good sized cave - the area we were at was called "caves" but we didn't go in due to our not having "penetration certification" and the warnings given by the dive crew. We were some of the last people to get out of the water and we were both blown away by this dive. The 2nd dive was definately better than the first and I can't say I've ever had better. I have heard nothing but great things about diving in Thailand these days though so we'll see about that.

We just got back from our dinner which was great tonight. The free dinner coupons we get from our hostel get us terrible meals of pasta or chile from a bar and grill but for $5 or $6 you can upgrade to any meal on the bar's menu. After dealing with the taste of and the feeling after eating the "backpacker meal" last night, we paid for the upgrade tonight and it was well worth it. We were planning to stay up and go out tonight because Cairns is a rather touristy city focused on backpackers and so there are lots of drink specials and events at the competing bars but I'm about ready to go to sleep now and it's only 7 so we'll see about that. The night life is pretty crazy here but it is definately on a schedule even later than what I was used to in college. Most people go out to bars or clubs around 10 or 11 and often stay out until 3 or 4 so we are usually the grumpy old people that the youngsters wake up when they come home to the hostel.

Oh ya, some construction workers cut through the power line leading to our hostel last night so we had no light and more importantly no fan so we were sweating in the dark very much last night. It was kinda funny though and luckily we were very tired from our early morning and plane flight so we went to sleep pretty early without much difficulty. Alright, another early morning and our first bus ride of the trip for us tomorrow as we head down to Mission Beach. Cheers!

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