This is it, another life time ambition fulfilled: diving in the Great Barrier Reef!!! And yes, it is as good as people say it is!
We went on a two day scuba diving trip on Reef Encounter (arf arf)! These trips are not cheap so we were a bit worried when we arrived at the pier to find a decaying boat full of chavs (as Tom described them) waiting for us. Hum... Fortunately that was only the day trip boat which doubles as a shuttle boat for people staying overnight in a bigger boat that remains on the reef. A few sighs of relief later and the next scare came our way: we found ourselves talking with Kathy, the boat's underwater photographer, who lightly told us the CD with our photos cost £40! Blimey! (As it turned out the photos were so good that we bought the CD, hence all the nice photos in this post).
One hour later and the shuttle boat was meeting the Reef Encounter boat. We transferred boats, leaving behind most annoying people. As a point of contrast visualise this: we walked into the big boat to find a living-room area with comfy sofas, DVD reader and massive TV, a bar and a dining area with great food set on the tables. And there was curry for lunch, much to Tom's approval! Our accommodation as well was incredibly comfortable and well furnished, way better equipped than most places we stayed on the rest of the trip. Wicked!
The Reef Encounter crew were brilliant, very funny and friendly. One of the Dive Instructors, Sam, liked to play tricks like raising the boat's platform a few meters when you're just about to jump in with all your diving gear. I was not amused when the small jump suddenly became 3m one!
We opted for an intense diving schedule of six dives in a day as this would be our last opportunity in a while. Almost as quickly as we had finished enjoying a gourmet lunch, we were being put in wet suits and thrown in the water. The divemasters and instructors in the boat were great fun but also very professional. After a briefing about the location, off we went in what was our first unguided dive. Uhhhh scary! But also great, we realised we actually knew more about it than we thought. To be honest we didn’t appreciate the surroundings much as we were so focused on not making any mistakes, checking our oxygen levels, maintaining our depth and not getting lost. Fortunately Kathy was down there to give us some directions while indicating where all the stuff worth seeing (and photographing) was. She showed us where to find Nemo and his wife and kids (probably the plot of Finding Nemo II), giant clams (which would feed a large family, if cooked with lemon and cream, hummm...) and several types of coral. Upon returning to the boat we relaxed on the outdoors jacuzzi before going out for a second dive.
After dinner we were all excited about doing a night dive when the crew pointed out some three metre long sharks encircling the boat. They were huge! After a lot of reassurance on their harmlessness to divers in we went. As soon as Tom had jumped in the water he saw one just below him as instructed he pointed the light at himself and that was enough to intimidate the shark (it probably though it would choke if it tried to nibble Tom’s “little” feet). The only sign of sharks for the rest of the dive was our torches reflecting off green eyes in the distance. Much scarier were the trevely: these 1.5m long fish (as in as big as myself) silently stalk divers at night for food. When your torch lights up something edible, the trevelies suddenly darts past you towards the fish and gives you the fright of your life! Tom just about resisted the temptation to line up a few little fish for the trevelys' dinner!
six dives a day is hard work........
The next day we started diving at 6.30 am. The idea was to capture the fish as they wake up but I suspect we were a bit too early even for the fish. It was hard to tell who looked more sleepy, us or them. To wake us up, my dive computer decided to pack in halfway during the dive and Tom had to control our depth and underwater time until we returned to the boat. He actually had to do it on the following two dives as well since neither of my replacement computers was working.
But the best of all was meeting Frankie, the massive Maori Wrasse (the name comes from the beautiful patterns, reminding of Maori carvings). One of the crew members taught me how to attract Frankie onto the boat’s platform and pet him. He’s so sociable! He hangs around the boat waiting for divers and then comes really close to you and looks you straight in the eyes. Apparently the Maori Wrasse's memory is quite good and he can recognize the diving instructors from one visit to the next. Frankie is just so sweet...
Our underwater disposable camera pictures didn't come out too well but Tom did manage to get the above picture of Frankie. For the rest, Kathy was on hand to get some really good pictures of us hanging around with our new friend!
And this time both Tom and I want one!
Reef Encounter were looking for casual crew members, we would have loved to have stayed on and worked for our lodging. Sadly our flight out of Cairns meant we had to get back to shore. After a couple of days of rare sunshine, we hit the mainland to a reminder of how the australian summer is!
We then took our flight from Cairns to Hong Kong, via Brisbane. This did at least give us the chance to see the Great Barrier Reef from the air, twice. Seeing it from the air reminds you just how large it is.
Bye for now,
Vania
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