Diving on The Great Barrier Reef
7 am Chris and I woke up for our trip out to the Great Barrier Reef – too early given the events of the night before! We were collected from our hotel and taken to the pier, where the crew greeted us – and filmed us (got the DVD, and we look shocking!).
The ship – Sea Quest ADV (cheesy!) – began the 90 minute journey out to sea. There were a few casualties of sea sickness on the way – luckily I’d taken pills this time
We were briefed for our introductoy dive – we were only allowed down to a certain depth – and talking to the certified divers about why they loved it so much (I was pretty much hookes before entering the water!)
When the time came, we donned our wetsuits and sat on the boat’s diving platform, where the oxygen tank and other equipment was strapped to us. This, we had been informed was the crunch point, would we be ok with the respirator or not?
One giant step off the boat and I was under with no problems! The strangest thing was being able to hear yourself breath. Once we’d gotten used to it – at first I was almost forgetting to breath – then it all settled down and the instructor started testing that we’d gotten the hang of what she’d told us on deck.
As we headed down into the deep (well, deeper than I’d ever been), it felt amazing, and we were instantly greeted by curious fish, bigger than anything I’d seen in the sea before!
We all settled on the bottom to make sure everyone was comfortable. It was probably the best thing I’d ever done! Sitting calmly on the ocean floor, schools of beautiful fish and coral around us. It was like another world, and something I’ll always remember!
After swimming around for a while – sadly we were all linked together, we started our ascent. That was when we met Wally, the biggest, friendliest fish ever! He was massive, and behaved almost like a pet, letting us tickle his chin and pet wim. Wow! I could see why peopl love this place so much!
My gear was taken, and I headed straight back into the sea to do some snorkelling around the shallower coral. I got some fantastic photos, and Wally came back to see me.
After moving on to another area of coral, we prepared for our second dive. The time we were given more freedom to swim around, as long as we followed the instructor. The best just got better! I’m going to get a Padi certification when I get home! We saw clams that were about a foot across. We also saw Nemo swimming around and it was fantastic seeing them in their natural environment, not in an aquarium.
After the dive, I did some more snorkelling – just couldn’t get over the place, and wanted to see as much as possible before getting back to land!
The journey back to shore seemed to take ages, and was quite a sad afair. I could’ve stayed there forever!
After the days’ adventures, the evening seemed really dull. We had that sad realisation that the next morning we’d be making our way back home. I didn’t want to leave, ever! And I will definitely be heading back to Australia the first chance I get – possibly for a lot longer this time!
