Alright, we’ve had enough of Cairns: off to the Great Barrier Reef!! We will be staying on a live-aboard boat for 3 nights, diving straight from the boat. I was a bit nervous as I packed this morning, knowing that 3 days of diving was ahead of me. I’m still a very new diver. I learned to dive in Grand Cayman in Dec 08/Jan 09 and had problems clearing my ears then. I hope I don’t have the same problem on this trip. For those of you non-divers, I’ll explain. As you dive, as you drop down to depth, everything on you starts to feel the squeeze of the pressure of the ocean. And because of this, you need to keep your open spaces open and clear. You aren’t supposed to hold your breath at all (1st open space: lungs) and are taught to blow bubbles out your mouth if you ever need to take your respirator (mouth piece) out of your mouth. Also, your mask can start to feel the squeeze too which is why your nose is covered in your mask so you can blow bubbles to release the pressure. Lastly, your ears. You need to keep your ears unplugged cuz if you don’t, the pressure can build up so much that it can seriously damage your ears. So you find ways to clear your ear passages by pinching your nose and carefully blowing, wiggling your jaw, shaking your head side to side, even massaging your neck near your ear. For most people, they don’t have a problem clearing their ears at all: like David. For me, I find it very difficult and I have to slowly drop about a foot at a time, clear my ears, wait a little bit and then drop again. It’s a long slow process, but it’s worth it once you get down. So, that’s why I am a bit nervous about diving (long story short…too late!).
Anyway, so the Mike Ball tour was to pick us up from our hotel in the morning. We got up super early, packed our bags, and dragged them to the front reception area where breakfast was located. On a side note, we realized at the initial start of our trip that one of the pop up handles on our suitcases is no longer popping up so you have drag it by the hand strap which requires you to lean over at an awkward position and thoroughly tires your shoulder. I experienced that again this morning. Ugh. Stupid bag. We need new luggage after this trip. :) Yeah, so we had a quick breakfast and headed back out to the reception area. We met a couple people who were also going on the trip and they reminded us that there was once again a weight restriction on our bags. So, we made the mad rush yet again to reduce the weight on one bag and stuff the other bag to full, maybe overfull, capacity. Our cabin on the boat is not going to be very big and we can’t afford to have a lot of stuff with us. Shortly after we had finished, the company arrived. They took our bags and we went to the restaurant to fill out some paperwork and be briefed on the trip.
We would be taking a prop plane from Cairns airport over to Lizard Island where we would meet up with our boat, the Spoil Sport. We loaded up in a bus and they dropped us off at Cairns airport, in the small plane section. We each had to be weighed: our body on one scale and our carryon items on another scale. Then, our group of about 20 were split between to planes. David and I were put on a 10 person (that includes 2 seats for pilots) Cessna prop plane.
This officially is the smallest plane that I’ve been on. Our larger carryon luggage such as backpacks were stored in a small wing compartment and we were allowed only small items like purses and cameras in the cabin. My laptop got to ride in the wing of the airplane. :) It was a very new experience being on a Cessna. I got to watch the pilot do his preflight checklist and watch him start up the plane. It was quite loud and you could feel the vibrations from the propellers. Too cool! David and I were in the very back of the plane so he was able to get this photo.
The flight took us low, only about 100 ft above the water, over the Great Barrier Reef. It was an awesome experience being able to see it from above.
click image to view gallery
The flight took only about an hour and then we touched down on very small Lizard Island. A member of our crew, Laurence, was awaiting our arrival at the hut which was the terminal. Ahh, island life. We were the first of the two planes to land. We walked down to the beach to await the other plane’s arrival.
The water was so beautiful: white sandy beaches with that light turquoise color to the water. Just amazing.
Once our group had all arrived on the beach, the main boat was radioed and they sent out zodiac boats to pick us up from the beach. Shortly, we were all on the boat and shown to our room. We were assigned a cabin with a set of single bunk beds, but we were given the option to upgrade to a room that had a full size bed along with a single bed so we took it. It sucks having to climb into a bunk bed. Our luggage was brought over from the island and we were ready to pull up anchor. The boat itself has 3 levels (which we are allowed in): the top level is for lounging under a sunshade and also serves as a lookout for a crewmember while we dive; the midlevel has a small outside eating area and a large enclosed lounge area with tables: this is where we have our meals and hang out in the evening; the bottom level holds the cabins and the dive area. We had a welcome meeting where we met the crew and the rest of the passengers with whom we would be diving. We pulled up anchor and sailed to our first dive spot: Challenger Bay. In the meantime, we changed into our swimsuits and got our gear sorted. David and I usually rent our gear, so we needed to get fitted. We went up to the top deck and picked up the gear we needed: BCD (buoyancy control device), wetsuit, fins, mask and snorkel. I decided to buy my own mask because I was really feeling claustrophobic in the typical one they give you. You normally have tunnel vision and I like to be able to see all around me. Also, I bought a neoprene cap to keep my head warmer since you do lose a lot of heat through your head. Once we had all our gear, we took it down to the dive deck where we were assigned our spot for the trip. Your spot consists of a holder for your tank, a bench for you to sit on while you put on your gear, a bin underneath to store your stuff and a towel and water bottle up top.
On the first afternoon, we had 3 possible dives we could do: 2 day dives and 1 night dive. I decided to do the first two dives and skipped out on the night one. My first two dives were at Challenger Bay and Pixie Gardens. I opted to skip the night dive due to my ears needing a rest. But those two dives were great! I was paired up with a buddy (David on both dives) and we dove down with the dive master, Keeran, and another pair. The coral was amazing and there were so many colorful fish swimming all around us. insert fish list
click image to view gallery
We were paired with “Team Taiwan” on both dives. Ugh. Asian tourists. And they even brought a camera with them on the dive. So, imagine when you’re on a vacation and you get to a major attraction. The scene is quiet and serene and you are taking pictures at your leisure and enjoying nature and, suddenly, almost out of no where, these Asian tourists come storming in and knock you out of the way so they can get their picture taken with whatever the attraction is. Okay, so take that and imagine it underwater. Yeah, not so much fun. Especially if they just so happen to knock your respirator out of your mouth or your mask off.
We have great food on the boat. Our chef Tristan takes pride in his cooking and he’s always in the kitchen working on something for us to try out. His assistant and boat host, Andy, helps out as well. For lunch we had pizza, with an afternoon snack of a pastry with strawberry jam on top. For dinner we had Asian cuisine. For dessert, we had a sort of banana pudding with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a pastry puff. The boat was nice and quiet when I stayed behind from the night dive. I was able to sit with my glass of wine and type up my journal. Very relaxing. I was definitely ready to fall asleep when it is time.
15 September 2009, Tuesday
For the next 2 days, instead of typing the days out, I will be giving brief points of the day and if something especially interesting happens, I’ll write about it a bit more. That way, I can relax more and not have to worry about typing a whole lot. :)
Our schedule for today: Light breakfast, dive: Cod Hole, breakfast, dive: Cod Hole, lunch, dive: Pixie Pinnacle, snack, dive: Pixie Pinnacle, dinner, night dive: Challenger Bay, dessert with wine.
David has decided to take the advanced diver training course on this trip, so he will be doing a lot of dives separate from me. Also taking the course is Frank, a Canadian. Divemasters Dave and Sharryn will be teaching their classes.
Dives: Had the choice of doing the first 2 dives twice but opted dive each one once. Diving is tiring! Did 3 dives: Cod Hole, Pixie Pinnacle, and a night dive at Challenger Bay.
Lunch: Mexican flair: ahh, it was so nice to have some Mexican food :)
Dived at Pixie Pinnacle: A large pillar or column coming up from the reef bottom: we swam around in it in a clockwise manner as to not have head-on collisions with other divers. There was a current, not too strong, but enough that you really had to watch yourself so you didn’t drift into the reef. Also makes it hard to stop to look at something cool underwater. I paired up with the Divemaster and team Taiwan…note to self, gotta stop diving with them.
Afternoon snack: a muffin chocolate? It was delicious whatever it was.
Dinner: Restaurant Night: They served us instead having a buffet style dinner: choice of either chicken or fish; dessert was a crème mousse topped with shaved coconut and a slice of strawberry.
Night dive: I was paired up with Taiwanese couple and Divemaster Sharryn. My first night dive. We each have a glow stick attached to our tank with our group color so we can see our group in the dark. The Divemaster put glow sticks on her fins so we could see her. We each were given torches (flashlights) so we could see things underwater. The water was warm but the current was so strong and the visibility low. We followed the docked rope down to the dive site. I cut my hand on something, maybe a barnacle, on the rope on the way down. Once down, we followed Sharryn along through the coral. The current slammed me into the coral a few times and I scraped up my knee. This was a difficult dive, especially for my first one. The Taiwanese couple continued to not notice their surrounds and knocked into me a few times and I’m sure I kicked them in the face a few times too. When I was started to get low on air, we started to head back. We were able to just flow with the current for a little bit and rest and then it hit us again. I checked my air again and I was down to 50 bar (I started at 210 bar). I let Sharryn know and we continued our way to the boat. It’s so difficult to know up from down in the dark and before I knew it I was kicking at the surface. I also start to float to the top when my air tank gets low. I’m still working on my breathing to help keep myself neutrally buoyant underwater. We continued as far as we could back to the boat and then we surfaced. I told Sharryn that I was quite tired and we hailed for the zodiac to pick us up. We treaded water to try to stay in one place but it wasn’t working. When the boat came, the Taiwanese couple rushed to get on the boat and stormed passed me. One even swam under the boat (very dangerous) to get to it. Sharryn continued to shout useless instructions to them but they didn’t understand her. I grabbed onto the side of the boat and waited for them to get sorted out and get on the boat. When it was my turn, Sharryn dove down and helped me get my fins off. When I climbed onto the boat (with grace :) ), I noticed that the Taiwanese girl had gotten sick off the side of the boat. At least she didn’t do it in the boat. Once we were all in, we cruised back to the ship and ended the dive. Boy, what a first night dive! I’m not ready to do another one of those for awhile. But, I can say that I did do it. :)
After dive snack: cheeses with a class of wine. I needed a glass of wine after that dive.
Went on top deck after dark to see stars; very windy; lots of stairs but kind of wet and cold. Hopefully won’t get sick like on cruise.
16 September 2009, Wednesday
I woke up with a bit of a sore throat this morning but have been treating it with hot lemon tea and honey. Hopefully that helps it.
Our schedule for today: Light breakfast, dive: Steve’s Bommie, breakfast, dive: Steve’s Bommie, lunch, dive: Flare Point , snack, dive: Flare Point, then champagne toast, bbq dinner and photo competition and trip video.
I opted out of the first dive to allow my sinuses to clear and to treat my sore throat. David had his morning advanced diver training dive so we’ll be diving together on the 2nd dive to Steve’s Bommie.
Had our usual light breakfast and normal breakfast, let our stomach settle for a bit and then did my first dive of the day with David and Frank. We dived on Steve’s Bommie. It was nice not having Team Taiwan with me for once. I didn’t have to worry so much; I could just relax and enjoy my surroundings. David rented a camera again today and took tons of neat underwater photos. Steve’s Bommie was also a column coming up out of the reef which we swam in a circle around it. About 15 feet from the surface was the best part of the dive: tons and tons of fish and colorful coral.
After the dive, we had lunch: pumpkin ravioli with pine nuts and Greek salad. Our boat moved to the next dive site.
In the afternoon, I dived on Flare Point twice with David and Frank (and Andy joining us on the 2nd dive. This was a relatively shallow dive with lots of sea life. On the second dive, we swam into some current which was pretty difficult to navigate on. By the end, I was exhausted.
When we got back on the boat, we had to put all our gear away and started our night of partying. We took some nice showers and headed up to the middeck for our glass of champagne. We had our toast and mingled among the other divers while Brenndan, the first mate and another Divemaster, cooked our dinner on the “barbie”. For dinner tonight, we were having steak, kangaroo, lamb, corn on the cob and baked potatoes. He first cooked up some prawns for everyone to munch on with their champagne. With dinner we had complementary wine. After which, Laurence announced the photo contest winners and then showed us the group video. It was pretty cool to see everyone underwater and even from way back on the first day aboard the boat. The night continued on and people had more and more to drink. One of our fellow passengers, Susan (the one that David says is “half a tequila bottle away from becoming a bag-lady“), became pretty drunk after drinking a few bottles of red wine. Slowly, people started to head to bed. The sea was a bit rough tonight and the boat was really rocking back and forth. Poor David was becoming pretty seasick. We both took some Dramamine and headed down to the dive deck which was closer to the center of gravity. Frank came down with us cuz he too was starting to feel sick. Me, on the other hand, felt fine. For some reason it was really affecting David tonight and not me. It’s normally the other way around. We stayed up pretty late that night until David was feeling well enough to head to bed. Andy came down and joined us for a bit. I think we finally got to bed around midnight and needed to be up about 6:30a the next day to pack up and head off the boat for the mainland.
I loved living on a live aboard. It’s the best way to dive. You wake up, have breakfast and then jump in. We’ll definitely do it again. We dove with some great people and the crew were all so helpful and fun to hang out with.
Tomorrow, we’ll be back on the mainland again. We have a couple days to rest, recover and relax before we have another couple tours in Australia and then off to New Zealand.
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