After a late night swatting up on our diving course work we were up bright and early at 5am, for our departure from Cairns…destination The Great Barrier Reef!
We boarded our boat ‘Scubapro II’ and tucked into a continental breakfast, both of us stopped after 1 croissant though, as the 3 hour journey to the reef was set to be fairly bumpy.
We sat up on the top deck and watched the mainland disappear to a blur, and starred ahead to the open water, where we were going to call home for the next 3 days and 2 nights. As we neared the reef our Dive Master ‘Arek’ called all of the qualified divers together for a briefing of the first dive site. We were both pretty nervous as this would be our first unguided fun dive (our Advanced Open Water dives would not start until the 3rd dive of the day).
Above is the plan for Flynn’s Reef, Tennis Courts site, with the compass headings, depth in metres and reef walls…you can just make out in blue pen the drawing of the position of the boat. So, with the briefing over we made our way downstairs and got kitted up…both of us trying to remember all of the procedures and equipment checks we had to do before getting in the water. After being logged that we were entering the water at 10:38am we both jumped in from the back of the boat, and started our descent.
As we made our way down to 18 metres (you have to do our deepest dive first to allow more time for the nitrogen to leave your body), the marine life was overwhelming. The visibility was 20 metres, and the coral reefs and fish were stunning!
Ben had the camera for this dive, so he got some funny shots of Nicola! As we were both out of practise with our breathing we got down to our air pressure limit after 30 minutes so we made our way to the surface and climbed back on the boat.
After lunch it was time for our 2nd dive of the day, staying at Flynn’s Reef, Tennis Courts we took a different course this time and stayed slightly shallower at 14.9 metres depth and improved our dive time to 34 minutes.
As Nicola had the camera this dive, the challenge was to get a picture of Ben with the huge Maori Wrasse…can you spot it in the background of this shot?! The coral gardens were spectacular!
As we climbed back on board the boat at 15:08, we had time to enjoy the chefs delicious cake, before jumping back in the water at 16:35, at our 2nd dive site Flynn’s Reef Tracey’s Bommie…no rest for the wicked! This dive however, was the first of our 5 instructed dives for our Advanced Open Water qualification. Underwater Navigation basically involved being trained and tested on using a compass underwater, knowing your kick strokes and length of time taken to travel a certain distance…we both found it quite easy.
Back on board we were signed off, and after dinner came our 2nd instructed dive – NIGHT DIVING…argh!! Oh, and did we mention the grey reef sharks come out at night to feed on the small fish that hang around the back of the boat? All the dive components were the same as diving in daylight, except you have a glow stick attached to your tank, and a torch strapped to your right wrist…and that is the only protection you have against the sharks! As we jumped in and descended to 11.9 metres the vastness of the ocean had never felt so apparent. We were tested on a number of different things including navigating in the dark, and signalling to our dive buddy with the torch. Lucky for us there were no sharks out tonight!
Back on board at 19:50, we ate our pudding and had an early night…retiring to our tiny below decks cabin, with bunk beds and no window. We were gently rocked to sleep by the current.
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