The Great Barrier Reef

The first time I learned to dive in Tamarindo, Costa Rica I had a blast. I think that was one of the best experiences to my life at that point. I'm not sure why it took me 4 years to get back in to the water... other priorities I guess, but I know it won't be 4 more years now. There really isn't anything I can compare diving too. It really is a completely marvelous and different world under the surface.

Having not gone diving for a while, and travelling with my Sister, I decided I'd also sign-up for a learn to dive course. The seemingly obvious choice from an internet search perspective was Pro Dive Cairns. The price was right and they seemed to have pretty good boats, plus their schedule worked well with what I thought ours would be. This turned out to be the right choice. I really can't say enough good things about our experiences with Pro Dive. Our great instructor Annelyse, had tonnes of experience and a really good teaching style. Both a lot of patience and a wicked sense of humour got everyone through the land and sea sections of the course.

Once we were out to sea, everything was golden. Our boat slept 32 divers, and we were a good mix of Open Water, Adventure, Advanced, Rescue, and Recreational divers and snorkelers. The two main reefs we visited on this trip were Milln Reef and Flynn Reef. There was a good choice of dive sites as well between the two over the three days. The first thing to take care of was the required 4 Open Water dives to complete our certification. These went pretty well, I think the thing that gave most people problems was the mask removal and clearance: You flood your mask and then refill it with oxygen by tilting your head back and blowing with your nose. However, everyone made it through in the end.

The Night dive was really interesting. I'd always been a little afraid of the water at night when I was a kid so I wasn't really sure how I was going to handle being down in the dark. With all the lights you bring with you however it's really not so much different than during the day. Unfortunately we really didn't see much during my groups dive. I'd say overall I didn't get too lucky in my directional choices, a lot of other people saw Turtles, Puffers, Rays, and Sharks. While I did see some of everything except sharks, I didn't see them in near the quantities of others. That's just the way it is sometimes. I did get some good photographs I hope. I've already posted some photos and one video. There'll be more once I get home and can properly sort through and edit them.

We also got really lucky with the weather. It was nice and sunny for most of our dives, and really only started to turn on the last day. Even with that we had good 12-15m visibility the whole time and 27c water. Lastly I'd just like to say how great the people we were with were. So many interesting and nice characters. Diving really is all about exploration and fun and I think it attracts a certain kind of person. I think also by the last day I had everyones name figured out ;-)

We're in Brisbane now, and after some more and final catching up with Sharon and Matt, and a trip to the Australia Zoo (Steve Irwin's Zoo) It'll be all travel until we get home on Monday night, so probably no more posts for a while.

Posted at 10:31 PM to Vacation By: John Fairley