Great Barrier Reef: Calypso

This was the second day in a row of diving. We headed out early in the morning to Port Douglas, 30 minutes north of Cairns. It was dreary yet like all the others days, very hot and humid. We arrived and went to the dock to board the boat, when we arrived we were informed that it was going to be a small group going out that day, only 1 other diver and the instructor. The best part was that we were all certified so that we would not have the same experience of the previous day (see Tusa dive). The trip to the outer reef was again an hour and a half and this day quite rough and choppy, it is a good thing that neither one of us gets sea sick.

Once we arrived at the dive site, called Opal reef, we suited up and began the first of three dives at the "split bommie". We went with our guide marty and another katie and were on our way to 60' below the surface. This reef today seemed much more vibrant and colorful and more what i think both of us were expecting. The fish were everywhere and there was coral of all shapes and sizes. Even though the sun was not shining, the color and water seemed more blue and clear today, right away we were treated to some parrot fish, sea cucumbers, feather starfish and even a whaler shark! The most interesting thing that we saw on this dive was the "nudi branch". in essence it is a sea slug, but the color and difference from each one to the next it amazing. They are only about and inch long and when the swim, they flutter through the water, with their color being their fingerprint. The size and the fact that they like to hide in small places makes them hard to find, but marty knew where to look at snatched a few here and there for us to see. The rest of the dive was just as great with katie and I just in awe and trying to take it all in. We were down for around 50 minutes because we had the larger tanks which was much nicer as we could take in more of the beauty.

Once we headed back up to the surface, we were surpised by the weather. It was still the same as before, but underwater we could have swon that the sun was shining. WE jumped back on the boat, waited for the snorklers to finish up and were off to the next site. We arrived in about 10 minutes and after a coffee to warm up, some water to hydrate we were back on the end of the boat and decending to the depths again. This site was called "Blue Boy" and like all the sites today was all part of the huge Opal reef. Once on the ocean floor we swam towards the larger reef, and passed some small clumps of reef around 3 x 3 x 3 total, but the amount of life on these small areas of coral was amazing! Sea slugs, starfish, sea cucumbers, anemonie's, clown fish, chromus ish, and that isnt even the coral.

At one point Marty was pointing out another nudi branch when we saw a lion fish, very pretty but also deadly. Suffice it to say, we were very careful around the lion fish and as we were observing this, the other katie pointed out a shark just a little ways off. This time we were able to follow the shark, which was a white tipped reef shark, and at one point marty told us to stay put and he took off... moments later the shark was speeding towards us and at one point was within arms length of me and swam right under katie. Up close and personal with a shark is something that was very thrilling and we loved it. It was about 6 feet long and beautiful, the way it glided through the water, when it swim by us i looked at the shark dead in the eye and almost could feel him telling me to "Bugger off mate, this is my turf and i just want to relax". After this we saw a lot more coral and fish, but our minds were on the shark and how cool that was!! Again we headed to the surface from about 50' down and 50 minutes.

Once we were on the boat, we had lunch and we talked about how we thought the first dive couldnt be topped and it was, and how was this last dive going to be topped... it would prove out to be topped yet again, and it started with the entry.
Instead of a regular entry off the big boat, we agreed that it would be a neat and fun thing to take a little dingy out into the ocean and do a a reverese roll entry, when you sit on the edge of the boat and rool backwards into the water. So this is what we did, and then we headed again to the depths and started our swim back to the boat way off in the distance, we truly were onn the endge on the continental shelf, with the deeps depths of the unknow just a little further out to sea. Once we descended we began our dive at "The Wedge" which katie prefers now to call "The thriller" as it was a rush from start to finish. This dive was not going to be an easy dive, the closer to truly open OPEN water you get, the more the tide and current comes into play. OUr previous two dives were within the protection of the Opal reef, this dive was on the unprotected and most outer part of Opal reef. Right away we could all feel the power of the water around us and the current pulled us in every direction possible, i thought to myself "this is what diving is all about" like the other dives, we were treated to something special right away. Katie spotted a blue spotted lagoon ray. It was about 1 meter in diameter and very timid, it was just sitting in the stag coral and the bright blue was so vibrant and beautiful, the beauty that God has come up with has astounded us this day. We were looking at the ray for quite a while when we realized that katie and i were alone... not the best place to find yourself in the middle of the ocean, but we were able to look around and find the other katie and marty and catch up fairly quick.

Along the wayfor the rest of the dive, we were treated to some very brilliantly colored giant clams, that are so fat if you put you hand in them, they cant close all the way, and when they say giant, they mean giant, about 1-2 meters are some of the sizes of them. ONce we touched them, they feel almost like velvet and not slimy at all. At one point, the current was so strong that we all had to time our entry into a swim through, and as we all went through, the water pushed us forward then pulled us back, but we all made it through. and just when we were patting ourselves on the back and thinking this cant get any better... it did!! We were almost back at the boat and could see some of the snorklers way above us on the surface when marty gave us the "REALLY REALLY COOL" hand signal. Well we rushed over and saw one of the top 5 things that we wanted to see, a giant Green sea turtle. It was just eating and picking at the coral and didnt even bother with us. We went right up to it and felt the shell and felt the flippers. It was so graceful and just awesome. The way that it swam and did everything with so little effort, and we had just exhausted ourselves to get back to the boat, left me in awe. The four of us just hovered there for a long time and watched our new friend "crush". We would have stayed down all day had we not been limited by the amount of air we had left, and the fact that we still needed to get back to the boat. WE finished our dive and were able to see jellyfish, a giant puffer (which wouldnt puff even though i tried to scare it) clown fish, anemone and many others. At then end, we had been down for around 45 mintues and had had the experience of a lifetime!!

Once on the boat we couldnt stop talking about the tree dives and what we had seen on all three. We were like little school kids with smiles from ear to ear! the boat ride and bus ride back seemed like mere minutes as we had tons to talk about. And the best part of all, is that katie now has the itch to dive and has been dreaming of our next diving trip!

Once back we headed out onto the town and had a few pints at a local pub and just walked and talked about the day we just had! IT rates as one of the tops of all time! It is too bad that we are now done with diving here and wont be able to see more of gods beauty under the ocean.

Great Barrier Reef: Tusa

We went diving to the outer reef today with a company called tusa dive. It was about an hour and half to the dive site and we were greeted with rain, sun and waves on the way. Once there we were all debriefed and told what was going to happen. Since this was Katies first non-training dive we went witha guide for the first dive, which turned out to be a mistake. We were paired with two intro divers and an instructor. Both the other divers and instructor didnt speak english very well and thus we basically were on our own. Once down the three did their own thing and in doint so ended up knocking the reef around and stirring up all sorts of silt and basically made a mess of the dive. And then to top it all off the tanks we had were shorties so we only had about 30 minutes of dive time.

All that being said it is still the best thing in the world to dive and the scenery was magnificent. Once we decided to stay back a little we were finally able to see more of the reef and sea life that we had come for. It is truly undescribable unless you have experienced it. For us it is the ultimate feeling of freedom and exhilarating experience. The weightlessness, the open water, the calmness, the immersion into natures most powerful element, combine all that and add in beauty and wonder and you only start to understand it.

once we were back on the boat we decided to do the next dive on our own. So we had lunch and relaxed a bit before heading back into the water. Once we were in the water it was much MUCH better, the reef was ours to explore and nothing was making a mess of things. We swam around some bommies (pillars of reef coming up from the sea floor) and were able to experience many types of coral, fish and sea life. Unfortunately we did not see a shark or a turtle yet. Katie is a little hesitant to want to see a shark, even though i have assured her that it is not the sharks that we have to worry about, but the barracuda's (nice husband right :). They will take your arm, not the shark!

The second dive was far better than the first and we are looking forward to going again tomorrow for 3 more dives. It has been awesome and katie is very glad that she got her certification and now wants to go again and again and again and aga... you get the picture. The only bad thing about the second dive was the amount of air as once again the shorties on allowed us to have 30 minutes bottom time.

On the boat ride back we met a man from germany whop we talked with about diving and he has suggested that the Red sea is the best place he has been to, so we have begun planning our trip to egypt for the next diving adventure. This was seconded by another couple we met from the Netherlands. It is amazing how many people we have met on this trip, and how many times katies has whispered in my ear "Meet any new friends Clarence..." i guess i am more like my dad than i thought. However my sweet talking and chatty nature has and continued to help us out throughout the trip (see great ocean road).

Once home we again tried to go to the city, but as is custom for the tropics it was raining and didnt stop, so we had dinner and watched a movie. Tomorrow should be fantastic.

Cairns: The Daintree rainforest

Well we arrived in cairns, albeit a day late and dollar short (dont ask!!) and we were greeted byt a warm humid slap in the face and a very heavy rainfall. We took a taxi to our hotel, which we still had (dont ask!!) and then proceeded to walk into the downtown to check things out. It is a small city with notm uch to do in the city itself, everything is geared around the rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef. So we walked and talked and enjoyed the night, getting ready for the day in the Daintree rainforest the next day.

We woke early and headed via coach to the daintree. It was about an hour away from the city and we ejnoyed the views of the ocean on one side and the luch greenery on the other. We started out at the daintree river (which empties into the ocean) and took a boat cruise in search of the ever elusive "Eustuarian Crocs" in the magroves, as we were getting ready to go the skies opened up - as they tend to do in the tropics during the rainy season - and completey downpoured, getting us wet through the ponchos. We spent about an hour on the river and were lucky enough to see a little tiny baby croc about 16" long. When the water is as warm as 30 C the crocs never come out of the water. But the scenery was spectacular with all the lush greenery around us, a stark change to adelaide.

We then headed into the rainforest for a walking tour and learned many facts about one of the oldest and fragile ecosystems on the planet, slowly being desstroyed due to the mindlessness of man. If one endagered bird (casowary) goes extinc, a whole family of trees will die and thus create a ripple effect all the way down. Soimply because the bird is the only animal that can digest the fruit of the tree while "passing" the pit for the new tree. It was very interesting how everything in the forest relies on each other and uses each other to get what it needs, truly a creation of God!

Lunch was served to us by our tour guides and was an aussie BBQ, complete with vegemite (which both of us have become quite fond of) before lunch we had a chance to feed the roos and just sit back. It was a very nice meal and by this point the sun was blazing and we were dying of heat and humidity, so it was good thing that we were on our way to a swim in the croc infested water and some billy tea. Katie and i both went for a swim amid the signs 100 down stream that we were in croc territory (our guide assured us that we were above the area where crocs go, so we trusted blindly and in we went. It was very refreshing and surprisingly deep (over 6-6). We then had a traditional billy tea and headed out to cape tribulation, but not before helping some poor dumb bloke get through the river after getting stuck really bad.

Cape tribulation is the only place in the world where two world heritage places meet. This is where the Great Barrier Reef meets the Daintree Rainforest. It is just a little beach and if we were there in the winter/dry season we would have been able to go swimming, but since we like life and dont want to die a horrible death (box jellyfish) we decided to stay dry, or that was until the sky again opened up on us and soaked us yet again. On thw way home we stopped at a local creamry for come ice cream made with the fruit right on her land. It was delicious and i again was reminded why i hate spiders so much as another giant appeared and left me screaming for "my momma". Katie snapped a photo, as everyone on the tour chuckled at me. A the life of a phobist!!

After this we headed home and katie spotted the rarely seen Casowary bird on the side of the road. We couldnt get a go photo, but i wil putone in here of the bird from a wild park we went to so that you can see what they look like. They have razor claws on their feet and if they feel threatened will jump at you - a la jackie chan - and slice open your stomach - a la hannibla lecter... once again everything here kills you. We finally got home and tried to go into the city but the downpour didnt allow it, so we watched some TV and got ready for the big day of Diving ahead.