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.
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