Journeys by Jordan: March 11-13, 2013 - The Great Barrier Reef

March 11 - 13, 2013 - Great Barrier Reef, Cairns, Australia

Another one of the 7 wonders of the natural world that I can check off my list.

There were 2 of us that woke around 5:30am and started getting ready and packing up our stuff. Turns out the girl in the bed next to me in the dorm was going on the same 3d/2n SCUBA trip! We made our way down to the dive shop, checked in, and put our bags in baggage storage. From the dive shop we were transferred by minibus to the dock and onto the boat. Then we were off! To the Great Barrier Reef!

Marta (the girl from the hostel) and I were assigned to bunk together in one of the downstairs rooms. We also decided that we would be dive buddies for the trip. AND crazily enough our room number was the same room number from the hostel! I think we were meant to be dive buddies.

It was a rough 2ish hour boat ride to the reef. Once there we didn't waste much time getting into the water. I didn't know it when I signed up for the trip but none of the dives would be guided. I had never done a dive without a dive master leading the way. I was a little hesitant and nervous to take such a big step in such a large place and so far from land. They provided a little reminder tutorial on how to use the compass and that made me feel a bit better. We still opted to take just the first dive with a dive master just to get our bearing in the water.

Before each dive the boat manager would give a briefing on the dive site. He would point out all the "bommies" in the water and the highlights that he recommend we see. He would also give compass coordinates to these places and compass coordinates back to the boat. He would recommend a dive time or air level at which to come back to the surface. He also went over the hand signs for help or emergencies.

The first dive with the divemaster was a piece of cake. We just followed her along the reef and to some reef highlights and back to the boat. She made it look easy. Though I was still a little nervous about going out on our own. One the next dive we went out as a trio. So, it was Marta from Spain, Dominik fro Germany and me (we would dive together the rest of the trip and sometimes with Bryant another American)! Our first dive on our own! Eeek! We hopped in and headed towards the bommies with the given coordinates. The dive was amazing. Lots of coral and fish and turtles! Towards the end of the dive we had to surface to take and look and see where the boat was. Haha, we werent quite sure if we had followed the compass correctly. When we came up we werent completely on track but we werent tooooo far off. We simply corrected our coordinates and continued the dive. Once we reached 50bar on our air we surfaced to find out we were a good ways from the boat. Apparently, our navigation skills need some practice. We did 4 dives that day. Ending with a night dive. This one was lead by a dive master as well (thankfully). We were divided into groups and put glow sticks on our tanks so we could be seen a bit better. The boat flood lights were turned on, flashlights were passed out and we hopped in! On this dive we saw shrimps and crabs and sleeping fish and other night time creatures.

The next day we did another 4 dives and a couple different dive sites. All were spectacular! Such beautifully colored coral and fishes. We saw a shark on one dive and plenty of turtles and rays. Oh and GIANT clams. I mean REALLY GIANT CLAMS! I think those are so cool. If they sense that you are getting too close they close up real fast. Its fun to watch em move. That night was supposed to be a really special night dive because of the number of sharks we would be able to see. This fact was both exhilarating and chilling. Even though there were sharks that typically left humans alone they still have powerful jaws filled with sharp teeth. On top of that I was somehow the first person in the water. This was also scary. All I could think was hurry up and get in here with me, dont leave me in here with all the sharks by myself! To my relief Marta and Dominik soon jumped in to joined me. The goal on the dive was to swim out to a bommie to see a massive sea turtle named Bryan and then to return to the boat to watch the sharks circle. I'd like to say that by this time our navigation skills have improved immensely, we even made it back to the boat on an earlier dive that day.

The skills paid off this night. We found Bryan! He was sleeping in his cave and he was huge!!! We watched him for a bit and then I think he got tired of us an swam away. He swam directly over us and into the darkness. Amazing. We circled the bommie and then headed towards the light (the boat). At the boat we hung out at about 3meters and watched all the sharks circle the boat looking for a meal. It was soo awesome to see and we bit terrifying. The would come in and out of the darkness and stayed just on the outskirts of the light. Ahhhh, such a great experience.

We slept good that night. The past 2 days had been filled with SCUBA diving. Between each dive we would be served a meal or dessert and always a coffee! Yum. Food and diving and new friends. What more do you need. That night I taught some folks to play phase 10. Its moments like that night that make me truly happy. I could look around the table and see people from Spain, Germany, Sweden, America, and Canada all coming together to see another beautiful piece of the world!

The next day was another 3 dives before noon! It was an early start but worth every minute. On the last dive I saw some small cuddlefish! I hadnt seen any while diving before. We also found Nemo on one of the dives. Id like to report that he is doing just fine. We were back to Cairns around 3pm and the dive shop invited us out to join them for dinner and drinks at local place call Rattle and Hum. After some much needed rest and a shower I headed out to meet Marta to swap photos, I had already copied Dominik's photos on the boat.

On the way to Marta's hostel I saw tons of crows flying around town. Tons of them. This didnt seem to unusual as this happens back in the States. But as I got closer I realized they werent crows at all but huge flying fox bats! Crazy. I had never seen these in the wild and I especially didnt expect to see them in the middle town. It was bizarre. On the same walk I heard birds filling the trees and tweeting away. Again, not all the unusual as birds tend to gather in trees back home. And again on closer inspection the bird were parrots! Thats right, parrots filled the trees on the street and giant bats were flying across town. All I could think was "Where the heck am I"!?!
It was a super fun night out with the SCUBA crew and my new friends, Marta, Dominik, Bryant, Ray, Rachel and many more!