January 25, 2007 Cairns, Australia

January 25, 2007
Cairns, Australia

It took quite a while to get to sleep last night. As it turns out, the street we parked on was one of the main walkways for people to take on their way home from the bars. Thus, we heard a great number of drunk people stumble by. Furthermore, it was ridiculously hot inside the van. We slept with all the doors and windows open to try to cool things down. Still, we passed some of the time watching the large fruit bats fly overhead. Some had a wingspan of almost a meter (3ft)!

We woke up this morning at 7:00 to the sound of B’s alarm. Even so, we were so tired that we fell back asleep. Luckily, I woke back up just after 7:30 and we hurried off to the pier to catch board our boat headed for the Great Barrier Reef. We were, however, also quite worried because it was raining…

Nonetheless, B and I decided to go (Spizz stayed behind with the van and chill out in town for the day). At 9:00 our boat left the Cairns dock. About an hour an a half later we reached the outer reef.

Because there were not many certified diver aboard, another individual was added to our twosome. We put on all our gear, went through the necessary safety checks and debriefings, and hopped in the water.

As we descended our new dive buddy experienced problems with his mask. All three of us returned to the surface. A short time later he fixed his problem and descended once again. We only got a few meters down before he experienced another problem and we all returned to the surface. The crew told B and I to go off on our own and they would take care of the helpless individual.

B and I completed the rest of our dive without a problem. It was an incredibly dive. The water was unbelievably clear and warm. As soon as we descended a large (about 1.5 meters), friendly Napoleon Maori Cod greeted us. It was so friendly that it let us grab him and touch him. As we continued around the reef we saw thousands of smaller colorful fish.

Half an hour later we were back on the surface and ready for more. We unloaded our scuba gear and did some snorkeling. We saw some very, very large Buffalo Parrotfish and a White-tip Reef Shark. We did not return to the boat until lunch was ready (some time around 13:00).

After eating the boat moved to a new location and we were given the option of doing another dive. Though it was $46, we could not resist. We suited up and got in the water. Thankfully, the crew did not add anyone to our twosome this time.

This turned out to be the best dive I have ever done. Though B experienced some problems with his ears at the outset, everything else was phenomenal. Almost immediately we ran into a large sea turtle grazing on the coral. We followed him across the reef for almost 10 minutes. Sea turtles are awe-inspiring and have to be the most graceful creatures on earth. Eventually, we decided that we should leave the turtle alone and we continued exploring the reef. During our 40-minute dive we also saw 2 stingrays, 2 more sharks, and a very large fish that looked like a rock with very large teeth.

We returned to the boat extremely excited about everything that had happened. We dropped off our gear and settled in for the long ride back to the pier.

We made it back to Cairns at around 16:30. We wandered around a small mall next to the pier for half an hour as we waited for Spizz. As we waited in the parking lot we noticed our van parked in a far off corner of the lot. Though Spizz was not inside, we knew that he would not be far away. We found him chilling at the park…

After moving the van to a more desirable parking spot, B and I used the parks public showers and then headed out to use the internet.

The plan for the rest of the night is to hang out at the park and cook up some dinner. We will probably head to sleep fairly early because we are both exhausted from a long day in the water!

NOTE: I really wish I had an underwater camera for today. It was absolutely beautiful and I am sorry that I cannot share any photos…