Sunday, May 06, 2007
Diving with sharks on the Great Barrier Reef
When our alarms went off at 7am for our first day of diving school I thought about how many early mornings I'd had on the trip. I thought this was supposed to be a holiday and all we seem to do is get up early for flights/trips/tours etc... Anyway at least this was exciting even if it was school. I was going to learn to dive! Something I've been patiently waiting to do ever since I got a taster of diving in Turkey last September. The first morning was spent in the classroom watching cheesy learning videos presented by a guy with a ridiculous Irish/American accent. It was all very interesting but I kept looking at the pool outside and wondering when the hell we were going to get to jump into it. Shortly after lunch my wish was granted and after donning our very attractive wetsuits we were given a lesson in how to assemble scuba gear. Soon we were in the pool and practicing all sorts of skills like putting your mask on and off under water, taking off and replacing your mouthpiece under water, clearing your sinuses etc... The morning of the second day was spent with more pool skills and at lunch time we headed to the store to get kitted out with wetsuits, BCD's (Buoyancy Control Devices), masks, snorkels and fins for the boat trip the next day. That afternoon we had our classroom test which I passed with 94% :) We had yet another early morning the next day as the van rocked up to pick us up at 5.45 am. By 7am we were on the boat and cruising the 3 hour journey to the Great Barrier Reef. I have never been sea sick before and I had bought some sea sickness tablets the day before only because Gonzo (our instructor) was adament that we would definitely get seasick. Just as well because an hour into the rocky journey I felt fairly queasy. Thankfully I managed to stave it off and as soon as we arrived at our first dive site we were in the water and descending... I think that first dive we went down to around 14m. When we resurfaced Eva, the genius Dutch cook,had a slap up lunch prepared for us which we wolfed down. An hour after this was our second dive. During these dives we had to kneel on the ocean floor and repeat the skills we had learned in the pool. It is quite disconcerting when you're kneeling on the ocean floor 14m deep and you have to take off your mask and all of a sudden water is all over your face. Also for some reason when taking off my mask I took the regulator out of my mouth too giving me no way of breathing. I had done well in taking each off previously but now that both were off at the same time and I couldn't see or breathe I began to panic ever so slightly. Thankfully I calmed down and remembered the procedure for recovering your regulator when you lose it and did so. Phew! That was the most scary part of the whole course.
As dive trainees we only did 2 dives on the first day and spent the rest of the day snorkelling, swimming and relaxing on the boat. Oh and eating all the wonderful food Eva was cooking up for us. The second day was the toughest with 4 dives. After the first 2 on the second day we were fully certified divers. That means the next dive was our first one without the reassuring prescence of an instructor. Eek! We decided to go in a group of four and after a few minutes the nerves eased and we were fully enjoying our first proper open water dive. That night we were scheduled for a night dive. Of course this was with an instructor as you can't do a night dive until you have the next level of certification. Before the night dive Fossie, the skipper, started throwing silces of bread into the water to drum up sharks. Sure enough just before we got into the water we saw the silhoutte of a pack of sharks circling the boat. Well damned if you and damned if you don't I thought as I plunged into the shark infested waters. Thankfully they were but reef sharks and extremely docile and just curious. The night dive itself wasn't the greatest. Even though we had torches it was still very difficult to see anything. We did however see Brian sleeping under a piece of coral. Brian is a female turtle who is the same size as a hefty dining table and 120 years old. After a day choc full of diving I was knackered and went to bed at the ridiculous hour of 9.30. I managed to drag myself out of bed at 5.45am the next morning for the first dive of the day but after that I had a slight headache which I decided was cause to sit out the next dive. The third dive on the last day was the last dive of the trip and ended up being the best. We saw clow fish (nemo) and sea turtles swimming for the surface. Not to mention another shark or two for good measure and this dive site was also the best coral so far.
I decided to head the sea sickness off at the pass as it were and went to bed for a kip before the boat even started making its way back to Cairns. I managed to sleep through 2 hours of the 3 hour journey and thus avoiding any nausea. Stepping onto land after 3 days on a boat is weird and even now, the next morning, I still feel like I'm swaying back and forth. Last night we went for dinner and drinks with the diving crowd and all the instructors and crew. Although it was a good night we were all wrecked from 5 days of diving and we finished up at a respectful hour.
When our alarms went off at 7am for our first day of diving school I thought about how many early mornings I'd had on the trip. I thought this was supposed to be a holiday and all we seem to do is get up early for flights/trips/tours etc... Anyway at least this was exciting even if it was school. I was going to learn to dive! Something I've been patiently waiting to do ever since I got a taster of diving in Turkey last September. The first morning was spent in the classroom watching cheesy learning videos presented by a guy with a ridiculous Irish/American accent. It was all very interesting but I kept looking at the pool outside and wondering when the hell we were going to get to jump into it. Shortly after lunch my wish was granted and after donning our very attractive wetsuits we were given a lesson in how to assemble scuba gear. Soon we were in the pool and practicing all sorts of skills like putting your mask on and off under water, taking off and replacing your mouthpiece under water, clearing your sinuses etc... The morning of the second day was spent with more pool skills and at lunch time we headed to the store to get kitted out with wetsuits, BCD's (Buoyancy Control Devices), masks, snorkels and fins for the boat trip the next day. That afternoon we had our classroom test which I passed with 94% :) We had yet another early morning the next day as the van rocked up to pick us up at 5.45 am. By 7am we were on the boat and cruising the 3 hour journey to the Great Barrier Reef. I have never been sea sick before and I had bought some sea sickness tablets the day before only because Gonzo (our instructor) was adament that we would definitely get seasick. Just as well because an hour into the rocky journey I felt fairly queasy. Thankfully I managed to stave it off and as soon as we arrived at our first dive site we were in the water and descending... I think that first dive we went down to around 14m. When we resurfaced Eva, the genius Dutch cook,had a slap up lunch prepared for us which we wolfed down. An hour after this was our second dive. During these dives we had to kneel on the ocean floor and repeat the skills we had learned in the pool. It is quite disconcerting when you're kneeling on the ocean floor 14m deep and you have to take off your mask and all of a sudden water is all over your face. Also for some reason when taking off my mask I took the regulator out of my mouth too giving me no way of breathing. I had done well in taking each off previously but now that both were off at the same time and I couldn't see or breathe I began to panic ever so slightly. Thankfully I calmed down and remembered the procedure for recovering your regulator when you lose it and did so. Phew! That was the most scary part of the whole course.
As dive trainees we only did 2 dives on the first day and spent the rest of the day snorkelling, swimming and relaxing on the boat. Oh and eating all the wonderful food Eva was cooking up for us. The second day was the toughest with 4 dives. After the first 2 on the second day we were fully certified divers. That means the next dive was our first one without the reassuring prescence of an instructor. Eek! We decided to go in a group of four and after a few minutes the nerves eased and we were fully enjoying our first proper open water dive. That night we were scheduled for a night dive. Of course this was with an instructor as you can't do a night dive until you have the next level of certification. Before the night dive Fossie, the skipper, started throwing silces of bread into the water to drum up sharks. Sure enough just before we got into the water we saw the silhoutte of a pack of sharks circling the boat. Well damned if you and damned if you don't I thought as I plunged into the shark infested waters. Thankfully they were but reef sharks and extremely docile and just curious. The night dive itself wasn't the greatest. Even though we had torches it was still very difficult to see anything. We did however see Brian sleeping under a piece of coral. Brian is a female turtle who is the same size as a hefty dining table and 120 years old. After a day choc full of diving I was knackered and went to bed at the ridiculous hour of 9.30. I managed to drag myself out of bed at 5.45am the next morning for the first dive of the day but after that I had a slight headache which I decided was cause to sit out the next dive. The third dive on the last day was the last dive of the trip and ended up being the best. We saw clow fish (nemo) and sea turtles swimming for the surface. Not to mention another shark or two for good measure and this dive site was also the best coral so far.
I decided to head the sea sickness off at the pass as it were and went to bed for a kip before the boat even started making its way back to Cairns. I managed to sleep through 2 hours of the 3 hour journey and thus avoiding any nausea. Stepping onto land after 3 days on a boat is weird and even now, the next morning, I still feel like I'm swaying back and forth. Last night we went for dinner and drinks with the diving crowd and all the instructors and crew. Although it was a good night we were all wrecked from 5 days of diving and we finished up at a respectful hour.
# posted by Grum @ 6:30 PM 
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