Great Barrier Reef

On Wednesday, both Brendon and I went out to the Great Barrier Reef ( 2 outer reefs). There are many reef systems surrounding islands but our trip was right out to two of the many outer reef systems. Brendon spent 2 days in class and in the pool and 2 days on the reef to complete his PADI scuba certification which certifies him for life to dive to 18m. I only went for the day trip on Wed. to do some snorkelling and a couple of dives.

The weather has not been that great since we got to Cairns. It's been really cloudy and lots of rain off and on. So we were hoping for a nice day on the boat but got lots of cloud and wind instead. The boat ride out to the reef was quite rough...not good for the sea sick feeling. We got to our first destination about an hour and a half after we left the pier. It was a little scary to look out and see nothing, only water. It felt like we were in the middle of the deep, deep ocean. You couldn't see any land, islands, other boats or anything...but as soon as you jumped in and looked down, it was awesome! The water didn't look that appealing from the boat (not the beautiful turquoise clear water) but the visibility was awesome once you got under....I did a short snorkel around, saw some cool fish and then came back to the boat to get ready for my intro dive. During this time Brendon was getting ready for his first dive. He completed 2 dives each day and they were mostly testing his SCUBA skills. So we were both in and out of the water at different times.

I was really nervous about diving. I knew that I wanted to try it but I really didn't know what to expect. I was put into a group with 3 other intro divers and I think we were all a little bit nervous. We all got suited up and sat on the back of the boat and waited for the instructor. They then helped us into the water and told us to go under the water down the ladder. So down I went and there were huge beautiful fish under the boat but I started to feel really nervous. I had never breathed through a regulator and it felt so weird to be breathing under the water. So I had a slight panic and told the instructor I wanted to go up to the surface (we were only about a meter or 2 under the water). One of the boat crew members wanted to know what was wrong and he told me that it was normal to feel nervous and that everything was fine. So back down I went and showed my 2 skills to the instructor (clear your mask and take your regulator out and put it back in). And then off we went! The 5 of us....arms linked, with the instructor in the middle. We swam for about 5 minutes like this and then he let us go and we followed him around. It was the coolest feeling EVER! It was like we were just floating along....I LOVED IT! So much I paid an extra $30 to do a second dive in the afternoon! There is so much more to look at under the surface and I loved how you could swim right up to the fish and coral. Very cool!