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We had our first full day as hosties and it seems it might be the only day we get! Shannon said there was a mix up on the rota, apparently the office put two new hosties on in our position so we need to come off. I think it's bulls*** to be honest, it makes more sense for the company to keep taking on new hosties which are paying for their first night than to keep the same people on and miss out on the cash, I didn't say that to her though. Shannon said she has highlighted that she wants us back within the next few days so we will have to check at the office when we get back to Cairns. It was still a great day though and still worth the money.
Hosting duties started at 5:50am, we had to be up before the guests and crew to make sure breakfast would be ready in time for them. Chris set the alarm for 5:30am so we would have enough time for a quick cup of tea first. Once Shannon could see that the tables were all set she sent us off to get changed for our dive at 6:30am. We were still at Norman Reef, last nights dive was great so it was interesting to see what it was like in the morning here. We quickly got changed and put our wet suits on as quick as possible! This time I stood in the sunlight which made a slight difference. We didn't need to wait for anybody so as soon as we were ready me and Chris jumped straight in. We wanted to be the first down there so the others wouldn't scare anything away! We were very lucky, we got to see a huge turtle wake up and swim to the surface for air, then we saw two large napoleon fish, we think they were the same ones from last night. They kept swimming around us this time but wouldn't come up to our hands. Apparently they swim into your arms like a dog if you stretch out one arm and cup your hand to get their attention. We kept trying but it didn't work. There was another large fish that wouldn't leave us alone, the napoleon fish kept chasing it away as if they were protecting us! Other than that we saw only one sting ray and some pretty sea slugs and all the other usual fish.
Back on board we once again raced for a hot shower, then went back to work. Phillip was short on breakfast supplies so had to figure out what to make with what little he had. Chris took a quick look then came up with the idea of Danishes! It was quite simple really and I think any chef should have been able to come up with it. Phillip had never made them before but they came out really well, he could have added a little sprinkle of icing sugar over them though. We put all the breakfast out then sat down and ate. Again Phillip made way too many so there were tones left in the kitchen. We kept helping ourselves to them but the rest had to be frozen and will probably get thrown away in the end.
We finished breakfast and helped put everything away, we saw a big shark swimming outside the kitchen area again. This time Phillip only through ice cubes down instead of food. Just then the Reef Experience arrived with more passengers and a whole load of food deliveries! Huge beef steaks and fresh fish! All the hosties lined up and passed the heavy boxes down into the kitchen, some of the dive crew that seemed to think they were something special didn't care about throwing the heavy boxes at us. I think they forget that we were paying passengers before we became workers so they should give a little more respect, most of them were very friendly towards us though.
Chris stayed in the kitchen and helped put all the food away while I dusted and polished but only as high as I could reach! I had to get Chris to do all the bits at the top! Chris seemed to have found his favourite place on the boat, the kitchen! He helped Phillip with lunch, cutting up veggies and plating up, while I done some hoovering. I hate hoovering and I hated the fact that Chris was chilling out to music and probably picking at all the food while I was sweating and breaking my back! When he finished in there he came out and told me that lunch wasn't great even though Phillip had all the ingredients he needed to make a good meal! He served up plain rice with sliced vegetables and tiny pieces of meat mixed in! He had huge beef steaks for crying out loud, why did he crucify them like that?! There was one vegetarian on board, his meal looked better than the rest of ours, he had a stuffed pepper baked in the oven and mixed veg on the side. That was Chris's idea aswell! Although it looked nice it didn't actually come out that great and again Phillip made way too many of them! Everybody looked shocked with the food. Me and Chris ate a pepper each just because the rice dish was so s***! Even on a back packer budget we wouldn't make that crap and cruise food is meant to be five star! We don't think Phillip will be here very long. The worst part was when he asked us how our food was and we had to lie to his face and say it was nice!
After a very disappointing lunch Shannon showed us how to make up the rooms. It was so easy, all we had to do was change the linen, clean the bathroom which I got stuck doing and make the beds. Then we dossed around until our next dive at 3:30pm. Chris was outside when suddenly he came running in to find me, there were dolphins out in front of the boat! Everybody dropped what they were doing and sprinted to the front deck! There were eight dolphins! We were really excited because it was our first sighting of them. Just need to be in the water with them next time.
Even after so many dives we still wern't used to putting on the cold wet suits. The dive was ok but we were getting a bit bored of seeing the same stuff and diving at the same locations. The reef stretched for miles! We thought a big dive boat as expensive as this one would visit more locations! We saw all the usual stuff, napoleon fish, big cod, lots of black/white nemo's and giant cucumbers. We wanted to see some manta rays or larger sharks but it didn't look hopeful.
Afterwards Chris made us both a cup of tea and grabbed some danishes from the kitchen fridge then we jumped into the hot tub. We sat in there warming up for about half an hour, it was the best way to spend the rest of our break but it never seemed to last long. We jumped out at the last minute to get changed for work again.
We set up for dinner, served everyone and sat down to eat. Phillip decided to make a lasagne tonight which is considered as a really poor effort when he's got the ingredients to make a far more interesting and tasty meal. There was a couple on board that flew in by helicopter, they were staying in the most expensive cabin and were eating alone on the sun deck. Phillip served them minted leg of lamb and for some strange reason cooked for more than ten when there were just two of them! I had a sneak peak at their dessert, strawberries covered in chocolate sauce. It wasn't exactly the most impressive dessert, what if they didn't like strawberries? But the funniest bit was the fact that he put animal shaped biscuits on the plate for them, the sort you would give to a child.
It was really quiet again tonight so there wasn't much to do which also meant we got to go on the night dive again. This time we were back at Saxon Reef so we were expecting a good dive and it turned out to be! We saw three sleeping turtles, two of which were massive! We came across an army of huge lobsters! Usually lobsters would hide away in the rocks when you go near them but these were coming out from everywhere holding up their pincers like they were their swords! The giant travelli's were back and hungry as ever, we helped them hunt again and this time the two girls that came with us pushed the small fish out to their deaths! I taught them well :-D There were also more reef sharks about, loads of white tip reef sharks from one and a half to two meters long, they came within a meter of us and one tried to eat a fish in front of us but I think it managed to get into the rocks in time. It was our best night dive so far!
By now we had learnt to throw our towels in the tumble dryer so when we got out from the dive we had a hot towel to wrap around us.
After dessert we decided to sit down and watch a bit of Family Guy on the tv before heading to bed around 10:30pm. Chris went and put our washing on then came back to bed, he wanted to take advantage of getting it done for free! The crazy fool got up at 1pm to put it into the dryer so it was dry for the morning! He's so much more domesticated than me lol.
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