Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
I can't tell you how excited I was for this trip, I have seen amazing pictures of the Reef and I couldn't wait to both snorkel and scuba dive in it to see whether it really was quite as beautiful. I got on the boat and I was greeted by lovely staff. I sat down holding this huge black case.. I was getting strange looks as people were wondering what was inside, I had hired an underwater camera for the day. When I paid for it I was told that if I lost it or broke it I would have to pay $600.. I had to guard it with my life and I was so afraid of anything happening to it, being the calamity that I am.
I sat by two lovely girls, Jo from England and Corissa from America. We sat outside on the front of the boat whilst travelling to the reef.. A little windy and choppy but a laugh all the same and when we got there we were second to scuba dive. Once the oxygen tank was attached to my back I could barely move, I had no idea how I was going to get down the stairs with my gigantic flippers and dead weight on my back, let alone into the water. Breathing wasn't easy, it took a lot of getting used to and going deeper into the water was petrifying! Thankfully I could see what was below me, I think I would have been even more scared if it was murky! We descended with our instructor and it was incredible, there were some amazing fish down there and I even got to see Nemo. There was one pretty huge fish with big lips and a grumpy face, it moved so slowly in the water, but it made me smile. There are lots of photos from the reef on Facebook. Some cloudy ones of the coral, and some pretty good ones even though I say myself. There's one I use as my desktop background on my net book but no one believes I have taken it.. I have honest!
The dive affected my ears so much and each time we went deeper I had to equalise as my ears were killing.. but it was worth it! We had lunch which was like a banquet, I went up twice and piled my plate and could easily have fitted more in, but we were snorkelling after and I didn't want to sink. The island we were taken to was lovely, but it was completely inhabited by birds and my gosh did it smell! There was no hesitancy to get into the water, I just wanted to face plant it and not lift my head until we were ready to go as the smell was putrid. There were some gorgeous fish, a bright blue one which I was trying to follow to get a good photo of. I also saw a stingray and a starfish.. No turtles though.
We spent an hour or so on the island and then it was time to sail back to Cairns, it was an amazing day and the Reef was everything and more that it is cracked up to be. Scuba diving was immense, I just wish my ears weren't given me so much grief.. and I wasn't aware how ill it would make me feel for the next two days.. but I could put up with the loss of balance for seeing incredible sea creatures any day!
- comments