Left Hotel Pretentious (did I tell you not to go to Hotel Cairns?) and joined the bus with the other divers for 3 days out on the reef. It became apparent that one of our group had not surfaced (pun intended) and even on a second visit to the hostel there was no sign of Darren. We all felt gutted for him and could not understand why he was not on the bus. Oh well time and tides wait for no man and we headed for the boat "ScubaPro".
Safety briefing complete Darren (our man from Ireland) appeared amongst us with possibly the worst excuse imaginable. Evidently he had set his alarm but he had the wrong Time Zone!!!!!!!!
ScubaPro is one of 3 purpose built boats run by Pro Dive each capable of carrying 32 people including crew. The whole operation was run extremely efficiently. We all had safety numbers (Nicola was 18, I was 19) which we had to confirm at various parts of the voyage. This had only been introduced following the film Open Water where 2 divers had been left in the ocean. Not a happy ending I believe.
Our cabin had bunk beds with a great sea view from the top bunk.
The journey to the reef was 3 hours and the portion crossing the "Paddock" saw Nicola and Georg adopt what would become a familiar position at the back of the boat looking at the horizon glad they had taken the sea sickness tablets!
The group completed 2 dives in the open (10:55 and 14:28) followed by a snorkel session with Nicola at 16:00.
A night dive for the qualified divers completed the activities
Food on board was fantastic. Everyone in bed by 22:00. Nicola has never been to bed with me so early so often.
Both of us ventured on deck during the early hours to see the stunning night sky.