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Day 2: 10/6/13
The other people in the hostel room last night seemed to go to bed around the same time I did. Obviously they had early starts aswell. Around 3am though, two girls came in and were talking. They were near my bed and I was wodering where they were going to go. They both went into the top bunk and I could sort of hear them talking. They seemed to be wondering if they would sleep together tonight or not. I was thinking, please don't!!!!! One girl was saying- it's your decision, your decision. But they went to sleep!! Thank God!! When I got up in the morning, there were indeed two of them in the bed cuddled up!
I had to be at the reef terminal to check in for the barrier reef boat trip at 7:15. The hostel have a shuttle in the morning so that was good. I checked in and got on the boat fairly quickly. We had to fill out lots of forms as there was an introductory dive included in the price. There were a lot of questions about breathing, wheezing, sinus problems, etc and I had to tick yes to a few things. Apparently sinus problems is fairly serious as you can be in a lot of pain diving. If your lungs are a problem you could have serious issues. They said they would have to ring a doctor to se about me, but they'd put me in the last group and I could think about it. I have a bit of a cold at the moment aswell so I'm more blocked up than usual. So I was reckoning I wouldn't do it! I decided to snorkel first and see how that went.
There was a French girl on board that wanted to dive but she had some kind of allergies that affected her nose and her cough (it sounded a lot like me!) and she had used an inhaler about 2 months ago. They told her straight away that they knew the doctor would say no if she had used an inhaler in the last two months. She argued with them for about a half an hour- it was very entertaining!! She seemed to think that she could change their mind and they were only doing it for her own safety!!
While they had explained everything about diving and snorkelling we had sailed out into the ocean for about an hour. It was pretty choppy and rocky! It was hard to walk around!! When we anchored out at sea they took a little glass bottom boat out over the reef. That was pretty cool as you could see all the fish swimming around underneath, as well as all the coral. The coral was a bit browner than I expected but there were loads of different shapes- brain coral, spaghetti coral,etc and lots of wriggly looking ones that were moving with the sea. The fish were pretty cool- bright electric blue ones stood out the most!
I met two Irish girls from Cork and was with them must of the day. They went diving in one of the first groups so I went snorkelling. I found it really hard to get used to the mask. When you put your head under water you expect not to be able to breathe so it was hard to get used of breathing normally. The mask blocks off your nose so you can't breathe through that which I found really uncomfortable! I felt like the mask was filling up with snot!! There were fairly big waves aswell which kept whacking me in the face! One of the guides went out with us. He was an English guy who used to work on Castlebar! He was watching me like a hawk as he knew I wasn't that comfortable! Every time I came up to try to sort out the mask a bit he was there, which was good. There was an Irish couple from Wexford out at the same time and that girl wasn't finding it easy either. I did see some fish and coral which was pretty good. Then the guide spotted a turtle and we followed him. He was way bigger than I expected! He swam away and then a few minutes later we passed one sitting on the ocean floor. I presume it was the same guy! It was pretty amazing to see a turtle a few feet away from you and then realise you're not at a zoo- you're actually swimming in the same water as him! That was really good. The guide said he was going back to the boat soon after that so we went back with him! Even after the snorkelling, my nose was all blocked and my ears had popped so I decided I definitely wasn't going to dive!! Maybe if I ever clear out my nose ill try it sometime!!
They did another glass bottom boat tour after that which I went on. We didn't see anything different to the last time but it was still nice to be looking at the coral and still be able to breathe properly!! When we came back the lunch was ready. They had given us breakfast too of fruit and pastries when we got on board. The lunch was cold meats, salad, rice, coleslaw and bread. It was really good. My stomach was feeling a but dodgy with all the rocking but after testing the food a little I was okay!
After lunch they drove to another location on the reef and there was another snorkel if you wanted. This time they drove you out on the small boat and dropped you off in the ocean and you had to swim back over the coral. There were two guides with us to look after us and show us things. I found the breathing a little bit easier this time, even though I managed to get loads of water up my nose and somehow I swallowed a load of it!! There weren't as many waves though so that made it a bit better. The guide showed us some specific anemones and things. In one of them there was a little nemo fish- the clown fish. I couldn't see it at first but the second time I did! She said there was a baby nemo living further over and she dived down and pointed to it but I couldn't see it. I saw a bigger fish but that couldn't have been it as the adult nemo I'd seen a few minutes ago was smaller than that one!! There were some really big fish around this time- it felt like they were really close to your face when you looked down! There were barracudas which look a bit like a baby shark without the fin sticking up. When I was swimming back to the boat there were lots of really big fish near the boat. It's weird when you're looking all around and all you can see is blue water. Then you put your head under and there's a load of fish looking up at you! I liked the bright blue ones the best, but also the black and white zebra looking ones!! I know, I have great technical names!! They fed the fish now and again from the back of the boat so you could see them a bit closer. There was a big barracuda that is there every day apparently. They nicknamed him Barry- very imaginative!! I was surprised that the fish stay in the same place- even in the snorkelling they could show us where nemo lived because he's always there! I thought they would be swimming around to different places all the time!!
The reef is one of the natural wonders of the world and can be seen from space. You can see when you're sailing by that the water is darker in some areas and that's where the reef is. The lighter water is a really clear turquoise! It looks gorgeous. The reef is made up of 2,900 different reefs and we only saw one of them today.
After that snorkelling there were no more activities so we changed and sat chilling on the boat. I was with the two Cork girls most of the day- Brenda and Roni. We sat on the lower deck drinking tea. It was chilly when you came out of the water and the tea was really good!! The English guy that had been working in Castlebar came over to us and chatted to us for a good while- giving me tips about Asia and the girls tips about regional work. He even gave them an email address of a guy he knew that had a farm- he was very helpful! While we were chatting they came around three times with food- first it was fruit, then cheese and crackers and then cake. I've never been so well fed on a day trip!!!
On the way back to Cairns we got a lovely big rainbow!! It really summed up the day! When we docked all the crew stood on the marina and we had to shake hands with them all on the way out- it was very weird, like a funeral or something!!
I swapped numbers with the Irish girls and walked back to the hostel. It did take me the full 20 minutes from when I left Gilligans- the hostel the girls were at and the place everyone seems to be staying!!
It was about half five when I got back and there was a shuttle bus going into the city again at 7:30 so I arranged to get that and meet the Irish girls in there. I just had a shower and organised my bag for the next day and it was time to go again. I was the only one in the shuttle bus and I got dropped off right at the centre plaza. There's an Irish bar there called pj o'briens which looked the exact same as the one in Melbourne. I met the girls anyway in the bar in their hostel. We said we'd have one there and then see. We ended up staying there as there was good enough craic and they ran a talent contest which we wanted to see. It ended up being really terrible- one of the most talented was a guy that made dolphin noises!! We had a bit of craic anyway talking about the snorkelling and the girls' dive, aswell as people that were on the boat and places they had been to. One particular set of people on the boat caught all our attention as it was a woman in her 50's and a teenage boy. We presumed they were mother and son and I overheard her saying the trip was her graduation present to him! But we had our doubts when the woman was lying in a strange position, sunbathing on the deck!! They were good craic. One of the girls kept bumping into her instructir on the scuba dive as she had no control of where she was going with the life jacket! He was trying to sort out the other girls mask so he had to give her his soare breathing device tube to hold in to just to get her off him! she was very comical telling the story! There was an English guy with them aswell who was very witty. At around 1 I decided I better go home!! I wouldn't survive an 11 hour bus if I waited any longer!!
There was a taxi right outside the door that brought me back to the hostel. He was Aussie but his name was Cumerford and his relations came from Tipperary! When I went to the hostel I went up the stairs to my room and was wondering why the key wouldn't open the door. Then I realised I hadn't gone up enough stairs yet!! There was a guy in the bed above me this time and only one of him, so all was good!!
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