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Sun, sea and Vegemite fines!
After one more day of theory and skills in the pool we sat our exam and passed with flying colours! That evening I chilled out with friends at the hostel and packed ready for my 6am start. 6am came around rather too quickly and I was up and checked out ready for my 6.30 pickup. After a short detour via the dive shop we headed to the harbour. We were all strongly advised to take anti sickness tablets as the sea was roughy due to 25 knot winds. They really weren't kidding. Finally we reached the overnight boat and after a briefing and a tour, we had lunch and got ready for our first dive. The dive went well but it was very cold and cloudy so the colours on the reef weren't great. After a quick tea and cake break we were back in for our second dive. It again was rather freezing but that was made better by finding a turtle and some Nemo fish. We spent the evening having a nice dinner, having a dive be brief and playing cards. We had a 5.30 start so we all had a relatively early night. We were woken at 5.40 and got ready for our 6.30 dive. The sun rose at 6.20 but the clouds ruined the view. The 6.30 dive went well and we finished all of our skills so the 8am dive was a fun dive. we had a brief break for some breakfast and then we were back in the water for 8. We learned how to somersault into the water which was fun and we got to play with props underwater, all in aid of the videographer who was filing us. Once that dive was over we were officially qualified and once the paper work was completed, the important matter of Vegemite fines was addressed. Scott the instructor had given us a long list of things we must and must not do and the punishment for breaking the rules was having to eat a teaspoon of Vegemite. He kept us on tenterhooks for a while before announcing that much to his annoyance only Dan had a Vegemite fine (big sigh of relief!). Dan had gone to 16.3 m on the dive when the limit for that one had been 16m. Tough price to pay for the length of a ruler! Erica (my buddy) and I then had our first qualified dive at 11 which was good as the sun was out and the colour were better than on other dives. After lunch we spent some time chilling out on the sundeck before returning to Cairns. It was equally as rough as the way out so I was glad to have my feet on solid ground. I had a few hours to kill before the bus so went to the night markets and had some nutritious food (chips and ice cream) before getting the bus to mission beach. I am now happily sitting in have sunshine at my new hostel which is rather like a giant tree house on the edge of a rainforest. I am off on an explore in a bit as tomorrow I move on to Townsville for 2 nights on magnetic island. Ill hopefully write again soon! Xx
- comments
The OG Sounds fab and have seen the pictures of your beach which look amazing.