Great Barrier Reef
Well, it's early January. Another long silence. I'm not going to apologise - if you read this in a reader then it'll tell you when I update, so it's not such an inconvenience then. And if you don't read it in a reader? Well, readers are really good. I recommend them.
So, the last 6 months have been torturous for me - a very, very difficult time. Normally I struggle with life anyway - it's never easy - but the last 6 months have been beyond difficult, towards impossible. But hey, I've coped.
One of the ways I've coped is to have some PES to look forward to. PES is "Pleasant Event Scheduling" which is a recommended cognitive strategy for coping with depression. My pleasant events have been the Mika concert, the work conference in Brisbane, Wicked and the trip I just completed.
I hadn't planned on going away again - after all I had a big holiday in NZ (my most expensive ever) and that was going to be the big holiday for the year. But, I needed to have something to look forward to. I really, really, really needed something. So when I did my SCUBA course at the end of October, I saw this trip and signed up.
My sister came through with the flights to Cairns, using her frequent flyer points. It worked for both of us - a good present for her to give to me, and I got the flights. I also needed to stay overnight in Cairns.
So this is the trip diary, written in the "present":
- Ouch, 6.15am is not a nice time to wake up when you're on holidays. Mum's coming in 1/2 hour so I need to get up, get some breakfast, have a shower and get out of here. I hope I've packed everything!
- Mmm, security took my craft scissors AGAIN! When will I learn! I never remember about them because they're in my cross stitch bag.
- Checking in, my seat is 14C. It's an aisle seat, but there's no window seat available. Windows just give slightly more shoulder room which mean I'm not quite as uncomfortable.
- Oh PRAISE the LORD! Row 14 is an EXIT row!! So much leg room. The minor inconvenience of not having my bag on the floor is made so negligible with the leg room. THE LEG ROOM! My knees are not jammed against the seat in front. Bliss.
- UP! The movie is on. I watch it without sound. Getting headphones is just a bit too much trouble lol.
- Brisbane. Spend the time between flights searching through the entire airport for an xD card. My underwater (to 10m) camera was sold to me with the WRONG memory card, which of course I only realised on Christmas Day. Hence I have no memory card. Am unsuccessful, despite asking at 10 different possible stores. #BingLeeFAIL
- Cairns. The domestic airport fails to deliver any luck with the memory card. What about the international? I slowly walk the 500m to international terminal in the humid air, but it's all shut. Turns out it only opens when the flights are due.
- Taxi. The taxi driver knows where there is a camera store open on a Sunday! YAY! Find memory card and buy, but not apologetic for wanting to put it IN the camera in the store. It's all good.
- Mmm, 12 o'clock. Still too early to go to hotel. Use the time to log onto the internet and then have lunch in the food court. $15 for pad thai plus drink is a little expensive but oh well.
- Internet reveals where I'm staying (couldn't remember and couldn't find the piece of paper). Also reveals 5 blocks away - decide to walk.
- Walking is not a good idea! Get lost. Arrive very red and sweaty. Lovely hotel man takes pity on me and upgrades my room (I was going to share a bathroom) AND walks my bag up 2 flights of stairs. Yay for Cairns Queens Court!
- Ah, aircon works enough and bed is soft. Cricket is on, and I am soon asleep.
- Phone call from Sam, from Abyss. She has arranged dinner for all at Cairns Colonial Club, where we are being picked up. Not staying there because double the price. Don't really want to go but probably should. And it's free dinner.
- Dinner at CCC is quite fun. I have barramundi, which is a little tasteless, but still nice. The others there are Dave and Jane, Paul and Sue, Silvio, Ben, and Tracy. Paul and Sue are school principals, so they're quite interesting. We have a reasonable dinner together and then Silvio, Ben and me walk back to our respective accommodation. Silvio and Ben work with Jane, and they're all in IT together. Silvio is a silent, morose Italian, but Ben is lovely, and from Canada. I develop a small crush until I find out he's vegan! VEGAN! Argh.
- Catch cab to CCC to arrive by 7am. Am there by 6.40am. Sam is soon there and I fill out forms removing all liability and signing my life away. Oh well.
- Catch bus out to airport. We are catching a 14 seater plane out to Lizard Island. We get weighed and I am relieved to find that they have no problem with me, or my luggage. What a relief.
- We are told where to sit in the plane, and I am very happy to be against a window so I can take photos!
- Flight takes off and lands smoothly. The GBR is beautiful when you're close, but nothing special from the air.
- We are greeted at Lizard Island by the people who are leaving the boat after their 4-day trip to return on the plane. They are so cheery and happy that it lifts my spirits too and I think that this IS going to be good.
- We see a big lizard walking along, hence the name of the island. Cool!
- After a quick toilet break (and a giant moth on the wall of the toilet) we get in dinghy to go out to the boat. Woot!
- On the boat, we are greeted by the crew. They are REALLY friendly. It's actually really nice. The food is amazing - cheeses and biscuits, and fruit, and ... it's not even lunch yet.
- I have my own cabin. I have my own cabin!! I have my own cabin!!! It's like 7 feet x 7 feet, but it's my own cabin!!!!!!!!! It has a shared bathroom, but it's all mine (see budget cabin picture here).
- We head out to Cod Hole, the first dive site. I am hoping to see some giant cod up nice and close, like in the video on this page.
- It takes ages for us to get ready. Lots of waiting and waiting, and then getting our gear. Finally it's time to get in. I'm with the other "novice" divers, and we are just going to do some basic exercises to check we have enough skills. I'm quietly relieved by this because it's been a month since I dived and only 2 since I did my course.
- I have major buoyancy problems. The dive masters think I'll be ok with the weight they've given me, despite my protestations. The dive master Leigh eventually gives me 4 more pounds which really helps.
- We try to sit on the sand and the giant cod come over. They are so close I struggle not to touch them. They are amazing. And my contacts mean I can actually SEE for the first time. The $250 investment and 4 visits to OPSM (fitting plus one month's supply of daily lens) all becomes very worth it.
- Hello giant cod. How are you today?? Ben knocks my regulator (my air supply) out, but I just grab it and put it straight back in. Sue is also having trouble with her bouyancy.
- We head back to the boat as my air is out (I am nearly always the one who uses up air first). You use less air when you get more experience, and smaller people use less air too, so I am disadvantaged on both fronts, plus being quite anxious still.
- We have lunch and it's great - pizzas etc. Lots of salad. How wonderful to be fed all our meals and do no work. I do find it hard to watch others (our hardworking crew) to pick and clean up after us.
- Second dive site: Challenger Bay. The first dive is with Kerrin. He's the boss of the boat (not the captain, but the director) and my bouyancy is much better. It's an amazing dive. I spot the lion fish first, massive "angel" fish, blue starfish (which reminds me of a carpet door stop thing), and a grumpy moray eel who is just hilarious. He looks like this photo and is telling us to GO AWAY!
- One of the coolest things is the garden eels in the sand. As you get close they hide. It's like this video. So amazing!
- Night dive. Bit scared. Doesn't end up being that dark. I spot a giant snail in the sand (about 20cm long) and some sort of crab.
- Dinner - awesome Asian food and the beef satay is lovely. mmmmm.... Now sleep. Quite tired.
- Bed. Boat is fairly quiet as we are not moving until morning. Sleep now.
- Day 2 - we are diving before breakfast. We are at Pixie Wall.
- Leigh and me see a massive school of bumphead parrot fish. We look up towards the surface and there's about 100 of them in a giant school. They are big fish too - easily 50cm long. Amazing! And ugly!!
- Second dive with sam - we go around Lighthouse bommie. The most awesome bit is a green sea turtle, just sitting there, watching all the divers go by.
- Back up on deck, I sit and watch a turtle snorkel (or a turkel) around the surface of the water. Unbelievable. I also see a yellow ribbon snake, which I initially think is a safety sausage.
- The last dive of the day is a night dive, and it goes better. It's still not as dark as I want it to be.
- The next morning I do a dive with another inexperienced diver. He can't get down so we spend some time waiting for him. More fish etc.
(Can you tell I'm running out of enthusiasm?)
- The second dive at Steve's bommie I go with Kerrin and Lucy, who's a lovely English girl volunteering. Lucy asks me if I've seen a shark yet, but I still haven't so she says she'll tap on her tank when she sees one.
- We are about 15m down when Lucy taps on her tank and points. Down at the bottom of the bommie, off to the side, is a 1.5m white tip shark resting on the sand. Kerrin motions for me to come and we go closer. We're about 5m away from the shark when it swims away. I'm so excited I squeal!!
- Later in the same dive, Lucy points and I see a grey shark.
- The final dive (it's the 2nd last one but I end up not doing the last dive) is at Flare Point. After the end of my dive I pop back in with my camera and snorkel gear. A lot of the reef is very close to the surface which makes it ideal snorkelling. And my camera only goes to 10m. I am very excited to see another white tip shark and I manage to photograph it, but not very well.
- After the dive, I have a shower and get ready for the last night BBQ, but need to nap. I get woken up by the others checking on me, and so go upstairs and hang out on the last night.
- That night the boat steams all night back to Cairns, with the rocking of the boat quite different to sleep to.
- And then I hang out in Cairns until my flight leaves at 4pm. I catch Sherlock Holmes at the movies, which is ok, but too violent and not clever enough.
THE END
PS All the trip photos are here.
So, the last 6 months have been torturous for me - a very, very difficult time. Normally I struggle with life anyway - it's never easy - but the last 6 months have been beyond difficult, towards impossible. But hey, I've coped.
One of the ways I've coped is to have some PES to look forward to. PES is "Pleasant Event Scheduling" which is a recommended cognitive strategy for coping with depression. My pleasant events have been the Mika concert, the work conference in Brisbane, Wicked and the trip I just completed.
I hadn't planned on going away again - after all I had a big holiday in NZ (my most expensive ever) and that was going to be the big holiday for the year. But, I needed to have something to look forward to. I really, really, really needed something. So when I did my SCUBA course at the end of October, I saw this trip and signed up.
My sister came through with the flights to Cairns, using her frequent flyer points. It worked for both of us - a good present for her to give to me, and I got the flights. I also needed to stay overnight in Cairns.
So this is the trip diary, written in the "present":
- Ouch, 6.15am is not a nice time to wake up when you're on holidays. Mum's coming in 1/2 hour so I need to get up, get some breakfast, have a shower and get out of here. I hope I've packed everything!
- Mmm, security took my craft scissors AGAIN! When will I learn! I never remember about them because they're in my cross stitch bag.
- Checking in, my seat is 14C. It's an aisle seat, but there's no window seat available. Windows just give slightly more shoulder room which mean I'm not quite as uncomfortable.
- Oh PRAISE the LORD! Row 14 is an EXIT row!! So much leg room. The minor inconvenience of not having my bag on the floor is made so negligible with the leg room. THE LEG ROOM! My knees are not jammed against the seat in front. Bliss.
- UP! The movie is on. I watch it without sound. Getting headphones is just a bit too much trouble lol.
- Brisbane. Spend the time between flights searching through the entire airport for an xD card. My underwater (to 10m) camera was sold to me with the WRONG memory card, which of course I only realised on Christmas Day. Hence I have no memory card. Am unsuccessful, despite asking at 10 different possible stores. #BingLeeFAIL
- Cairns. The domestic airport fails to deliver any luck with the memory card. What about the international? I slowly walk the 500m to international terminal in the humid air, but it's all shut. Turns out it only opens when the flights are due.
- Taxi. The taxi driver knows where there is a camera store open on a Sunday! YAY! Find memory card and buy, but not apologetic for wanting to put it IN the camera in the store. It's all good.
- Mmm, 12 o'clock. Still too early to go to hotel. Use the time to log onto the internet and then have lunch in the food court. $15 for pad thai plus drink is a little expensive but oh well.
- Internet reveals where I'm staying (couldn't remember and couldn't find the piece of paper). Also reveals 5 blocks away - decide to walk.
- Walking is not a good idea! Get lost. Arrive very red and sweaty. Lovely hotel man takes pity on me and upgrades my room (I was going to share a bathroom) AND walks my bag up 2 flights of stairs. Yay for Cairns Queens Court!
- Ah, aircon works enough and bed is soft. Cricket is on, and I am soon asleep.
- Phone call from Sam, from Abyss. She has arranged dinner for all at Cairns Colonial Club, where we are being picked up. Not staying there because double the price. Don't really want to go but probably should. And it's free dinner.
- Dinner at CCC is quite fun. I have barramundi, which is a little tasteless, but still nice. The others there are Dave and Jane, Paul and Sue, Silvio, Ben, and Tracy. Paul and Sue are school principals, so they're quite interesting. We have a reasonable dinner together and then Silvio, Ben and me walk back to our respective accommodation. Silvio and Ben work with Jane, and they're all in IT together. Silvio is a silent, morose Italian, but Ben is lovely, and from Canada. I develop a small crush until I find out he's vegan! VEGAN! Argh.
- Catch cab to CCC to arrive by 7am. Am there by 6.40am. Sam is soon there and I fill out forms removing all liability and signing my life away. Oh well.
- Catch bus out to airport. We are catching a 14 seater plane out to Lizard Island. We get weighed and I am relieved to find that they have no problem with me, or my luggage. What a relief.
- We are told where to sit in the plane, and I am very happy to be against a window so I can take photos!
- Flight takes off and lands smoothly. The GBR is beautiful when you're close, but nothing special from the air.
- We are greeted at Lizard Island by the people who are leaving the boat after their 4-day trip to return on the plane. They are so cheery and happy that it lifts my spirits too and I think that this IS going to be good.
- We see a big lizard walking along, hence the name of the island. Cool!
- After a quick toilet break (and a giant moth on the wall of the toilet) we get in dinghy to go out to the boat. Woot!
- On the boat, we are greeted by the crew. They are REALLY friendly. It's actually really nice. The food is amazing - cheeses and biscuits, and fruit, and ... it's not even lunch yet.
- I have my own cabin. I have my own cabin!! I have my own cabin!!! It's like 7 feet x 7 feet, but it's my own cabin!!!!!!!!! It has a shared bathroom, but it's all mine (see budget cabin picture here).
- We head out to Cod Hole, the first dive site. I am hoping to see some giant cod up nice and close, like in the video on this page.
- It takes ages for us to get ready. Lots of waiting and waiting, and then getting our gear. Finally it's time to get in. I'm with the other "novice" divers, and we are just going to do some basic exercises to check we have enough skills. I'm quietly relieved by this because it's been a month since I dived and only 2 since I did my course.
- I have major buoyancy problems. The dive masters think I'll be ok with the weight they've given me, despite my protestations. The dive master Leigh eventually gives me 4 more pounds which really helps.
- We try to sit on the sand and the giant cod come over. They are so close I struggle not to touch them. They are amazing. And my contacts mean I can actually SEE for the first time. The $250 investment and 4 visits to OPSM (fitting plus one month's supply of daily lens) all becomes very worth it.
- Hello giant cod. How are you today?? Ben knocks my regulator (my air supply) out, but I just grab it and put it straight back in. Sue is also having trouble with her bouyancy.
- We head back to the boat as my air is out (I am nearly always the one who uses up air first). You use less air when you get more experience, and smaller people use less air too, so I am disadvantaged on both fronts, plus being quite anxious still.
- We have lunch and it's great - pizzas etc. Lots of salad. How wonderful to be fed all our meals and do no work. I do find it hard to watch others (our hardworking crew) to pick and clean up after us.
- Second dive site: Challenger Bay. The first dive is with Kerrin. He's the boss of the boat (not the captain, but the director) and my bouyancy is much better. It's an amazing dive. I spot the lion fish first, massive "angel" fish, blue starfish (which reminds me of a carpet door stop thing), and a grumpy moray eel who is just hilarious. He looks like this photo and is telling us to GO AWAY!
- One of the coolest things is the garden eels in the sand. As you get close they hide. It's like this video. So amazing!
- Night dive. Bit scared. Doesn't end up being that dark. I spot a giant snail in the sand (about 20cm long) and some sort of crab.
- Dinner - awesome Asian food and the beef satay is lovely. mmmmm.... Now sleep. Quite tired.
- Bed. Boat is fairly quiet as we are not moving until morning. Sleep now.
- Day 2 - we are diving before breakfast. We are at Pixie Wall.
- Leigh and me see a massive school of bumphead parrot fish. We look up towards the surface and there's about 100 of them in a giant school. They are big fish too - easily 50cm long. Amazing! And ugly!!
- Second dive with sam - we go around Lighthouse bommie. The most awesome bit is a green sea turtle, just sitting there, watching all the divers go by.
- Back up on deck, I sit and watch a turtle snorkel (or a turkel) around the surface of the water. Unbelievable. I also see a yellow ribbon snake, which I initially think is a safety sausage.
- The last dive of the day is a night dive, and it goes better. It's still not as dark as I want it to be.
- The next morning I do a dive with another inexperienced diver. He can't get down so we spend some time waiting for him. More fish etc.
(Can you tell I'm running out of enthusiasm?)
- The second dive at Steve's bommie I go with Kerrin and Lucy, who's a lovely English girl volunteering. Lucy asks me if I've seen a shark yet, but I still haven't so she says she'll tap on her tank when she sees one.
- We are about 15m down when Lucy taps on her tank and points. Down at the bottom of the bommie, off to the side, is a 1.5m white tip shark resting on the sand. Kerrin motions for me to come and we go closer. We're about 5m away from the shark when it swims away. I'm so excited I squeal!!
- Later in the same dive, Lucy points and I see a grey shark.
- The final dive (it's the 2nd last one but I end up not doing the last dive) is at Flare Point. After the end of my dive I pop back in with my camera and snorkel gear. A lot of the reef is very close to the surface which makes it ideal snorkelling. And my camera only goes to 10m. I am very excited to see another white tip shark and I manage to photograph it, but not very well.
- After the dive, I have a shower and get ready for the last night BBQ, but need to nap. I get woken up by the others checking on me, and so go upstairs and hang out on the last night.
- That night the boat steams all night back to Cairns, with the rocking of the boat quite different to sleep to.
- And then I hang out in Cairns until my flight leaves at 4pm. I catch Sherlock Holmes at the movies, which is ok, but too violent and not clever enough.
THE END
PS All the trip photos are here.
Yay! I enjoyed reading your trip diary... was looking forward to hearing how it went last night but did not get to talk to you!
ReplyDelete(hugs)
Thanks for the recap! Your trip sounds amazing!
ReplyDeleteWow, you really have adventure holidays :)
ReplyDelete