My Minke whale trip

6am is a very early flight. I know why I booked 6am. It’s because 6am was the cheapest. I have a front seat that has extra legroom, so that is good, but 6am is an early early flight.

My Mum picked me up at 4.20am and I drove to the airport. The lady at the checkin counter puzzles me a bit (my brain isn’t working very well) but eventually we determine that my dive knife is not a  problem as it’s in my checked in luggage.

The flight is over. And then we head outside. Unlike Sydney, the air is pregnant with moisture. Even in July, Cairns is humid.

I hadn’t decided whether to take a taxi or the shuttle. I decide that I will ask the shuttle person how long it will take before they leave. The shuttle is cheaper ($16) and more environmentally sound. And it’s leaving in 10 minutes. I might as well take the shuttle. It’s not like I have to be anywhere particularly soon.

At the Mike Ball office, I sign my life away . You always have to sign your life away when you are SCUBA diving. It’s slightly disconcerting. But you have to do it, so I do.

It’s now been 5.5 hours since I ate breakfast so I head to a local cafe and have eggs benedict with bacon. Yum yum yum.

Then I work out how to get to the cinema. I’ve decided to see The Jersey Boys. I have heard mixed reviews about the movie, some say it’s a bit slow. It goes for 134min, which is a good amount of time to use up. I don’t have to be anywhere until 4pm.

Before I get to the cinema I stop in at the lolly store and buy gobstoppers. I love gobstoppers. And the only place you can buy them is specialist lolly stores like this one. It turns out the movie is not at the cinema in the shopping centre; it’s a couple of blocks away in another theatre.  So I sit around for a bit and listen to the shrieks of a shopping centre filled with kids on holidays while I charge my phone through my computer. 

I love the movie. It’s not too slow. It’s a good movie that takes the musical and puts it into the screen. I enjoy the singing and the dancing. The dancing is so so daggy. The men look so cute.  I wonder whether the main guy who plays Frankie Valli is actually a musical star - his voice sounds like he should be.

When I get out of the movie, I do some internet research. Yes, the lead is a musical star. The others are just actors. The lead is really a Broadway star who starred for 2 years in Jersey Boys. 

After the movie, I head over to Mondo’s. It’s almost 4pm so time to have an early dinner. I thought that Abyss would pay for the dinner, but it’s not to be. Everything is $25 plus.  I have lamb cutlets which are a bit disappointing as they are mostly fat, so I spend a lot of time digging out the meat between the fatty strips.

The people seem nice. There are a bunch of older couples that I really like, some young girls I really like. My roommate is Diane, a French exchange student who has been studying at Sydney University for a year.  She is very young.  

We get on the boat and have the briefing and meet the crew. We are heading out to the ribbon reefs and I go to bed early. Diane is also really tired. I have been up since 3.45am so it’s no wonder.

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The next day we are woken at 6:30am for breakfast. Breakfast is amazing. Eggs, bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, hash browns, plus all sorts of cereal, toast and fruit. This trip is great for food.

After breakfast i decide to sign up for Nitrox course. It’s extra work - you have to study the booklet and learn how to measure the oxygen percentage in your tank as well as the Maximum Operating Depth (MOD). If you exceed your MOD with Nitrox you can have convulsions and die. I won’t exceed the depth anyway because its over 30m and in this sort of diving there’s nothing to see at 30m anyway.  

Then we go diving. The first stop is Challenger Bay, a long and gently sloping reef that has heaps of fish but not much else on it.  I am paired with Mark and we come up after 50min.  

Getting back on the boat is great. It’s great to have someone to hand things to and help you out. I like this boat a lot. It’s so easy to dive on it.

And then a whale is spotted. We had learnt the previous night that we have to hold onto the ropes trailing from the boat. We aren’t allowed to approach the whales. We have to let the whales approach us. And this whale does. It swims by and I take some footage. I hang out with the others on that line for the best part of an hour, watching the whale come and go, and then waiting for it to reappear. It seems to look me straight in the eye warily. I can almost hear it saying: “What are these creatures? They seem odd.”  Eventually I get out and we have a wonderful lunch.

After lunch I look at the film and download the movies I took to my camera. Some beautiful shots of the whale, particularly the video. The GoPro is not a great camera for photos but it does video well. And it’s really easy to operate. It only has two buttons. The casing is pretty basic too - it’s the sort of camera that even I can be trusted to use without flooding it. 

The next dive is the Two Towers. It’s two bommies next to each other. It’s also the dive I try with Nitrox.

The start of the dive requires you to descend and then swim under the boat over to the anchor line and down the line. It’s hard work. The current is really strong. I’m breathing really deeply to try and stay calm. I feel my heart start to race and I feel panicky. I have to reassure myself: “You’re just working hard. There’s a strong current. Don’t stress. Just keep going.  Nothing is wrong. It’s just hard work.”

Bits of the dive are great. When we get out of the current, or are swimming with the current, it’s heaps easier. The time when we have to swim against the current is hard and takes a lot of effort. We keep going up and down - which is bad, not just for equalising, but because you’ve got to be careful not to ascend too quickly. I start to feel ill. But then we see a turtle, swimming along the bottom. It’s beautiful. And then there’s another one in the rock. It’s trying to dig into the rock to hide from us. We see some beautiful olive sea snakes. They are so streamlined - like a ribbon flowing through the water. 

On the way back to the safety stop beneath the boat there are 3 whales swimming around. Glorious.

When I get back on the boat I feel quite unwell. Almost like I want to vomit. The nitrox has a weird taste - of gasoline, or hydrocarbons or something. And I had to breathe it really deeply due to the hard work. 

I’m quite tired and sick and I lay down on my bed for a rest. I decide to skip the night dive and just get up for dinner, which doesn’t start until 8pm.  

The dinner is Asian - chicken curry, some sort of chili fried meat and a pork and noodle dish. Yum yum yum.

After the dinner we have a talk from a volunteer who is with us on the trip. She is from a Minke research team and tells us all about the whales we are seeing, including how to sex them. Basically, a male has a slit for the umbilical area and then two separate slits further down. The female has the umbilical area and then what looks like only one slit further down. Easy.

I am now a whale de-sexer!

After the talk we descend to the cabins and bed. Unlike the previous night, the boat is not moving, just rocking gently. I sleep well, only waking twice.   

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The next day we are woken again at 6:30am. It’s better to dive first thing in the day, usually the seas aren’t as rough as the wind hasn’t started. But it’s blowing like a gale. We have cereal and fruit and yoghurt and then go down. I test my Nitrox and update my computer. I have had to borrow a computer so that I can track the Nitrox levels. I’m hoping that doesn’t mean I have to pay for the computer, but I probably will have to.

I’ve been swapped partners. I’m now with a less experienced diver. Because we use up air quicker. It’s a bit depressing but he’s a nice guy, although he flails around underwater a lot.   He wants to go with the guide, but then when he realises we are at an easy dive site is happy to go with me only.

We head out under the boat again. I start to feel sick again and then we wind our way around the Lighthouse Bommie.  There’s nothing much to see and my second torch goes flat anyway. I am just wanting to get out at this point.

When we get up to the ladder on the boat the current pushes us away from the boat really quickly. I am feeling ill and I don’t want to end up miles away so I grab the Minke whale rope and haul myself back in.

I am feeling so sick I point my fins above my head on the deck and the wonderful staff member pulls the fins off. Up on the deck I really start to feel wretched and sure enough, I vomit.  

Yuck. My breakfast is all over the deck. It’s really gross. There’s no one nearby so I sit there miserably. I do feel slightly better though as now I’ve at least vomited.  The next 10 minutes I spend just emptying out my nose from vomit. I know, it’s gross. I feel disgusting.

After a while, I get up the energy to get my wetsuit off and I lie down. I feel so sick I won’t make it to the proper breakfast. The smell of it makes me vomit anyway. Something about bacon doesn’t suit when you’re feeling nauseous.  

I lie down on my bed and doze for a couple of hours.

Lunch was another amazing meal. Chili calamari, warm bread rolls, leek and potato soup, lemon barramundi, and salad. Taaaasty :P  Especially as I threw up everything else I’d eaten that day. I was quite hungry.

After lunch, I test my Nitrox and head down to Pixie Wall. It’s a beautiful dive spot. Lots of swim throughs, rocky formations, little valleys.  I am with a new buddy as they swapped around, and he tends to swim off without me, but I take my time. Eventually he will turn around (although he doesn’t really). 

After the dive, I am so weary of taking my swimsuit on and off that I leave it on. I have to sit outside though, as I have a wet bum. I talk to a couple (Bev and Dave) and it turns out they’re Christian. It’s so nice to talk to them. I feel like I’ve made a friend. They know a friend of mine from Nowra that I knew 20 years ago.

Ricardo comes and gets me and says because I’m a VIP (i’ve been on the trip before) i get a free t-shirt! Woohoo!!

It’s finally time for the night dive. I can’t get my second torch to work and we’ve replaced the batteries but nada.  I’m not sure what’s wrong but I figure I still have one torch, but then I forget to put my weight belt on and I hold up the other divers in my group. We all wear pink glow sticks so we can stick together and our guide wears two pink glow sticks.  Most of the dive is pretty dull, because with 5 people altogether a lot of the interesting stuff disappears if you’re at the back of the group (which I was).  

On the way back I see a gorgeous red lion fish, which I try to photograph, but it doesn’t really work.  Then we see a turtle. I follow it and it turns and tries to go towards my dive buddy Mike’s light. It looks as if it’s attacking him, but it’s not. ATTACK OF THE KILLER TURTLE!!  LOLOL.

We finish the dive and resurface and then wait around for dinner. Dinner is amazing. An absolutely scrumptious roast with about 10 dishes - cauliflower cheese, chicken, pork, roast potatoes, pumpkin, parsnips, peas and beans, etc. Yum yum yum. We sit and talk through with the Nitrox training group and then have white chocolate and macadamia crumble with apple and raspberry and icecream. YUMMMMMM.

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Today is the third day of our diving trip. I’m hoping to see more whales today but it’s also Cod Hole day. The last time I came on this part of the GBR I went to Cod Hole, but because I was such a new diver I couldn't stay down with them a long time. So I’m really looking forward to this dive.

When we get down there, we are heading down the anchor rope (a usual way to get down to the dive site as it’s a gradual descent which is very important to make sure you keep equalising your eyes) and I see the photographer on the trip with a cod. We head over there and there’s only one cod. He’s still massive but it’s not like I remembered.

We head off and then move further and further away from the only cod. There’s nothing much to see; the coral is ordinary and there are virtually no fish. I’m getting frustrated because my dive buddy is very poor at keeping in contact, and he’s quite a while ahead. It’s really hard work finning towards him and eventually I give up and start rattling my “noisemaker”. He still doesn’t turn around. 

When I finally grab his attention I pull out my underwater slate and tell him that I want to go back to where the cod is. He writes that he doesn’t mind. He’s such a lovely guy, a real sweetie to be so nice.

We head back to the cod but it’s the same as before. There’s only one cod there. Later I hear that the reason for that is that after the cyclone in April (?) there weren’t many cod left. I’m sad. I love the giant cod.

When we get back to shore, we have breakfast, which is its usual splendid self. My favourite thing is a pancake with berries. My ear starts aching a lot which is not a good sign for the next dive. I decide to sit it out as I don’t want to wreck my hearing. People who dive with pain can sometimes cause permanent damage on their ear.

So instead I snorkel. Snorkelling is even harder work than diving, because in addition to the current, the surface is also bumpy. I alternate between finning, holding onto something and resting, and drifting back to the boat. I’m wearing a bright blue and red rashie so it’s not like they won’t see me if I get swept away. I keep in regular signal contact with the lookout on the top storey of the boat. I think she’s worried I’m in trouble, although I’m not. Snorkelling is fun - I see about 5 flute fish all swimming directly into the current. They aren’t going anywhere much, just suspended under water. 

After lunch (more scrumptiousness) we have the final dive. We’ve moved sites to a glorious site where there are tonnes of fish. It’s a lovely final dive. We work pretty hard though - my dive buddy Mike and I decide to go with a guide in case my ear is too painful and I have to stop the dive. But my ear is fine. The guide takes us on a beautiful scenic tour but it’s seriously hard work for most of the dive.

Then we’re out of the water. There’s lots of pack up of the dive gear. It takes ages to rinse everything and take it up to the top deck to dry off overnight. If I had rental gear they would have done it for us, so this is the only time I regret that I have my own gear. Then I go inside and quickly rinse off and wash my hair and get changed. It’s time for the boat party. 

We were supposed to have a final night together. Most of us passengers are getting off the following day - there’s only 3 people who aren’t. I am glad to be getting off. 4 nights on a boat is enough. I miss my bed. I miss not constantly swaying.  I miss being able to be free to choose when and what I eat. I miss my privacy. I miss a bed which is long enough. 

The boat party begins with some nibbles in the saloon and then we head outside for entertainment. I am sitting quite close to the musos and end up with 2 sticks and one of those hollow wooden tubes with slats along the side. I play along with the others. I miss playing in a band. I haven’t played or sung with a band since I left my old church 3 months ago. I enjoy making a harmony to Country Roads, Take Me Home. 

After the band, we head inside for an Aussie BBQ, with tasty kangaroo, chicken, prawns, etc. It’s a great final dinner and a great way to end the evening. After dinner we have pavlova. Then we are supposed to wait around to judge the photos but I have no photos anywhere near good enough and the trip video. I know if I watch the trip video I’ll want to buy it, but it’s $80 and I bought it last time and I have good footage of Minke whales anyway.  I go to bed. We have a final morning wake up of 6.30am.

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Our final morning we gather our dive gear and pack it all up and then pack our bags and move out of the cabins. I go down to pay my bar bill (6 soft drinks - $9) and reef tax ($18) and my $275 Nitrox course.  I also give the crew a tip and donate some money to the Minke research. That reminds me - I should do my tax return. 

Then we head up to the top deck and do crew and customer photos. Finally we get into the dinghies and are shuttled ashore to the barren landscape of Lizard Island. Some serious waiting around and we finally get on the plane and go low over the reef back to Cairns.  

Once in Cairns I decide to hang out at the airport rather than go into town. I have about 4 hours of waiting. I do some checking of Facebook and then start on my study. I have to write comments on two of my colleagues in CCEF’s work and then I keep working on the assignment that is due on Thursday.  Now I am writing this final chapter on the plane and my holiday is over.

But I’m glad. It was great and fun and amazing and wonderful, but I get to go home to my precious fuzzbutts and my great job and that endless, crazy, award application is DONE DONE DONE. 

Yours in whaleness,

Georgina