Click to Zoom Jane's SCUBA Dive Great Stuff!

GREAT BARRIER REEF

Tuesday
December 2, 1997
By Rusty, Jane & Andrew

Click to Zoom MV Compass

Today was a day we'd been looking forward to for months! We spent the day on the Great Barrier Reef.   We surveyed all the boats available before deciding which one would be best for us.  We are here in Cairns at the end of the season and several boats are up on the slip.  There seem to be discounts and specials for those folks still around.   We met the boat, The Compass, on the pier at 7:45 a.m. There were 112 aboard. This boat was slow but had lots of personality, which is why Rus selected it.  It was about two and a half hours out to the reef.  It was a beautiful day and we couldn't have ordered better.  The seas were calmer and calmer the farther we went out.  It was just ideal.  We cruised around Michaelmas and Upolu Cays to Hastings Reef where we stopped first.  The crew on the ship was great.  They do a great job keeping up with folks and knowing names.  We all had a passenger number so they could do a head count before we headed in at the end of the day.  We divided ourselves up into groups according to what we planned to do.  There were experienced divers doing their own thing (Rusty), experienced divers that wanted a guide, first time divers that wanted an introductory guided dive (Jane), snorkelers, glass-bottoms boat sightseers and some that appeared to come out for the boat ride and to watch everyone!!   I was in the last group to dive at Hastings so I had a good while to snorkel first.   It was so much fun!  There were all colors and kinds of fish and I swam for the longest time with four huge parrot fish.  I just watched them and they watched me.  They will get real close, but don't want you to touch them.  You can actually hear it when they break off a piece of the coral to eat!!  There were so many varieties of colorful fish..... I just don't know names.  There is one big green giant Wrasse that lives on this reef called Wally.  He loves to swim with the divers and he accompanied every group.  We ended up getting a video made today.  One of the fellas just spends the day filming what's going on and the wildlife that's around that day.  We just couldn't capture that any other way. They had our tape delivered to our accommodations by 8:30 tonight. Entrepreneurs are alive and well here.  Everyone is always so friendly and helpful and go way beyond what we're accustomed to at home.

Click to Zoom Boomnetting!

Lunch was great and all you could eat.  Chicken legs and about four cool salads.   Just my kind of food and it tasted so good when we came out of the water about 1:00!  From here we moved to another area of the reef for the divers second dive.   The divers were paired up so they had a buddy. Rusty and his buddy made two 15 meter, 40 minute dives. When the crew member checked diving certificates as we were signing on he was surprised at Rusty's card.  I guess they deal with a young crowd so much they aren't usually dealing with cards that old!!  The certification card was older than the fella checking it!! The kids now all keep logs so they get them signed off at the end of the day.  I got an card showing I'd done an introductory dive.  What a beautiful first experience!!  I loved it and could sure get hooked.  It's just so fascinating down there!!  I saw huge clams - opened and ready to trap something.  They seemed to come in four colors.... blue, green, red and yellow!!  I didn't realize coral came in all those colors either.  Later, I found out it is the algae that gives the coral it's colors.  Just unbelievable.  There are 400 species of coral in these shallow lagoons!!  After the second dive it was about time to pack up for the trip in.  After everyone was in the boat they attached a  "boom net" to the back of the boat.  It's really just a cargo net.  Rus and I had neither one heard of boom-netting before.   The net is attached to the dive platform in the back and everyone who wants to participate climbs on.  I was taking a few pictures of Rus and got on almost last.   Later, I would find out I was in the best place possible.  They told us they had three speeds they use and we tried them of course... one at a time.  It simply meant the boat went faster and faster each time.  Those at the back of the net whipped around in the water and were probably underwater more than out!!  At third speed we lost one person.  She just floated out and away.  Then of course the chase boat following us had a job!  THEN they explained there were really four speeds..... and this one lasted until someone lost an article of clothing!!  All the others on the boat were hanging over the top watching all this!!  Great fun!  They didn't do it too long and no one did lose anything but I'm sure there had to be some adjustments!!

It was a lovely boat ride in.  Lots of folks took naps.   The sun and water promise a good night of sleep.  Rusty is now suffering from whatever that strange stuff I had was.  It's not a cold but for two days you sneeze all the time, eyes water and nose never stops dripping.  That means he'll probably be pretty uncomfortable today and maybe tomorrow.  After that it should slack up.   Mine is gone.   We walked back through the market area asking questions.   Finally, we found someone who knew where an internet cafe was.  We'd had no luck finding a phone line to use here.  We changed and cleaned up and then went searching.  It really wasn't far away and we uploaded some things.  You'll probably find some pictures for one day and text for another and some won't open, but we'll clean it up tomorrow.  We'll be caught up before we leave Cairns.

This day will be one of our lifetime highlights!!  A dive at the Great Barrier Reef!!

Reef Dive

Reef Fish