With my log book in hand and a fresh battery in my dive computer we all headed down towards the waterfront to meet up with our host today: Passions of Paradise tour company and their catamaran who will be taking us out to the Great Barrier Reef for our dive experience.
The visit to the Great Barrier Reef was one of the things I've been really been looking forward to. I might have also added bungee jumping, but I really didn't have any intentions of doing that until a couple of days ago (and even then I definitely wasn't looking forward to it). So, I'm pretty excited about today's activities, to say the least.
I don't deal well with specifications, so I won't try to here, suffice to say we were on a pretty large double hulled catamaran, outfitted with a decent sized dining area; as well as, plenty of sunbathing deck space. There was also about 30 stations in the back of the boat for assembling dive equipment. It was quite impressive to say the least. Including our group of 15, there was additional 40 or so also taking in the cruise.
There are 3 certified divers in our group: Matt (our guide), Sophie and myself. Because of this, our group was basically divided in two. Certified divers and others. The certified divers would be provided with a dive master and sent on two guided tours of the sections of reef we'll be visiting. The others will receive some basic instruction and then have the opportunity to have an assisted dive later in the day. There would also be some opportunity to do some snorkling for those who were not interested or not able ot participate in the diving experience.
Shortly after heading out of the Cairns harbour, we met our dive master, Sandra (from Germany) who took the six certified divers aside and proivded us with a briefing on where we will be diving and what types of things we would be seeing.
After a bit more cruising and then getting our gear together we were boarding our tender to our dive site.
Again, the pictures taken on the actual dive are on my other camera; and I can't easily transfer them to my little computer. However, once I do I'll upload them.
Ok, it's been over a year since my last dive and I may not be in the best of shape right now, so those two things together resulted in me being quite the air hog today. Nonetheless, these were very enjoyable dives.
The first dive saw me buddied with Katrin from Germany. Collectively, we had seen lots of different kinds of fish: Parrotfish, wrasses, clownfish, reef shark, octopus and all kinds of coral creatures: fans, brain, bowl, etc. The highlights were definitely the white tipped reef shark, the octopus (although I didn't see it), and the giant Mullosks.
After the first dive, we were transported to a beach island where we were moored off of for some snorkling before heading back to the catamaran for lunch.
After lunch, we were off to our second dive spot. For this dive, the catamaran was moored pretty much over the coral reef, so into the water with a giant stride were we.
My dive buddy for this one was Matt (our guide). For this dive I was certainly more relaxed, so my consumption was slightly better...but still quite heavy. Luckly Matt's was quite similar. The sights to be seen on this dive were similar to the last, except with this one I tried to say closer to the front of the group rather than the back which gave me better photo opportunities. As a result, I got some nice pics of another white tipped reef shark and an anenomefish, aka, clownfish... Also got some better group shots.
After the dives, we all got together to do a debriefing and complete our profiles... And before you knew it we were sailing back to Cairns harbour.
For as much as I enjoyed the dives and the experience as a whole, I'd have to say that I was not as blown away by this experience as I had expected to be. Perhaps if I had experienced the Great Barrier Reef before the Bahamas, my assessment would be different. Now I know this assessment is a little unfair given that I had over 15 dives in the Bahamas and only 2 here; but regardless the "Wow" factor just wasn't as present for these dives. I guess it was because I was so spoiled by what I had seen in the Bahamas.
Don't get me wrong, as mentioned, these were very enjoyable dives, full of life, variety and colour (albeit perhaps not quite as striking as the Bahamas), and they absolutely represent a highlight of my trip. And on top of all that I can now say that I have dove the Great Barrier Reef!
The catamaran pulled into it's slip early enough for us to enjoy a touch of sun by the Cairns community pool before heading back to the hostel for another BBQ's supper (see yesterday's description).
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