2-5 April, 2010
KalindaWheeler Reef, Yannke reef, Aims Bommie/Coil Reef, Knife’s Edge/Knife Reef green zone, Little Broadhurst – ALL GBR!9 Open water dives, including 1 night dive
I have never had such an amazing experience in my life. Everything is put into perspective when you’re so far under.
Technicalities first, then about the awesome dives:
Friday night I got a ride with my friend to board the Kalinda with the JCUDC. After trying to locate the dock in the dark, we brought all of our (very heavy) gear aboard to the top deck and were shown our rooms. Everyone was bustling about and some were just chilling on the deck. I shared a room with my friend, down below at the bow. One of the crew asked if I got sea sick – I answered, “no probably not” – definitely unsure about that one. Anyway, the room was absolutely small, but it looked just like in the movies – over lapping bunk style beds with a tiny mirror and cabinet. I stupidly chose the top bunk, but more on that later. We soon joined the others upstairs and waited around for everyone to show up, and then get introduced to everyone. I knew 2 other people from the dive class, and the friend I came with (who has been diving since she was little – she lives on the floor above me at Uni). Most of the people there seemed to be either smoking or drinking, and I was sure that we were all with “the grown ups” judging on looks. I thought to myself: how is this going to work? I was slightly intimidated and not expecting to get close to any of them. We had a little briefing and a talk about the boat/dives etc. After that we were off with Castle Hill fading into the distance and all the lights were disappearing.
SleepingThat first night I went to sleep in the little cubby of a bed with the air con on the “powerful” setting. Everything was fine as I drifted of into a swaying sleep. The waves were quite nice, rocking me back and forth. All of that until we started steaming – The Kalinda was taking off and the seas got rough. Next thing I knew, the air con broke and I felt myself having trouble breathing. I hated the rollercoaster of an ocean that we were on, I could only take shallow breaths, I was sweating everywhere, and held onto the sides of the bed for dear life. After trying to avoid stepping on my friend, I managed to open the door and get a very small amount of air. I got back into the bunk and had to keep reminding myself to calm down because I could feel my lungs panic, my heart race, and my stomach want to empty every and all of its contents. My friend and I had a plastic bag tucked in the bunk just in case, but luckily we didn’t have to use it.
The second night wasn’t as bad. Not seasick the rest of the trip actually! We got two little fans to use, but once again I found myself gasping for air in the middle of the night. I desperately needed more oxygen and less heat circulation. Top bunk allowed for the hot air from my body to travel about 6 inches and then circulate back down to me and heat back up. It also didn’t help that we were right next to the engine room.
The third and last night I couldn’t take it, so I slept in the gully with a bunch of other people. It was nice because there was fresh air traveling between the doors. I slept ok while everyone else was getting to bed. Middle of the night though, when the water was getting a bit more rough, I hear: THUD THUD THUD *CRASH* as this guy runs and falls into me from across the room, spilling his drink on me as he tried to brace himself from falling completely. Rude awakening. I could barely make out his face as he repeatedly apologized and walked away down the hall. He apologized again in the morning. Second and last time I woke up that night was in the morning when I had a huge cushion dropped onto my face from the guy trying to get his coffee from the station at the head where I was sleeping. Many apologies again. No worries mate. Best sleep I had any of those nights.
FoodSurprisingly good! Always had a vegetarian option, although there was no way I could have kept kosher for Passover. No big deal though. We woke up to a small breakfast at 4/5am, then after every dive we had a meal – which was pretty much 5 meals per day. Pancakes, fried eggs, (bacon), different cereals, nicely assorted fruits, yogurts, beautiful salads with avocado!, pastas, Asian styled noodles, homemade pasta/veg (meat) sauces, (steak), curry/rice, tofu patties, (burgers), potatoes, icecream, Tim Tams!, assorted candies/cakes, Easter eggs and some lollies from the other divers. Definitely loving the lollies in Australia.
People30 in total, which includes crew. Apparently, I ended up on a boat with more Aussies than usual. One of the guys was telling me about how its mostly foreigners that go diving here since they seem to have more bank to spend and aren’t around the GBR all the time. I don’t care, its special to whoever goes and sees it. I don’t think I could ever get sick of it. One of the 3 couples I really liked – definitely the friendliest and most interesting to talk to. They were both very caring and welcomed me to dive with them once I was certified. Incredibly funny. The husband found me my first shark and gave me a huge list of music he thought I’d like. Whoever I end up marrying, I hope we have a relationship just like them. They were quite inspiring with all the activities they do together and how they interacted (jokingly, seriously, lovingly, everything) but they were not sickening whatsoever. There was also a vet on board that I talked to for a while about vet schools. Maybe I’ll be going to Melbourne for vet school. We’ll see. Highschool sweethearts, lots of French speaking people including my friend’s dive buddy who was an absolute sweetheart, a guy with the bluest eyes I have ever seen, crazy JCUDC crew, INSANE captain, awkwardly funny diver, an older diver with a gigantic camera, this woman I hope to grow up and be exactly like (haha), awesome dive buddy that appreciated my sense of humor, and of course having my friend from A2 was quite enjoyable. Everyone was incredibly polite and helpful the whole time. My first nervous impression was not at all accurate. I’m so glad it turned out the way that it did.
VariousGetting my sea legs took a while. People offered me drinks but I turned them down because I wasn’t really able to walk straight anyway. It was hard to stabilize in the bathrooms – even if to brush my teeth only! Showers were just nozzles in the wall of the bathroom which was kinda cool. Showers the whole room. We had to take short showers – aka rinses. I didn’t mind. Spent most of my time in the water anyway. A bunch of times after dives people would jump into the water and swim around. I proudly jumped off the top deck after collecting my nerves (heights scare me quite a lot). Second jump I tried doing a split but didn’t grab my nose correctly and water went up my nose and through my throat/ear. Quite painful.
THE DIVESThe first 4 dives were certification dives, though the very first one didn’t have any skills tested. Honestly, a lot of the dives blurred together into a huge amalgam of amazingness. I don’t think I can accurately describe the way I felt when I first reach the bottom on that very first dive. The sand was white and fine, I felt weightless, and I swear they put something in that cool air I was breathing. Pool dives absolutely do NOT compare to this.
The first thing I saw was a sea cucumber. I was surprised at the size – I have only seen little ones before. We saw a bunch of brightly colored nudibranchs, huge schools of fish, barracuda, 2 spotted lagoon rays, a lizard fish eating a polychaete, millions of parrot fish, little blue fish, wrasse, giant clams (and when I say giant, I mean it), and so many other things. The clams were particularly gorgeous with their blue-green iridescent stripes. Many divers have died since its quite easy to get their arm stuck inside. Once it’s in, it won’t come out. If you stroke the outside “lip” they quiver and shut abruptly. The clams and sea cucumbers felt really cool (glad the cucumber didn’t eviscerate though).
The most overwhelming thing at this point was the massive amounts of life. There were so many corals, sponges, and animals. I never could have imagined, even after watching movies/documentaries and seeing photos. It is definitely different when you live it.
The second dive I saw black anemone fish (first of many anemone fish), butterfly fish and a green sea turtle. It was here that I realized how well this was supplementing my marine bio courses. I won’t go into it since its probably too nerdy at the moment. By the third dive, my buddy and I were fed up with the instructor and other guy getting his cert seeing all the sharks while we missed them. I wanted to see one so bad! On the 5th dive, I went with this guy I mentioned earlier, and we went through a swim through and once we popped out on the other side, there it was! A gray reef shark! He turned around and shook both his hands up in a gesture of accomplishment. Big highlight of my dives. I was pretty stoked after that to see them on the night dives and at the Yongala, since many are prevalent there. I was really keen on seeing some bull sharks or by chance a guitar shark, or even a black or white tip shark.
The 7th dive was a night dive. I didn’t see much but it was pretty awesome using the glow sticks and torches under water. It was quite eerie as you could imagine. I was nervous beforehand, when I was waiting around on the first night dive (the 3 of us couldn’t go since we weren’t certified). It was fine once we all got in and under. I saw a lot of coral and fish – I was sad that I didn’t see any sharks. There were also lots of shrimp popping in and out of the corals. My A2 buddy flipped me off at 13m below – just a funny mention. Got to do some glow stringing later on at the top deck.
Some other stuff I saw on the dives included but was not limited to: sea feathers, many unidentifiable and brightly colored fish, surgeon fish, basket stars, polycarpa aurata, spikey fish, cardinal fish, trevally schools, frogh fish, lizard fish, royal dotty back, canthais, chromis wrasse, threadfin butterfly, longfin/schooling banner fish, long nose butterfly fish/long nosed unicorn fish, gastropods of all sorts (spider shells), regal angelfish, orange banded coral fish, pipefish/smooth flutemouth, threadfin butterfly fish, 5 banded wrasse, baby anemone fish in anemones, harlequin wrasse, barramundi cod (endangered), GIGANTIC CRAYFISH (antenna the size of my arms!), sea stars – Choriaster granulates and Linckia laevigata, Chinese grouper, humbug dacyllus, goldtail demoiselle, twotone chromis, moon wrasse, goby, blennies, speckled sandperch, fire corals, pocillopora, stylophora, montipora, anacropora, goriopora, alveopora, fungia, symphillia, tubinara, seafan/euplexaura, polyclad flatworm, oxycomanthus bennetti, and baby crabs.
From the boat I saw 3 sea snakes (yellow/orange), lots of squid at night. While heading to Aims, I saw a flying fish – which I was confused with at first since it looked like a giant dragonfly in the middle of the ocean. There were also about 6 dolphins playing in the waves at the bow of the boat for about 15-20 minutes. It was such a great sight to see!
One of the dives, we went over a huge coral crest and when we got over the top there was nothing but infinite blue in every direction. It was a weird feeling, as if I was falling off a cliff into nothingness, but we floated downwards alongside the wall. Much of diving felt like I was flying next to huge mountains.
The last dive was pretty cool. Since we didn’t end up going to the Yongala (don’t get me started on that), we went to Little Broadhurst. It didn’t have many colorful corals (but it made the bright blue sea stars stand out), but was absolutely gorgeous as the sun rose and light hit the water and rays shone down on the sea floor. Picture perfect.
It has almost been 24 hours since I got off the boat. I’m still feeling the rocking motion of the waves when I walk or even while I sit here writing this. It is enjoyable. I’m also still feeling that lasting internal smile knowing that this was one of the greatest moments in my life. Maybe it was just the initial fact of going diving for the first time, perhaps the combination of going for 3 days/9 dives the first chance I do go diving, but maybe it is just plain diving. I am definitely hooked and incredibly excited for the next time that I go. Who knows when that will be though? Soon?
