Sunday, Feb 21, 2016
Today, I would participate in one of the trips I have been looking forward to for quite some time, Scuba Diving and Snorkelling in the outer Great Barrier Reef. I had asked about a shark dive but I was informed that there are no large sharks in this area due to the warm water temperatures. There are just a lot of different species of fish and coral, so I will have to leave shark diving for another time.
This adventure would take most of the day. The resort where I am staying is a 30 minute drive north from the city of Cairns, so a van was to pick me up at a nearby hotel lobby at 6:45 am to take me to the docks in the city.
There was a sudden downpour of rain at 6:30 am and fortunately it stopped in time for me to make the 2 minute walk to the hotel lobby where I would meet my driver. I found the driver and we reached the docks in plenty of time. The company limits the number of passengers on board to 60 people, although, it is capable of taking up to 120, which is good because 60 is the most it can ” comfortably ” handle. To give you an indication of the size of the boat, I took this picture of it from the water, while I was snorkeling.
It was a one hour boat ride from the docks to the outer reef and while we were on our way, the crew made preparations, instructed the scuba divers on safety protocol, briefed the introductory students on scuba diving and had us sign all of the necessary documentation and release of liability ( i.e. the normal waivers, so that our families couldn’t sue the company if something happened to us ).
When we got to the first dive site, I had to go through some basic diving exercises for them to make sure I knew what to do if I lost my mouth piece, got water in my mask, etc. I had forgotten that my moustache and beard would make it difficult to seal the facemask and therefore, I had to clear it several times while I was in the water.
The experience was wonderful. I was able to dive down and see a lot of the coral from below for 30 minutes and then I was able to snorkel for an hour while taking pictures of the reef and its inhabitants. Although my underwater camera took some good pictures, it still did not capture the beautiful colours that I experienced of the coral and the fish. I have snorkelled in Florida, Hawaii and the caribbean and the experiences were wonderful, but they don’t quite compare to the Great Barrier Reef.
When it was time for lunch, we were all brought back on board, given a nice meal and then the skipper took us to another location, where I was able to snorkel and take pictures, until it was time to go. Below is a sample of some of the photos I took..
I’m not sure what this was, but it looked like a huge clam and the white areas appeared to be breathing.
Just before I finished snorkeling I saw a group of squid swimming in a line towards the boat.
It was a wonderful ” once in a lifetime ” experience and I have imbedded a link below for anyone who might be interested in seeing all of the pictures.
We departed from the dive site at 3 pm, returned to the docks by 4 pm and I was back at the resort by 4:30 pm. On our way back to the Palm Cove area, I was fortunate to see a large group of Wallabies in a field, a few kilometres from the resort, however, I didn’t have a chance to take a picture of them.
When I got back, I took a well-needed shower, wandered to the beach district and had a nice meal at one of the restaurants before relaxing for the night.
My next planned adventure is for Wednesday.
Ralf Hamm 