The Dive, Part 2

April 8 Part deuce

Warning, if you haven't read part 1 first go down to the blog below and read it first.

So I left you guys hanging at the part where we prepared for our night dive. But before I get into this I need to tell everyone the rules of the dive boat.

Rule #1 don’t go deeper than your certified depth (for me 18 meters)

Rule #2 if this is your second dive of the day, don't go deeper than your deepest depth on your last dive

Rule #3 do not allow your air pressure to drop bellow 50 Bar

Night Dive Rules

Number 1 Do not drop bellow 10 meters

Number 2 Dive times do not exceed 30 minutes, return to surface before 30 minutes

Number 3 If one person's torch (Flashlight) goes out, dive is abandoned and everyone returns to boat.

Punishment for breaking any of these rules: Vegemite.

Now if none of you have ever had vegemite let me explain to you what you are missing out on. Vegemite is made from mushrooms, beats, rotten eggs, tree bark, and mud. You mix it all together and then let it rot for 2 weeks in the hot humid weather. It is then compacted down using people who have just finished a 3 month jungle trek through the rainforest and forgot to wash their feet, they then stomp the concoction for 48 hours squeezing all the water and good flavor out of it. Then add about 1 ton of salt for every 100kg of other stuff. Now that you understand the fine taste of vegemite, you will understand my reluctance to break a whole lot of rules. So if you get caught breaking any of these fine rules you get a table spoon of vegemite, if you beak 3 you get the whole jar, and if you break all the rules on one dive, you eat the 5 liter bucket, and trust me the plastic casing is the best part. Now that you understand these simple things let me get back to the night dive. Jayne guided Chris and myself along with 3 other people for the night dive (which was now free as we were certified divers). We all carried underwater torches, and knowing the rules set off in a group towards the reef. We started our decent and within 2 minutes had broken our first nighttime rule, as I didn't notice my depth gauge reach 11.7m, until it was way to late. Cursing my mistake as I could already taste the horrid stuff but I decided that I would deal with the vegemite problem when I got back to the boat. Well we swam along the reef and I have to admit, the night dive is spectacular. It is so cool holding a flashlight and illuminating the darkness, seeing how the fish suddenly appear out of now are. The coral actually glows a different color, it is spectacular. Then there is the eyes, most crey fish have red eyes, so you see them glowing back at you. Then there are the green eyes, these are the most spectacular things to see, because these green eyes are actually shark eyes. And sure enough I saw 6 of these that night, one right when I jumped in the water, I shone my torch down and saw a grey nurse shark right bellow my feet. The other 2 sharks were hanging around the reef, but the guy who stole the show was a 1.2m barracuda. Barracuda are long, narrow, fish, but they are incredibly inquisitive and smart. They freak many new divers out because they love to stalk and follow you around. At night though they get way smarter, and way creepier. When they encounter a dive team at night they start to follow you around purposefully, and here is why. I was swimming along about 15min into the dive session when I do a spin maneuver to shine the light behind me to see if there are any reef sharks or stuff hanging around. I had done it like 20 times before with no luck, but then well my light came to be pointing into the face of a 1.2m barracuda. I will readily admit my heart may have skipped a couple of beats, and my eyes popped out of my dive masks with all the force of an atomic bomb, but other than that I was fine. Well we looked at each other for a few minutes, before I decide to pretend like he wasn't there, as he wasn't being aggressive at all. I continued on swimming for a few seconds and just got comfortable with my new dive buddy when my torch found a small little fish swimming in the dark. For just a brief second my torch blinded the little fish, which is when the hand of death came tearing over my left shoulder with the speed of an angry tornado and grabbed the little fish. I will once again admit that my heart may have been bouncing around my rib cage like a bouncy ball. When I got back on board later I found out that this was a regular occurrence with the barracuda, something that I would have loved to know earlier. For the rest of the dive I hung close to the rest of the group, which is when we broke night dive rule number 3. I went to count torches, as there should be 5 plus mine, and I could only count 4. This is when Jayne tapped me on the shoulder and showed me her dead torch, so I took lead of the group for the remainder of the dive, with Jayne’s wonderful guidance as nobody wanted to cut the dive short. I have to admit I liked leading the group and when we surfaced it was I who had to signal to the boat with my torch that everything was good. On the swim back to the boat Jayne asked me how deep I had gone. "10 meters I replied" she nodded her head, "I am glad to hear that as my depth gauge read 10 and you were way below me, my depth gauge must be out." I, sensing danger replied "Ya, you should really get that checked when we get back to the boat." She leaned closer to me and replied "You don't tell anyone on the dive deck about my dead torch, and I will confirm your 10 meter depth." and just like that I avoided getting vegemite for that dive. Well the next morning we moved to a reef called the 3 Sisters (see below) and I got ready for my last three dives before 1:00 when I board the Upchuck Express and head back to Cairns. The fist dive I was up bright and early for again at 5:30 for the briefing on the 6:00 dive. We hit the water and swam out to sister number 1 (due north of the boat) and descended down to 17.9m. Well it was a really cool dive seeing all of the amazing coral formations and all of the really cool fish that swam around it, even saw Nemo. Well we had a good time, but when our oxygen hit 80 bars we headed back to the boat. We swam for quite a long while until we hit the mooring line of the boat and then came to the surface. This is when I got the surprise of the dive. I came up and discovered it was the wrong boat. Now something all dive boats have is looks outs, these look outs have 2 purposes for existing, 1 is that if you get into trouble you can get their attention and they will get you help. However they also act as the people who report to the dive boss who sucks at navigating and had to swim 100m on the surface back to his dive boat because he was an idiot and went to the wrong boat. Well I came up looking at a very confused look out on this boat when he signaled me asking if everything was ok. I signaled back yes, before turning to look back at my boat 100m NW, and at my look out standing on the bow. Luckily he was looking the other way, as he was probably thinking the same thing I was, only an idiot would swim past the boat without noticing. I immediately dropped back bellow the surface and started swimming hard back towards my own boat. I looked at my air gauge, I only had 51bar, but there was no way that I was going to swim back that far on the surface. I was dancing a fine line between pride and vegemite. I hit 48bar and popped up only 10 meters from the dive deck, now my only problem was how would I pass off 48 bar as 50, because if I got busted my pride would look like my face when I swallow that horrific stuff. Luckily the dive boss just asked for my pressure and didn't personally read my gauge, so I avoided vegemite again. Breakfast was once again baked beans, tinned spaghetti, oatmeal and for once eggs, but I just had fruit again. During breakfast I told Brisbane (an experienced diver I met on the boat ride out) about my botched dive that morning and he burst out laughing and he mentioned that he was planning on hitting the first sister at 8:00. So at 8:00 we were back in the water and this time we aimed for sister 3 strait west of the boat, but there was one heck of a current on the surface so we descended and started swimming for the reef, or should I say into the dark gloom where we thought the reef was. After several minutes of swimming I was starting to get worried, which is when I looked at my depth gauge. It read 19.7m, not only had I gone deeper than my last dive, but I was nearly 2 meters deeper than my certified depth, I just broke 2 rules at once. This also meant that I was using a lot more air than usual at shallower depth. As I came up to 17 meters I looked out and just spotted the reef. We swam around it in a corkscrew manner, circling our way up and at the top I knew that we should find a buoy line. That is when I realized I wasn't on sister number 3, because there wasn't a buoy line. I surfaced as I didn't want a repeat of this morning blunder when I discovered we had actually been swimming on the middle sister (number 2). How we got to that one I still am trying to work out. We swam back to the boat and I was able to pass off my dive depth at 17m and avoided a double helping of vegemite. My dive time however was a dismal 18 minutes, compared to the usual 30 I can pull off. I went up to the sun deck to grab my towel and dry off when I looked towards the other dive boat and saw a familiar white haired head bobbing in front of it. Then the face turned and started swimming towards my boat. As it got closer I started to laugh as it was Brisbane, he had made the exact same navigational error I had made in the morning. I couldn't help but bugging him when he got on deck, as he had laughed at me for doing the exact same thing. At 9:30 we moved dive sites for the last time, and in preparation for my last dive. On the way over we were served lunch which was pasta, and then later the Tuna that was caught the night before. Now I have had a lot of tuna while I have been over here(mostly of the canned variety), but this tuna, fresh off the fish and cooked to perfection was one of the best things I have eaten in Australia. It was mouth watering enough for me to forgive the chef for his earlier failures at breakfast. The fish flew off the buffet much to fast though, as I was only able to squeeze out three helping of it before it was gone. I can't right remember what else was for lunch, but the fish was by far the highlight of lunch. We then went for our last dive, where we circled a reef and were able to swim into one of the caves where I came face to face with a very large and angry lobster, and his bunk mate a sting ray who I had nearly swam over. Actually I swam over him on the way in, then over him again on the way out (maybe about a foot above him, as I couldn't see him buried in the sand) but this must have made him angry as he then stuck his stinger in the air in a threatening manner at Chris who was right behind me......whoops. Swimming through the underwater caves was really cool, the fish swimming around you, really cool. The dive ended way to early, but as a bonus we successfully navigated back to the boat under water without getting lost this time, a very fine way to end the day. We boarded the day boat back to Cairns and said goodbye to all the wonderful people we had met there, and hung on to our packs as well as lunch for the return trip to Cairns. We returned to the hostel where we checked in and ran into one of the girls who had worked on the boat and had gotten off yesterday. I sat down with her and we chatted over a couple of beers and then she played the ukulele for a few minutes. Something she was very good at, that or I have been listening to Christian and his guitar way to much. She was from Michigan and she had one of those cool personalities that had me laughing all night long. Quote of the night "My last boyfriend and I just didn't get along, he was just to normal". Well everyone that is all from Cairns for now, will leave tomorrow and head south towards Sydney, not sure where we are going to stop next, will see.

Adam,

Diving on the Geat Barrier Reef

April 8 2010

Diving on the Great Barrier Reef

Well for the last 3 days I have been spending my time on a boat. Now before we get to far ahead of myself I should tell you that I signed up for a dive course in which we spend 2 days in a pool and then 3 days out on the ocean diving on the great barrier reef. I was looking at doing this ever since I went diving at Busselton. Anyway we did the 2 days playing around in a pool and learning how not to kill ourselves in the open ocean, then we headed out on a boat (aptly nicknamed the "Upchuck Express" for reasons I shouldn't have to explain) we then transferred onto the bigger, nicer 3 story boat where we would be staying. Anyway we went for 2 dives that day and I have to admit my first day on the great barrier wasn't a glowing start. I suited up, checked all of my gear (as the last thing you need is to realize that you forgot to fill up the air tank before you jumped into the water, it is really embarrassing to have to climb back out after jumping in for only 12 seconds) well after I jumped in and swam over to my instructor I felt a stinging sensation across my knuckles. I started to look for the jelly fish and when I spun around I got another sting on my knuckles, but I still couldn't see it, that is when I spotted 1 thin blue strip cross my facemask and I realized it must be tangled in my gear. I asked the instructor (Jayne) to have a look for it. Originally she couldn't see it, but then she spotted it, said an appropriate word to mirror my feelings and directed me back to the boat. I should mention that we wear "Stinger suites" which are like wet suits but built to protect us from jelly fish, which is why when it was tangled around me, I only got stung on my hands where the suit wasn't covering my skin. I should also mention that jelly fish stings don't burn as long as the stings are covered in salt water. Which is why when I hit the boat and brought my hands out of the ocean into the rain where they were hit by the cold fresh water I actually shuddered as my hands felt like they were suddenly on fire. The people on the dive deck got the stinger off of me (it turned out to be a blue bottle jelly fish) and sprayed my hands with vinegar to neutralize the stinging sensation. I then continued the dive where we dove, and swam around on the bottom for a while. The objective of the fist dive in the ocean is to just get you used to breathing under water, and swimming with all of the gear. The second dive we started doing some of the skills we learned about in the pool 2 days earlier. After we finished the skills we continued on just swimming around on the coral where we spotted a big barracuda (fish) a moray eel, and 3 sea turtles. At the surface we practiced taking off the scuba gear and then putting it back on (where we disappointed Jayne by having no floundering, panicking or even splashing, something that always happens on this part of the course, she made a comment about missing out on her required entertainment for the day) which is actually a lot easier than it sounds. We called an end to the day where we returned to the boat and had supper. We didn't go out on the night dive that night as it would have costed us 60 bucks (For a certified guide to go with us as we were not yet certified divers). That night we got put into our rooms (we got a room each, with a double bed. Oh what a wonderful room, but there was a catch we were on the main floor and that night was refueling night. What happened on refueling night is that once every four weeks the boat drives back into Cairns in the middle of the night, refuels, and re-stocks with all non perishable foods that will be required over the next month. This is usually done around 1 in the morning, and the boat has to be back at the dive site by 5:30 for the 6:00 o’clock dive. Well our floor is where they pile all of the stuff before unpacking it on the return trip out. Well that is why throughout the night I heard "Peas", "Corn", "Sugar", along with a whole assortment of other items including frozen chickens. I was still awake on the trip in as I wanted to see the lights of Cairns from the ocean, but I had to admit I wasn't completely able to tune out all of the noise from the loading, but I was only asleep for a little while before I was shook wide awake by a quite voice asking "Where is the beer?" As it would later turn out, it didn't come in on the order and our dive party boat had just become a dry dive boat. Well the next morning at 6 I woke up on my own (the boat was still moving, which meant we were running late). The crew looked exhausted, none of them really slept at all, some had about 2 hours of sleep, including our dive instructor Jayne. This is when we started the, well, acting part. They film you early in the morning, waking up, having a cup of tea, suiting up and jumping in the water. The camera guy asks you how you feel, if you are excited for the dive and that kind of crap. Chris was able to muster enough energy and fake enthusiasm, I who got about 3 hours of sleep that night couldn't muster anything more than a week lipped hi. I could only look at my tea and hope that once I hit the water the cold would blast some feeling back into my sleeping head. We suited up, jumped in (I doing a front flip into the water, which is easier to do than you would think) where we did some more dive skills before returning to breakfast. I came in with a desperate need for a good meal and discovered a very depressing and disappointing breakfast. It consisted of baked beans in tomato sauce, canned spaghetti and oatmeal. I looked at this meal in disbelief recalling the fine supper that was cooked the night before and wondering if I was just having a bad dream. The chef seeing me standing there with a look of shock said that due to the fact he got on board 5 hours ago and had spent most of the night packing stuff away, therefore breakfast was a bit weaker than usual. I nearly cried, and started making my way to the fruit where I loaded up as I couldn't make myself eat tinned spaghetti for breakfast. I had to eat fast as we had to be back in the water by 8 for our last training dive and where the camera man comes with us and issues us our cards under water. Well we suited up, got in the water went for a swim, they issued us our cards and we had to show a lot of enthusiasm and do underwater summersaults, pretend to drink a can of beer, put on sunglasses, and a whole bunch of other crap in order to make the movie better. We also made up these slates and wrote something smart on them. I put down "Ok, who stole my submarine?" along with something philosophical. We swam around a bit more, saw a lion fish (very poisonous) along wit a very big barracuda (over a meter long) before coming back up. We took the 11:00 dive off to relax a bit, had lunch (A great improvement over breakfast) before we met the movie guy at 12:30 so he could show us the movie he had made. We watched it, and it was a good movie, and I was planning on buying it before he showed me the price. What happens is that he sends the movie off to get put onto a DVD and copy write it. They then mails you the DVD in the mail 3 weeks later. The DVD costs 75 bucks a copy, and you can't make any copies of it. I said 75 was way to much for it and I made a note of writing down as much about what happened on this trip so that I wouldn't need a DVD in the future. The camera guy actually looked shocked when we said we weren't going to buy one. Even when I looked at it later, it felt real gimmicky for the amount of money they asked. I am glad I held onto that slate for a couple of hours after the dive so I could take some pictures of it with me on the boat for free. Anyway at 3:00 we moved dive sites, and what the dive crew do during these moves is toss in their fishing lines to see if they can troll for some fish while we move, and one of them caught a yellow fin tuna, a rather big on to. Upon arrival we got ready for the 4:00 dive, our first dive as certified divers, and our first dive without a guide. We geared up, dived in and gave it a go. We went to the reef, swam around, and with the biggest shock of the day, successfully navigated back to the boat under water and popped up just beside the dive deck. But that wasn't all, I finally got my reef shark, my first solo dive and I saw the reef shark that I so desperately wanted on Ningaloo. I even did an underwater dance of true sheer enjoyment. We had supper (a very fine meal full of vegetables and many other fine foods). We then prepared for the highlight of the day, the night dive. Now the night dive is a completely different world when compared to the day, now the nocturnal animals come out, including the reef sharks. But that is another blog for another day, as I don't want to kill you guys with one huge blog. See everyone next time.