Woke up this morning, had breakfast and we were off to the Great Barrier Reef for the day. It wasn’t really rainy this morning and only about a 5 minute drive to the marina. The plan for the day was for me to scuba dive and mom to snorkel. Scott and I got PADI certified in 2007 and then I dove in Thailand in 2010. However, that’s not really a lot of diving, so when researching companies to dive with, I picked one that I could have a private dive master with me (I am a princess and all). While it is a little bit more expensive, (I did this in Thailand as well) I think it’s money well spent as I feel a LOT more comfortable. I also have a lot of trouble equalizing my ears, so with a private guide I can descend slowly and take my time if my ears are hurting.
On trip advisor this instructor Mark got great reviews and does a lot of intro courses (so he’s good with beginnings) so I was excited to dive with him! We joined up with a bigger company on their boat, Calypso, and got our briefing for the day. It was great review for me and I also felt comfortable knowing I was always going to have someone with me. Mark was great and made me feel very comfortable before my first dive.
For some reason, when taking my PADI class I felt like I was the only one who couldn’t breathe under water! I have been in the water since I was about 5 months old and very feel comfortable, but for all my life I have been told I can’t breathe under water and have had to plan according. However, when I had my regulator in, I couldn’t convince my mind it was ok to breathe!
After getting our gear situated we were ready for our first dive and I was very nervous. I made it into the water without falling apart but could already feel my breathing exaggerated as he began to lower me to check my weight. I will have you know he had to add MORE weight since I am oh so skinny!!!
I knew as I got more comfortable my breathing would get better, but we took the first descend and entire dive slow, which was nice! It was AWESOME! We did three dives throughout the day..all being around the Opal Reef. Our first site was called “Sno”, a reef dive on the North Opal Reef. It was great to get more comfortable in the water and diving again and it was so cool to see all the fish!
We had only about 5 minutes between the first and second dive to grab a quick bit to eat and a warm drink before we were suiting back up! It reminds me a lot of skiing as it is a lot of work to get prepared (and your exhausted by the time it’s time to go) but once you are in the water it’s all worth it! I felt more comfortable with this dive. I felt like I was able to get my breathing down and enjoy it a bit more. This dive site was called Split Boomie and was on the South Opal Reef. It is one large bommie split down the middle to form two circular chunks and can be categorized as a shallow wall dive. Here we saw a white tip shark. It was probably about 10 feet long! Ok ok, it wasn’t, but it was definitely cool to see. I saw a shark (I think the same type) in Thailand so I didn’t freak out or anything. We also saw some trigger fish (I remember this from Thailand as well and it was the same time of year) and they are nesting so you have to be careful. They nest in the sandy areas and if you get close they get aggressive so if Mark saw one he gave me the signal and we swam away!
After the second dive we had time to grab some lunch (I was SO hungry!) but after lunch we were suiting up again for our third (and final) dive. This was at Blue Bouy also on the South Opal Reef. This was my favorite dive, mostly because THIS is where I found NEMO! He was right there waiting for me..it was really cool because it was just like the movie! There was a massive (and I do mean massive) hunk of coral so that was cool because all the fish hung out there. We also saw a blue spotted stingray (far enough away that it was cool) and we played with string worms. They looked like spaghetti but Mark told me (afterwards) that we were touching its guts (which it sends out to get nutrients) and it thought we were its nutrients so it sucked itself back in. Jokes on the string worm I guess! We also saw a trigger fish but this time we actually watched it. It looked like it was digging in the sand (and made a lot of “smoke”) but Mark later told me it takes rocks and surrounds its nest so that’s what it was doing!
I was actually pretty tired after the third dive. My body was sore from hauling all the gear around (and I didn’t even DO a lot of the work) but it was WELL worth it! Mark was AWESOME and I am so glad I decided to have a private dive master again, it just really makes the experience that much more enjoyable for me.
Mom and I both fell asleep on the boat ride back and we arrived back to Port Douglas while it was down pouring (again!) After WELL needed showers and some resting, we headed out to dinner. It was kind of sad because the weather was warm and if it wasn’t down pouring we would have LOVED to walk to the restaurants, but this isn’t the “walking” kind of rain. We drove to a beautiful restaurant on the water and sat on their covered porch. The area reminds me a lot of Portsmouth because a lot of shops and restaurants are closed (for what would be our winter) and this restaurant is a happening place (where you have to wait for a table) when it’s nice out, but on a rainy night we had our pick! Dinner was actually very good and after a quick stop at the grocery store we were ready to call it a night!
Hugs and kisses from Nemo!
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