...Scuba Diving on the Great Barrier Reef...

I'm now a certified Advanced Open Water Scuba Diver. After an intense five days I passed both my Open Water and Advanced courses and had an absolutely amazing time.

Initially I spent two days in the pool learning skills and then had class room sessions where we had to take tests. Then on the third day we headed out to sea and stay on the liveaboard boat out in the big wide expanse of the Great Barrier Reef which was a brilliant experience.

On my first dive I freaked out a bit as I hadn't anticipated how choppy the surface conditions would be after jumping in from the day boat plus my mask wasn't fitted on properly so had loads of water go down my snorkel and my ears started giving me grief on my descent. However, strangely enough a blown O ring on my second tank shocked me enough to sort my head out and I had a fantastic time finding Nemo and seeing Wrasse, Batfish, Butterfly fish and I got to hold a Sea Cucumber.

After the first two dives we made our way onto the liveaboard and once we got settled into our rooms had our third dive for the day and finished off some more skills we needed to complete for our Open Water course.

In the evening we had a lovely meal on the boat and spent the rest of the nights having drinks with the other passengers and crew. Was a wicked night and we got to see the night divers take the plunge. The highlight for me was being under the vast clear night sky and being able to look up at the beauty of the Milky Way; absolutely stunning its really amazing out here.

On the second day we completed the Open Water course and I'm absolutely hooked. After much talk about the Yongala Wreck Dive (one of the top one hundred dive sites in the world) I've decided to continue onto the Advanced course as that'll mean I'll be able to dive the wreck as I move down the coast.

Therefore, I had one free dive before I started my second course which was wicked as I got to visit the Nemo hotel and saw a Blue Spotted Stingray.

It then became pretty intense as I had to get all my knowledge reviews for the Advanced course completed before I left the boat the next afternoon plus I had to do my dives. I had another two dives on the second day one was testing bouyancy skills and the other was a night dive that was pretty novel.

In the evening I stayed up late having quite a few drinks before turning in for a couple of hours sleep as had to get up early for the first dive in the morning at 6.30am.

As we came out on deck in the morning for our dive briefing we welcomed by the most spectacular view. In the sky over the shimmering ocean night was becoming day and both the moon and the sun were in the sky with a specturm of blues in between. Under the sea was just as awesome with everything in the ocean waking up and coming to life with tons of activity everywhere. This was my first deep dive and we went down to 30m.

After this dive we got to witness the most amazing sight of a Whale giving birth whilst we all watched out to the sea from the deck. It was an absolute miracle.

I completed my Advanced certificate over my next two dives and got to see a Shark, Turltles, an Eagle Ray, a Lionfish, Parrotfishs, Clown Anemones (nemos), plus loads more.

Over the next two nights I met up with my Open Water group and Advanced groups and went out drinking to PJ O'Briens, the Pier and the Woolshed.

I really feel like I've achieved something by passing both courses. Considering this time last year I was eating pureed food and walking at a snails pace my life has changed immensly.

Photo: The Advanced group Kurt, Emma and me onboard Ocean Quest

[Next blog entry: Cairns Sunday August 11th 2007]