2/10/9 Barrier Reef (Friday)

We were collected by the Cairns Dive Centre driver and taken to the dive shop in town to sign the usual disclaimer and medical forms. We boarded the Sunkist boat at the marina for a two hour transfer to the Kangaroo explorer where we were staying for the next two nights. The boat was moored at the outer reef on Manta Ray reef. We got a quick tour of the boat and were shown to our very nice double cabin with en suite shower and toilet. We had lunch of salads and pasta and tea and coffee then went up to the top sundeck for a brief on the reef. Phil went for a dive on Moore reef where he was buddied up with an Israeli guy called Chiam, who had very little English. His wife Orly sat and translated for him. Phil was not too happy as he didn't know how much had been understood. When they got ready to dive Chiam didn't buddy check Phils equipment like he should and jumped into the water and swam off before Phil had his gear fully on!!! He claimed to have dived nearly 150 times but Phil doubted that he had that much experience. He had quite a good dive with lots of swim throughs and plenty of fish and corals. We had hired an underwater camera for the three days so he took quite a few pictures. Liz went off on a guided snorkel with orly and a texan guide called Colt. He took us round a bombie to look at the fish and coral. We saw loads of different fish and some reall yvaried corals too. After that first dive/snorkel the boat relocated to Milln reef where we mored up for the night. The dive site was called the three sisters as it had a series of three bombies and a huge coral wall to explore. Phil went diving with Chiam again and had a great dive seeing a black tip reef shark, large green turtle, coral and many different fish. Liz went out snorkelling with orly and we saw loads of fish and coral on the wall area. Liz got showered and ready for dinner and Phil stayed in his swimming stuff as he was doing a night dive. We had dinner of fish and veggies followed by a delicious chocolate pudding. Phil went to his night dive briefing and at 7.20 pm he went into the water. Liz watched the proceedings and the sea lit up with the divers torches underneath a really bright moon..loverly!! Phil dived to 10 meters for 30 minutes and saw 3 large sleeping turtles and a 4m long nurse shark feeding on dead fish. His dive was much better as he wasn't buddied with Chiam. After the dive Phil filled in his dive log book and we went off to bed after a really good day. the water was pretty choppy and we were rollling all over the place but it actually rocked us to sleep in the end.

3/10/9 Barrier Reef (Sat) We were given a 5.45 am wake up knock on our door to get people up to dive and snorkel in the sunrise. Phil saw lion fish, stingrays, sharks and flatworms on his early dive but the visibility was not so good as the weather had turned quite cloudy and overcast. Liz went off snorkelling and saw a turtle and a shark together just below where she was swimming....magic moment!! We had a very big breakfast of all the usual cooked food plus cereals and fruit then all went back to the water for more diving/snorkelling. Phil had decided to do an advanced adventurer course so he had a navigation dive to do which he successfully completed. Liz went off snorkelling and saw three sharks ,one of which was huge, and a turtle again. The boat then relocated again to Thetford Reef for the afternoon diving/snorkelling . Phil lead a group of three newly qualified divers on a dive of the Horseshoe area. The coral wasn't in such a good state here as alot of it was dead but the fish life was still great. He went through lots of swim throughs there which he thought were good. Liz snorkelled with Orly again and they swam straight over phil but couldn't get his attention. When we all got back on the boat lunch was finished and there was barely any food left....pants!!! all the foreigners had huge plates of piled up food and most of it got scraped into the bin which was pretty poor ! The boat moved again but couldn't moor up where we were supposed to go so we returned to the three sisters area. Liz didn't do the days last snorkel and sat on the sundeck reading and relaxing while all the others went off. Phil dived again but as it was the same reef he had dived before there was nothing new to report but he saw a shark a turtle and ray. We ahd a really fantastic roast beef dinner with loads of roast veggies and follwed by apple pie...phil was in heaven!!! We had a few drinks in the saloon area and then went ot write the diary and we both got rocked to sleep by the rolling of the boat. Phil fell asleep first, snoring his head off cuddling up to his other woman, Pam. Phils affair with his other woman Pam hasn't had a mention in the blog yet but she has had Phils full and undivided attention since we left the UK. She is in his arms all the time and he constantly plays with her and carresses her. He loves her with all his heart and can't let a day go by without her by his side. Poor Liz is left standing alone while Phil and Pammy work magic together...Pam is his bloody camera!!!! Liz is officially a camera widow!!!

4/10/9 Back to Cairns (Sunday)