The Great Barrier Reef: 26-31 July

Our diving adventure began with a 6am alarm call to check out of our hotel and walk round the corner to the dive shop. We haven't done any diving since completing our PADI open-water course in Thailand, so wanted to do a multi-day trip to the reef to get some more dives under our belts and to be able to see stuff without having to concentrate too much on remembering what to do. We chose to go with Cairns Diving Centre, primarily because they were doing a 3-day trip for the price of 2 days offer, which worked out at really good value and meant we could do up to 10 dives over the 3 days.

Upon registering at the dive shop we found out that Queensland is pretty strict about diving with asthma. If we hadn't qualified already, Sue wouldn't have been able to go and we won't be allowed to take our Advanced diving course on board. Furthermore, we would have to be accompanied on every dive by an appropriately qualified representative of the dive company. There was an $11 charge per person per dive for a guide, so initially we thought we were going to have to pick up a big bill, but it seems that rules state that the dive company have to supply someone, so in the end we had an accompanied dive free of charge.

By 7:30am we were pulling out of Cairns harbour aboard the day-trip boat that would drop us at the Kangaroo Explorer – the live-aboard boat that stays out at the reef for weeks at a time. There was a big party of 60 or so German kids on a school trip on the boat with us, getting all rowdy as kids do. As we pulled away from the mainland though, the sea really chopped up and it wasn't long before they began to fall quiet and then start filling their sick bags. The poor crew were working overtime escorting green Germans out onto the outside rear deck which soon began to resemble a hospital ward full of the walking wounded. Fortunately we'd popped some travel sickness pills before leaving so were ok and it was with some relief that we swapped boats to the Kangaroo Explorer out in the calmer waters of the reef.

We had our safety briefings and tour of the boat on arrival and were allocated our cabin – a pretty big (for a boat) double with an en-suite shower room. At 11:30 it was lunchtime and then our first dive session at 1pm. We kitted up and gradually all of the checks and procedures came back to us. We jumped in and swam around and the confidence flooded back and by the end of the dive we were happy we knew what we were doing.

The rest of the first day passed in a blur. As soon as we were out of the water, there were cakes served in the saloon, followed by a 4pm dive, dinner and then our first night dive at 7pm. By that time the sun had well and truly set and it was fully dark. We were given torches and a briefing on the differences between night and day diving and how to communicate with each other. There were flood lights off the back of the boat and as we stood on the dive deck having our briefing, we could see large fish and a couple of reef sharks using the light to aid their hunting. It was a really different experience diving at night as you only concentrate on the small patch of light from your torch rather than being able to look all around you at the corals and fish. It was pretty cool, but we didn't really see too much exciting on the first night.

By the time we'd got back on board and had a warm shower we were shattered and were in bed early without troubling the bar. All of the food had been included in the price and were big portions and there was a never ending supply of hot drinks and fresh water, so we were well looked after.

The 2nd day started with a loud banging on the door before 6am, announcing that this was our wake up call and that it was time to go to the saloon for the morning dive briefing. We hauled ourselves up on the 2nd wake up call and staggered bleary eyed to the saloon for our first dive of the day. The sun was just rising while we were getting into still-damp swimming costumes and wet-suits, wondering why we hadn't stayed in bed. Jumping into the sea at that time of day wakes you up pretty quickly though! It seemed that everyone other than us saw sharks, turtles and rays on that first morning dive, according to the stories swapped over breakfast.

There were six dive sessions on the 2nd day, though the maximum any one person can do is four. I managed to persuade Sue to go snorkelling on the two sessions we weren't diving and were finally rewarded with a close-up turtle sighting. We floated around on the surface while it went about it's business a couple of metres below us, totally unconcerned about our presence. We followed him for quite a while before the cold started to set in and we swam back to the boat for yet another cup of tea. It was good to get out snorkelling as that gave us another perspective on the reef as well. There was about a metre of water above the corals, so were were able to swim over the top watching the brightly coloured fish swimming a couple of feet below us.

The day flashed passed. We were in the water six times and spent the time in between eating, or warming up with cups of tea in the saloon, getting to know some of the people we were diving with. We went out with the videographer at 4pm for a souvenir movie of us swimming about and getting a close up with Nemo etc, before our 2nd night dive. We saw a lot more on that 2nd evening, including a big turtle asleep amongst the corals as we cruised by within a metre or two. That evening we treated ourselves to a glass of wine as we watched our dive movie recorded earlier that afternoon.

We were still in bed by 10pm and the morning wake up call came too early. As we were leaving that day, we had to do the 6am, 8am and 11am dives in order to get full value for money! We plunged into the early morning gloom and were surrounded by fish swimming along with us. A few minutes later we were rewarded with our first shark sighting, the unmistakeable silhouette cruising by above and to the right of us. No sooner had the first shark disappeared into the gloom, than three more passed closer by us. It was an amazing moment and, strangely, not scary in the slightest. It must be because of the masks, the compressed air, the wet suits and weightlessness, but we both feel kind of insulated from everything like you're not really there sometimes. A pretty strange sensation.

As the sun rose, the visibility improved and we were rewarded with two more turtles, the first giving himself a scratch on the corals and the second lifting off from the bottom and swimming just in front of us, so close that Sue could reach out and scratch his shell. He went up to the surface leaving us swimming underneath and able to look up at a turtle-silhouette against the sun. Very cool. We got out of the water from that dive feeling really lucky and I wouldn't have minded if we were told we couldn't jump in again that day. As it happens, we were in again twice in quick succession and although we didn't see anymore big stuff, we were both so much more confident with maintaining consistent buoyancy and depth etc, that we were able to get closer to some of the cool little things without fear of crashing into corals and breaking or squashing things!

Back on the boat, we changed and warmed up in the sun and with more tea killed the time waiting for the day boat to pick us up by chatting with our fellow divers. A bunch of us got on well, so arranged to meet for a few beers that evening, back on dry land. A good time that ended at midnight when the bar closed and we went to bed feeling that we were still at sea.

We had another full day in Cairns before we could fly and spent most of it lazing around in the hotel, the effects of the previous night and action-packed 3 days had taken their toll. It was the 30th of July when we flew back down to Sydney and caught the train out to stay with some old friends who had emigrated a few years before. We spent an enjoyable couple of nights with Emma and Toby and their lively kids, riding scooters along the Hawkesbury River, reading stories and being used as human-climbing frames! They spoilt us with a couple of days of good home-cooked food and we're both really grateful to them for their hospitality.

So, it's now the first of August and we're in the departure lounge at Sydney airport waiting for our flight to Buenos Aires. It's been delayed by three hours which is a shame as it's only a 20 minute flight: it was supposed to depart at 10:30am and get in at 10:50am. I thought South America was much further away!!

Hope you are all keeping well,
Dan & Sue