Great Barrier Reef

On Thursday, I went diving on the Great Barrier Reef. It was an all day trip and consisted of three dives, 2 of which we did in the same location and then we travelled on a bit and did another at a new location.

I set out from the hostel at about 7 a.m., after having got up at 6 a.m. The only problem was I hadn't got to bed until about 5 a.m., having gone out with a bunch of British people staying in the same room at the hostel. Surprisingly, I didn't feel too worse for wear, maybe all that a.m./p.m. court after working shift work all night is finally turning out to be useful in this case.

The hostel ran a shuttle that took me down to the marina, but I couldn't find where to go, so I stopped for a second, took out my wallet, and took out the card for the hostel I was at and asked them for directions. They pointed me the right way, and I walked over to the boat. Having got on, I went to pay the remainder of my fee for diving, and lo and behold - no wallet. I thought well, that was odd, I just had it. Checked all my pockets, nothing. Checked my bag, nothing. Riiiiiight, I left it sitting on a bench on the other side of the marina. Great. So, after sprinting across the marina, with several people moving out of the way and looking at me wondering why the hell I was running so fast in bare feet the early in the morning, I got back to the bench, to find it, of course, gone. I checked in one building, where they book tours, and fortunately, it had been turned in. I may be stupid, but I'm lucky.

The boat took us out to the reef in about an hour and a half, and we did our first 2 dives followed by lunch. Visibility was great, a lot of the dive masters on the boat said it hadn't been that good in 4 months. They also said the particular reef we were at doesn't get visited very often because it usually has poor visibility when the weather isn't so good, but we lucked out. They could've been feeding us all a line I guess, but who knows.

Both dives at the first site were great. Lots to see - all different kinds and colors of coral, giant clams, lots of different fish in giant schools, and of course all different kinds of plants. Each time we were under for about 25 minutes, which goes in a flash. As none of us were certified divers, we were forced to link arms and swim in a group, so the dive master watching over the group has an easier time controlling buoyancy, so you don't slam into the reef and damage it and cut yourself up in the process.

After lunch, we moved on the the second site, and had dolphins playing in the wake of the boat as we went. unfortunately, they didn't hang around.

The second site was not as clear as the first, but as we went out with a different dive master, she was comfortable just letting us swim freely as opposed to linking up, as long as we didn't wander off. It was great to be able to swim around without another person dragging you up or down and getting kicked from other people's fins.

Again, saw lots of fish, including some really large ones, like the one in the photo here - a Maori Wrasse. Docile, but large and somewhat imposing. After 25 minutes, we had to come up.

Talking to other people on the boat, they had the luck to see other things such as large Sea Turtles and Manta Rays.

It was a great experience, I encourage anybody who has the opportunity to try it sometime to go ahead and do it.