So, the day before our Reef trip the only real point of note was watching England dominate France in the rugby with some lads from the hostel which was good fun. But anyway, onto the meaty stuff....
Take your pick of superlatives, they wont even come close to describing how good it was spending two days and a night on the Great Barrier Reef. I feel the need to just blurt out random amazing parts but ill control myself and try to recount it chronologically and fit everything in.
We rose at 5am on the 17th, it seems like so long ago but it was only yesterday. After dragging ourselves out of bed we decided to take the 30minute walk to the jetty to wake ourselves up. The boat which we were to spend the next two days on was called the Rum Runner, and is fairly small as far as live aboard boats go, with room for 16 passengers. There were 10 of us on this trip and that was on the crowded side. At 7:30am we set off from the harbour 3hrs away from our first dive, being a small boat there was plenty of movement out in the open water, but it wasn't too bad. As cairns shrank into the distance we basked in the sunshine on the deck, being cooled by the occasional big wave that would spray us with salty water. After about 2 and a half hours we began to notice what looked like breakwater in the distance, a sign of a reef just below the surface, sure enough in a few minutes the water around us showed splotches of turquoise and we began to kit up for our first dive.
The first dive was at a small reef called horseshoe reef, the visibility was not that great but even so the vivid colours of clown fish (Nemo), parrot fish and angel fish shone out from meters away in the murky water. First dive over we hopped back on board, and while the skipper took us to our next dive site (1hr away) we ate lunch. The next dive was at a location called the three sisters, and was an entirely different animal, visibility was much better, and the coral formations were amazing. The coral is not just amazing for its colours, but the intricate detail in the different formations and types of coral, and in between these delicate and fragile growths hide hundreds of tiny fish, sheltering from the dangers of open water. The most notable fish on this dive were a stingray lurking about the bottom, and a reef shark, probably 1.5m long, darting beneath us.
Back on board the boat and time for another snack as we pootled to the next dive site, only 5mins away. Here we moored up for the night and me and dave decided to go it alone for this dive, sans guide. In the water for no more than 30seconds and still getting our bearing and a turtle wafted past, no more than a metre from our masks. Theres something endearing about the cumbersome paddling of the fairly plain turtle in comparison to the elegant and bright tropical fish. The highlight of this dive however was getting caught in a bait ball of 10cm fish, thousands of them, and they seemed to be circling me. Perhaps because they knew i was harmless but might scare away the bigger fish. Being surrounded by these shimmering specks, cascading light as they twisted and turned to avoid being eaten was something very special indeed.
Next dive was at the same reef, but with a twist..... it was at 8:30pm, pitch black! Highlights of this dive as far as fish are concerned was helping some big red fish (whose name has escaped me) to hunt but shining our torches on smaller fry. The biguns would lurk behind us as we waved our torch about, then when we found a little fish and were busy admiring it.... Bam! The big reduns would strike, bye bye little fish. But by far the best part of the night dive was not what we saw, but what we didn't see. Being submerged in the dark water, with only a thin beam of light reaching out into the nothingness, that was a surreal and bewitching experience.
That evening I reclined on the deck with a couple of glasses of red wine and felt very nautical, staring up at the stars through the crystal clear sky on a gently rocking boat.
7am start the next day and the visibility underwater was even better, and early morning is when most fish wake up and are feeling hungry, so plenty of activity down there. Im running out of time, and am inclined to say that the last two dives were much the same as the previous. Lots of fish and lots of coral. But no two dives have ever been the same, and every one has been nothing short of spectacular.
Right, back at the hostel now and ill put down my thesaurus, heading out tonight to a bar in town for a drink with the crew of our boat and a few of the diving peeps, then tomorrow think i will go to the botanical gardens, where crocs live!! I probably wont blog again until New Zealand which is on Saturday the 21st. So unless anything terribly exciting happens between now and then, my next blog will be around then. Best wishes.
Rich
Take your pick of superlatives, they wont even come close to describing how good it was spending two days and a night on the Great Barrier Reef. I feel the need to just blurt out random amazing parts but ill control myself and try to recount it chronologically and fit everything in.
We rose at 5am on the 17th, it seems like so long ago but it was only yesterday. After dragging ourselves out of bed we decided to take the 30minute walk to the jetty to wake ourselves up. The boat which we were to spend the next two days on was called the Rum Runner, and is fairly small as far as live aboard boats go, with room for 16 passengers. There were 10 of us on this trip and that was on the crowded side. At 7:30am we set off from the harbour 3hrs away from our first dive, being a small boat there was plenty of movement out in the open water, but it wasn't too bad. As cairns shrank into the distance we basked in the sunshine on the deck, being cooled by the occasional big wave that would spray us with salty water. After about 2 and a half hours we began to notice what looked like breakwater in the distance, a sign of a reef just below the surface, sure enough in a few minutes the water around us showed splotches of turquoise and we began to kit up for our first dive.
The first dive was at a small reef called horseshoe reef, the visibility was not that great but even so the vivid colours of clown fish (Nemo), parrot fish and angel fish shone out from meters away in the murky water. First dive over we hopped back on board, and while the skipper took us to our next dive site (1hr away) we ate lunch. The next dive was at a location called the three sisters, and was an entirely different animal, visibility was much better, and the coral formations were amazing. The coral is not just amazing for its colours, but the intricate detail in the different formations and types of coral, and in between these delicate and fragile growths hide hundreds of tiny fish, sheltering from the dangers of open water. The most notable fish on this dive were a stingray lurking about the bottom, and a reef shark, probably 1.5m long, darting beneath us.
Back on board the boat and time for another snack as we pootled to the next dive site, only 5mins away. Here we moored up for the night and me and dave decided to go it alone for this dive, sans guide. In the water for no more than 30seconds and still getting our bearing and a turtle wafted past, no more than a metre from our masks. Theres something endearing about the cumbersome paddling of the fairly plain turtle in comparison to the elegant and bright tropical fish. The highlight of this dive however was getting caught in a bait ball of 10cm fish, thousands of them, and they seemed to be circling me. Perhaps because they knew i was harmless but might scare away the bigger fish. Being surrounded by these shimmering specks, cascading light as they twisted and turned to avoid being eaten was something very special indeed.
Next dive was at the same reef, but with a twist..... it was at 8:30pm, pitch black! Highlights of this dive as far as fish are concerned was helping some big red fish (whose name has escaped me) to hunt but shining our torches on smaller fry. The biguns would lurk behind us as we waved our torch about, then when we found a little fish and were busy admiring it.... Bam! The big reduns would strike, bye bye little fish. But by far the best part of the night dive was not what we saw, but what we didn't see. Being submerged in the dark water, with only a thin beam of light reaching out into the nothingness, that was a surreal and bewitching experience.
That evening I reclined on the deck with a couple of glasses of red wine and felt very nautical, staring up at the stars through the crystal clear sky on a gently rocking boat.
7am start the next day and the visibility underwater was even better, and early morning is when most fish wake up and are feeling hungry, so plenty of activity down there. Im running out of time, and am inclined to say that the last two dives were much the same as the previous. Lots of fish and lots of coral. But no two dives have ever been the same, and every one has been nothing short of spectacular.
Right, back at the hostel now and ill put down my thesaurus, heading out tonight to a bar in town for a drink with the crew of our boat and a few of the diving peeps, then tomorrow think i will go to the botanical gardens, where crocs live!! I probably wont blog again until New Zealand which is on Saturday the 21st. So unless anything terribly exciting happens between now and then, my next blog will be around then. Best wishes.
Rich
I think you should write a book. Maybe the thesaurus...ahhh im soooo jealous!
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