WanderingWhy…

Scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef has been a dream of mine since I learned of the reef. This dream finally came true during our time in Australia, just not in the way I had dreamed it.

I naively envisioned sunny days, warm calm water, amazing visibility, and so many sea creatures around I would not be able to see my dive buddy next to me (please spare me the shark attacks and “Open Water” stories here). This was not exactly the case, although the trip was far from “Open Water.”

It’s the season for diving the GBR right now, so WD and I booked a trip over the internet ahead of time. It was expensive and a stretch on the budget but this was on our list of “must do’s” when we planned the trip. Only when we got into town did we see every tour shop selling our trip for half of what we paid–ouch! When we got on the boat, we realized they had upgraded our room which took some of the sting out of it.

The weather was about as shitty as you could hope for–sunny sometimes, but mostly cold and rough, rough conditions. I tried to get a refill on sea-sickness patches but they don’t seem to have them in Australia so we we doped up on Dramamine for the trip. The Dramamine barely held us together at times. When we were not in the water we were usually in our bunk trying not to get thrown out. Several times I would wake up in mid-air and hit the mattress.

On our first dive WD had trouble equalizing her ears and had to abort. On the second dive she decended with the divemaster and took her time getting down. I was glad she made it down for this dive, since we were there for to watch the giant potato cod feeding. This was the highlight of the diving the GBR, take a peek at these vids:

The cod reminded me of big dopey Labradors looking for food, the only thing missing was a tongue hanging out. When the feed was over they would stare at the food container, then at you, then back at the container. This made for some great pictures.

It was great but we were shivering cold by the time we were back on board–WD was frustrated and done for the day. The next dive was nothing special and the last dive was a night dive.

I’ve never been night diving–it was a bit of a rush. You really need to be comfortable in the water and know your gear and dive basics solid. It was black and I could not see anything but what my flashlight revealed. I tried to keep my imagination under control and not think about the sharks at night. If the beam died I would have saw pure blackness and been 40ft down… a real test to keep your head but thankfully there was no pop quiz. I can see why cave diving is addicting but I know now it is not for me.

I was glad WD opted out of this dive. Dive training is important and WD’s was pretty poor… she is not comfortable with the gear and basic techniques so it really ruined the diving experience for her. We went on the first dive together the next day and it went wrong. It was raining, the wind was whipping on the surface and the boat was swinging like a pendulum far from the drop in to descend on the bommie. We jumped in and swam on the surface exhausting ourselves trying to get to the marker. We tried descending while still breathing hard and WD had ear trouble again–combined with strong current, cold water, and her mask flooding because it was caught on her hoodie, panic started to set in on the rough surface.

WD said “Can you see if my tank is on all the way? I feel like I’m not getting enough air.” I almost touched it but remembered a few things: The divemasters always check your tank is open before you are allowed to jump in, people make simple mistakes like this when they panic, and what WD just said was the last thing a friend of mine said before he died SCUBA diving. I signaled the boat for a pickup and we were out of there. WD may never dive again after that experience.

Of course an hour later the sun peaked out and the conditions calmed a bit more. Better still, it was minke whale season and finally a whale appeared and circled the boat. Rules prohibit diving with the whales but you can get in and snorkel with them. I was lucky enough have it swim right underneath me but had to get out soon after for a scheduled dive… a dream come true. WD, having retired from diving, jumped in and had four sightings!

WD snorkeled the rest of the trip and the remaining dives I did were good but the highlights were over. But we did it–we dove the GBR!

Bookmark To: