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Other entries in Cairns

Great Barrier Reef, off the coast of Australia

Oh my God, the waves. I thought the Pacific was bad. When we left Cairns for the barrier reef it looked a little rough, but when we got a good bit away from land all hell broke loose. There were puke bags everywhere you went on this speedboat we were on, and everyone was clinging tightly to them or emptying their breakfasts into them. But strangely enough not me. After what happened last time I was on a boat (see the bit about sailing up the coast of Chile) I was well prepared. I stocked up on Sea Sickness pills before we left and made sure I was never out of coverage, if you know what I mean. I made sure to take them long before I needed them. Lor for some reason figured she didn't need them so didn't take any. She then spent the duration of the 2-hour trip to the reef looking strangely paler then usual. And for those of you that know Lorraine, that's a pretty pale complexion she has to begin with. Luckily while your moored near the reef the boats didn't tend to jump around so much. And sure as soon as you go under the water all seasickness feelings disappear straight away.

3 days of diving followed and loads of fun was had by all. Getting into the water was never a problem, all you had to do was jump the 12 odd feet into the water with a load of weight packed around your body, float for as brief a time as possible and then dive under the water where the choppy waves could no longer harass you. Getting out of the water was a little different. On the more stormy days you had to surface a good distance from the boat. Going against the training you had just completed you took off your fins away from the boat and then let the swell carry you up to and into the back entrance to the boat. It's all about timing then. You gotta get up onto the boats back deck in the swell that just brought you there. If you hang about in the water too long the next swell is going to try to bury you IN the shagging boat. Weirdest way of having fun I've come across.

Don't get me wrong, it was fun. If you didn't stay down too long and the cold started to get to you it was great fun. Lorraine finished her Open Water course and was having so much fun decided to start her advanced course. She completed what PADI euphemistically call the Adventure Diver course. I completed my advanced course (having done my Open Water in Ireland a couple of years ago) and we both then went diving together for the first time. All very cool, even managed to spot a shark cruising around. It's a pretty surreal place when your under water, and when you see something like a shark cruising passed you or a turtle swim slowly away from you, you get the feeling that were not really supposed to be down here. Then you go night diving and all around is dark. You can see nothing except your light beam. The most spectacular part of that dive was seeing the dive lights of another group of divers in the distance. When the lead light turned all the following lights turned in unison, like some underwater light show. Really very cool. And just a little spooky.

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