January 1 - Australia: Cairns

Happy New Year!:  Jon's run #39

When one goes running at 4:30am on New Years day, everyone wants to wish Happy New Year to the sober guy that's crazy enough to be out running at this hour.  The only problem is that it comes out as something closer to "Appppy Nnnne Yeaaaah" or something like that.  These crazy Australians are so friendly!  The run was great and even if I didn't get out last night I could still appreciate the partying that everyone else did.  People were still spilling out of the clubs and the line at the casino still had at least 50 or 60 people trying to get in.  Crazy.

After running through downtown I decided to run along the water so I could see the sun rise on the New Year toward the end of my run.  The first thing I noticed was all of the trash along the path.  It seems that this was a popular place last night!  The second thing I noticed were all of the passed out people trying to get some sleep on the grass/on the benches/on the picnic tables in the park along the path.  Pretty funny.  They sort of looked like corpses or something with empties bottles littered around them.  There were also a few seemingly sober folks toward the end of the path, on the northern edge of town, who it looked like were also there to see the sun rise.  

The sun rise was beautiful.  I wish I could have brought a camera...the sky was a bright purple and pink behind the two mountains that are just east of the marina, reflecting both the mountains and the sky off of the water.  Truly a great way to bring in the new year!

Happy New Year!!!!

Who knew?  Who knew that we'd be working on a boat in Australia right now?  If someone had told me that a year ago, I'd have told them to get therapy.  Isn't it funny how life works out sometimes?  

But we're healthy and blissfully happy, so there are no complaints from down under.

New Year's Boat Trip

Today we dragged ourselves into the shop to be greeted by some very tired and hung-over faces.  We had a full boat today, so poor Cliffy got the "can you work tomorrow?" phone call last night.  When we saw him this morning, he was wishing he'd never answered the phone.  Despite that, he was still in his usual chipper mood.

Horst - our Dive Supervisor - was looking tired but chipper, and Matty - our skipper - was his usual jolly self.  And of course the Japanese crew were raring to go.  So we were a much cheerier crew than I'd expected.

Snorkel Guide #1 - Turtle Bay

Jon did lookout today and I took out 8 snorkelers for both trips.  There was an older American couple from San Diego on the trip, and the woman - Dee - was less than confident in her swimming abilities.  So I ended up holding her hand (literally) through the entire snorkel trip.  She panicked on me twice because she got water in her mask.  So this meant that she grabbed onto me for dear life until I could calmly talk her out of her death grip.

No worries.  This is what I'm paid for, right?

Aside from the occasional panic attack, the snorkel was very nice.  We saw a large turtle and a shark that swam away very quickly.  The trigger fish have definitely calmed down, which is a good thing because I'm tired of having to back away from them each time one rounds the corner.

Snorkel Guide #2 - Troppo Lounge

Dee decided not to go out on the second snorkel trip, which was fine because that meant I could practice some free-diving.  Or so I thought.

On my way out the reef with my group, Horst called me back to the boat.  One of the Japanese resort divers got into the water and panicked, so they pulled her out and gave her snorkel gear instead.  Hiroko (one of the Japanese instructors) was already out on the reef with a group of Japanese snorkelers, so I needed to get this woman to them.  The woman (of course) spoke very little English, but knew enough to say "No!  No!" when I tried to get her to let go of my hand.  No such luck.  So I towed her out to Hiroko's group in the shallows and - still - she wouldn't let the vice hold go.  Hiroko talked her out of it and I was free to go on my way.

I saw a couple of porcupine fish.  Having seen them before, I never knew what they were.  But I finally looked them up in the book and am hereby educated.  

The second snorkel was just fine and without incident - just the way we like it!

A Day Well Done

I got a tip!!!  Dee was very pleased with my "patience and understanding" during the first snorkel, that she decided I was worth a $20 tip!  Isn't that cool?  I don't think I've ever been tipped before.  I've never worked in a capacity that prompts people to tip.  No one ever tips consultants.  In fact, it may be illegal in some government situations.  So this was my first real tip.  So exciting!  I probably should have put it in the "beer kitty" for the crew, but I'm sure there are some sort of sacred rules regarding the very first tip.  In the end, it didn't matter because Dee and her husband Ed gave a "crew tip" anyway.  So, after we washed the boat down, Horst, Cliff, Chris, Matty, Jon and I sat around and had a few beers before heading home for the evening.

What a great way to bring in the new year!