January 11 - Australia: Cairns
We both had today off, but I am desperate to get some dives in. We have to have 100 dives to sit for PADI's Instructor Exam next month, and I only have 75. So a day of diving is pretty important right now.
I called the office at 6:30 to see if Reef Quest had room for me to dive stand-by today. I didn't want to dive on Sea Quest, because I wanted to hide in a corner and read a book instead of having to socialize. I figure that I know less people on Reef Quest than on Sea Quest. I also knew that if I went on Sea Quest, they would end up sweet-talking me into working, and no-way-Jose was that going to happen. Anyway, Reef Quest had room for me, so I made my way there at 7:15 to check in and fill out all required paperwork on the boat. This, of course, was after the entire crew gave me crap for diving on my day off. The skipper, Paul, laughingly threatened to have me work Lookout instead of diving. Aahh!
Reef Quest
The Dive Supervisor - Nigel - has a reputation for being a bit of a hard-ass. And after having spent a day with him, I definitely agree. The guy made me sit in on the dive briefing. Gimme a break! We can recite these briefings backwards by now. But I went and listened half-heartedly as requested.
My dive buddy was a dive instructor named Jason, who was also out for a day of fun diving. The funny thing was that - for the first two dives - neither of us had any clue where we were going!
Dive #1: Norman Reef - Shark Mountain
Depth: 14.6 meters
Bottom Time: 48 minutes
Visibility: 15 meters
We dove this one with the Hostie whose name was Ria. She didn't know where we were going either. Visibility was a bit rough, but we did see a whitetip reef shark at the beginning of the dive. At one point, we passed Brett the videographer. Jason signaled to him and asked "Hey - where's the boat" in scuba sign language. Brett pointed in the direction and then put his fingers on his forehead in the shape of an "L". In other words, he was calling us losers for being experienced dive masters and instructors who had no sense of direction.
We did find our way back to the boat just fine, and managed to explore some of the lovely clam garden beneath the boat. There were about 16 massive clams living there in beautiful colors of blue, purple, and green.
Dive #2: Norman Reef - Shark Mountain
Depth: 12.8 meters
Bottom Time: 37 minutes
Visibility: 15 meters
This time we dove through the shallows so we knew where we were the entire time. We saw a few blue spotted lagoon rays and a small whitetip reef shark. I have to wonder why I never see these things when I'm guiding paying customers. Murphy's Law, I guess.
Yesterday, a diver on another company's boat was charged by a feisty trigger fish. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal, but this trigger fish managed to get to her ear and cause enough damage that she needed six stitches. So Jason and I were particularly hesitant to stumble on any trigger fish today. Then we saw two MASSIVE trigger fish in the shallows of Shark Mountain. I mean, these were nuclear-sized trigger fish and we didn't stick around to measure them!
Look at the teeth on these guys!
Since we had some extra time, we went back under the boat to find the clam garden again. And the funny thing is that we couldn't find it for a good 2-3 minutes. Now really. You wouldn't think it would be that difficult. But we managed to swim around for a good while looking for it. We finally found it and hung out there for a while. Then we practiced our bubble-ring blowing skills. This is a fun thing to do when trying to entertain divers. You lay backwards, remove your second stage, and blow little bursts of bubbles to the surface. If done correctly, they form little rings much like smoke rings. I'm not very good at it, but practice makes perfect!
Dive #3: Norman Reef - Pontoon
Depth: 12.1 meters
Bottom Time: 48 minutes
Visibility: 10 meters
Our last dive was a very nice reef dive. Jason and I saw a puffer fish (unpuffed) and tried to avoid each and every trigger fish we came across. We found a turtle swimming in the distance, but didn't follow it for very long. As we slowly made our way back to the boat, we found ourselves surrounded by several large silver fish that seemed to enjoy circling us. These large fish (who I think are snappers) often hang out in the shade beneath the boat. And they were swimming around us in circles but always just out of our reach. It was pretty cool.
The trip back to Cairns was fine, and I got to doze just a bit. The trouble with going on Reef Quest is that it transfers passengers on and off Ocean Quest - Deep Sea Diver's Den's overnight boat. So that usually takes an extra 1/2 hour. But no worries because I stayed in my little corner seat and snoozed through it as much as possible.
We were back at port by 4:30. Jon met me inside The Pier and we went home and made home-made pizzas. Jon has begun to excel at this pizza thing. I think he's found his calling!