January 14 - Australia: Cairns

Finally a nice sunrise:  Jon's run #46

So it's been two weeks since I last saw a nice sunrise during my morning run.  Sometimes this is because there was a storm overnight and the clouds are still lingering or maybe I left a little early so I got home before the sunrise but mostly I think it's because of some grand conspiracy.  I'll have to do some thinking during my next few runs about the conspiracy angle...there are some real possibilities with that option I think.

This morning it actually felt cooler than it has most days--I think there was actually a nice wind for most of the run too.  You have to understand that being in the sun pretty much all day any little variation is not only noticeable but welcome!  I made a note to myself to see what the weather in Cairns is like in the winter (summertime back home).  It only figures that we are here during the hottest period on record.  We were in Egypt during the middle of their summer--this is like visiting the desert at the hottest possible time of year.  Egypt was over 40c many days and at midday when a wind would come off the Nile and hit you as you crossed a blacktopped road you would swear you knew what a turkey feels like in a convection oven.  Sorry, just an aside.  I'm sure we'll get no sympathy from friends and family that are watching the weather to see how much snow they may be getting overnight...

Today we only had about 20 people on-board, which meant a relatively easy day for us.  And because of the breakdown between snorkelers, divers, and “resorties” (Australian for Resort Divers), this also meant that I got to guide today.  Very exciting!

Dive #1: Norman Reef - Pontoon

Depth: 15.2 meters

Bottom Time: 57 minutes

Visibility: 15 meters

I started off with four divers, but by the time we got ready to get suited up I’d somehow accumulated two more.  No worries.  My biggest problem was – after putting on all my gear – I realized that my second stage was leaking.  So I had to take everything off and change my regulator quickly.  And in my haste, I’d forgotten to hook up my BCD hose.  All problematic, but nothing earth-shattering.

We saw a turtle as soon as we rounded the first corner of the reef.  It was quite large and pretty exciting to see.  It was also the only exciting thing we saw for the entire dive.  And as if that wasn’t bad enough, we ended up surfacing really far from the boat.  I thought that Horst had told me to keep the reef on my left the entire time – which I did.  I’d assumed that it would swing around to the boat.  Unfortunately, I should have kept it on my left for 20 minutes and then turned around.

So Horst had to come out on the dinghy to pick up some of my divers, but luckily they wanted to snorkel back anyway so they didn’t mind the slight distance.  I stayed underwater with the Hostie and a Welsh man who is also an instructor.  They were both doing great for air so we scuba’ed back to the boat.

The worst part of the whole ordeal was the grief and ribbing I got from the crew about “getting lost”.  Luckily it all worked out for the best and none of the customers were peeved.  But I was pretty ticked off at myself for getting so turned around on what should have been a simple dive.  We’ll just chalk that up to a lesson learned.

Dive #2: Hastings Reef – Angel’s Bommie

Depth: 10.9 meters

Bottom Time: 68 minutes

Visibility: 15 meters

For the second dive, I went down with Tom who is one of the instructors on the boat.   He knows his way around the reef quite well, so I was able to lead my group around it by looking to him for various directions.  It worked out nicely, and he pointed out some key marine life while we were down there which was very entertaining for the group.

We played with some sea cucumbers, a flatworm, and a blue sea star (formally called a “starfish” but it’s not a fish so that’s now considered politically incorrect).  We also some large Oriental Sweetlips swimming in the current.  Very nice!

Oriental Sweetlips

I sent my divers up one by one as they ran out of air, until it was just me and the instructor left underwater.  Because he’s so experienced with diving, he had slightly more air than I did.  But after an hour underwater, he was ready to come up. 

On the way back to Cairns, I sat and chatted with him for a while.  He lived in Egypt for three years before moving back to the U.K., and used to instruct for various places on the Red Sea.  We reminisced about some of the best sites to dive in the Red Sea, and we both agreed that it has some of the best diving we’ve ever seen.  He says he hasn’t dove (dived?) in Asia yet, so that’s his next destination.

 Back home, Jon and I had leftover pizza, Phad Thai, and Red Curry Beef for dinner.  Quite a smorgasbord, but yummy nonetheless.