February 19 - Australia: Great Barrier Reef, Queensland
Today we ran errands and prepared for our trip on the Explorer Ventures Liveaboard for the next few days. We shopped around town for a disposable underwater camera, but decided we'd get a better deal if we rented one on the boat. I also picked up my regulator from DSDD, where I'd dropped it yesterday to have it fixed. The guys (Rob and Barry) are so nice, and didn't charge me for the repair as it was related to the servicing they had given it a week ago. I also got a new LPI hose out of it. Lucky me!
The only bad part of the day is that I'm getting a cold. I can feel it sneaking up on me, despite the thrice-daily echinacea breaks. Today, it's just the sniffles and an occasional sneeze, but I know what's coming. I plan on ignoring it and hoping it goes away. There's no way I'm letting it interfere with my diving. (PADI, by the way, would say that this is NOT "role model instructor behavior". But PADI didn't pay for this trip.)
Explorer Ventures
At 4:10, we called for a taxi, for which we were still waiting at 4:30. After another phone call to the taxi company and a quick run down the townhouse development to the street, we finally found the taxi and were on our way to the Explorer Ventures office. There, we met up with the other 11 people with whom we'll spend the next few days.
We didn't have a lot of time to chat with them before we boarded the bus to take us to the pier. But from the looks of it the majority of the group are Americans. As it turns out, Explorer Ventures has an office in the US somewhere, and therefore has adequate US marketing. So naturally, a majority of their clients are from America. This is fine, except that we enjoy taking trips like this to meet people from other countries. And also, we've come to understand the stereotype that "Vacationing Americans Are Nightmares". We've seen some real winners, and they're quite embarrassing. But seeing that this is a scuba trip, we figure that everyone will be very laid back and fun-loving.
The Nimrod
The Nimrod
The bus took us to The Nimrod III, where we boarded the boat and listened to the skipper's briefing as our bags were loaded. Here's the scoop on the crew:
Ian: The Nimrod skipper. From Australia, seems to be a quiet but nice person.
Nao: Head Instructor. From Japan, she's a very spunky little girl who seems more Australian than Japanese.
John: Instructor #2. From New Zealand, friendly guy.
Demi: Instructor-in-training. From Japan, he'll lead any guided trips.
Jenny: The Cook. Lovely woman with very tan skin. The kitchen smells wonderful.
Sellah: The Hostie. From New Zealand. She'll take care of all our linens and dishes and whatnot.
Ambrose: The engineer. From Australia. He'll fix anything and everything.
All in all they seem like a lively bunch. Some of them just had the last week off, so they were a little punchy to get back on the water.
The weather was very cloudy as we left Cairns, and we hoped that the rain wouldn't affect our visibility too badly. Here are some pictures that Jon took while we were on our way.
A storm rolls in over Cairns
Jenny served us dinner, which was two different types of pasta and some delicious garlic bread. We were also served some complimentary wine with dinner and enjoyed meeting our fellow divers. Here are the people we traveled with:
Dan: From Seattle. He's a Dive Master who's never been on the reef before.
Alberto and Yolanda: From Washington, DC. They just came up from a conference in Melbourne and decided to do some diving.
Karl: Also from DC. Came up with Alberto and Yolanda but has never dived before. Nao will be finishing up his Open Water course.
Arthur: From Pennsylvania. He's in his 70s, and his voice and mannerisms reminds me of my Grandpa. Except that Grandpa isn't "doom and gloom" like this guy.
Steve: From Germany, but lives in Sydney. He's a MDST (Master Scuba Diver Trainer) which is a big level up from our lowly OWSI instructor status.
Gordon: Steve's friend from Germany. He's visiting Steve and they've driven up the coast from Sydney and have been diving along the way.
Jana and Malta: A lovely couple from German. I don't think I spelled his name correctly, but my German is definitely off.
Bob and Brigida: An older couple from San Jose. They're very nice, and Bob has a lot to talk about. A lot.
We hung out and talked to everyone for a while, but everyone hit the sack around 10:00. Our room is in the downstairs hull, and is all right. We were supposed to have a double room, but the last passengers complained about some fumes from the engine. So we've been moved into a quad instead, which we get to ourselves. They connected the bottom two bunks together so it's like we're sleeping on a trapezoid-shaped bed. Pretty interesting.
The boat kept traveling north long after we'd gone to sleep. According to the itinerary, we were going to anchor off the first reefs about 2:00AM tomorrow morning. That's a busy crew.