Yesterday was wonderful. I wasn't expecting to enjoy diving as much as I did, but I literally felt like I was just floating around like a mermaid.
At the pier
The ride out
The ride out to the reefs was pretty calm + Lindsay and Laura both didn't end up sea sick, which was a great start to the day. We had a nice morning tea with muffins while enjoying the blue seas. We arrived at our first dive site a couple hours later. It was a tiny island where if we crossed the ropes that partitioned a 1/8 of the island, we would be fine $7500. Ouch, avoided those areas. Laura went to dive with the 2 other certified divers, while Linds + I had to wait for the 3rd uncertified dive, so we took a quick boat over to the island to snorkel back. There were all these birds with babies + eggs hanging out right outside the rope on the beach. We thought it was the neatest thing. The little fluffy babies trying to fly + the birds adjusting themselves to protect their unhatched eggs.
Lindsay + I
Laura + I
We snorkeled back to the boat as we only had 15 minutes til our dive. The reefs were so beautiful. We got back onto the boat + froze in our wetsuits (that weren't long!!!) while we waited for our dive. They hooked us up to the tank + we jumped into the water. We hung onto a rope while they put us under water + onto a second rope. Then they made sure everyone was ok. It was really nice because they gave everyone on the boat a 10 minute trial dive if they wanted (only a third of the boat even dove though). So then the people who didn't want to dive left + we went under to explore. 4 of us were with a divemaster. Its really nice to have someone pointing to all the corals that do cool things + finding the neat fish + what we can touch. We saw a stingray hiding in the sand. I was a little offended though, because our divemaster was kicking his way through the reefs + was kicking off all this coral. I thought you weren't supposed to damage it! You aren't.
What seemed like 5 minutes later, but was actually about 40 minutes came soon + we got back on the boat to have lunch + go to the second dive spot. The lunch was a large buffet of chickpea salad, potatoe salad, coleslaw, noodle salad, bread, lunchmeat, honey mustard chicken, ratatouille, and delicious fruit. It was pretty good as I was literally starving. We went about 10 minutes on the boat to get to our second destination. This was just open water. Lindsay decided not to do the second dive, as she hadn't really liked having to follow the divemaster + have annoying other inexperienced divers kicking her in her head. Since it actually wasn't already paid for, she decided to use the money to buy an underwater camera. Excited to see the pics she took snorkeling. She said her skin diving class at UF finally paid off, as she could use her snorkel diving skills.
Lindsay napping
I refused to get in the water to snorkel for 10 minutes before I would dive, as I knew I'd be freezing waiting on the boat. So I read a little + then finally put back on my wet wetsuit. We jumped in again + it was actually much warmer waters this time. This dive was a little deeper. Laura went to 16.7 meters (she had a computer watch they gave the certified divers that told her), but I probably didn't get that deep as they baby us uncertified divers. The corals didn't seem as bright to me, but there were shelves + shelves of corals that were so tall. It is so neat to think that all these corals + reefs last for miles upon miles all along the coast. I was amazed because all the sudden we were getting out + I was like "what's wrong", but actually we were done. Diving feels like running to me. You totally get lost in the moment + each minute seems like a second!
I got back on the boat + found Lindsay. We warmed up with mushroom soup, found Laura, + headed back to Cairns. I read most of the way home (a really trashy chick novel) + enjoyed the gorgeous views. Thanks to Laura, we spotted a sea turtle (she had seen one diving, too) + a dolphin.
Our boat
We got back + headed home for warm showers. We went out for dinner + got a really yummy pizza. Unfortunately the large was more like a personal pan pizza + that meant we needed a second dinner. We went to the seafood place we had been to the other afternoon + I got a really great seafood salad sandwich I'd been eyeing the time before. We went back to our rooms exhausted. Even though we had gotten all ready to go out, we ended up going to sleep instead. I finished my trashy novel + fell asleep to wake up at 7 am for our trek (aka bus) to the rainforest.
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