The Simply Phenomenal Great Barrier Reef - Part One

I have dreamed of diving the Great Barrier Reef for such a very long time. So of course it was on my bucket-list agenda for Australia. I just never imagined it would be so good.

                                             

                                    All videos are the property of Spirit of Freedom, Cairns

I had assumed I could dive the reef anywhere north of Brisbane and find a liveaboard vessel somewhere between Airlie Beach and Cairns without having to go any further north by land. Of course, a little research would have been sensible before I arrived in Australia, but it's hard to keep ahead when you are always on the road. Afterall, nine countries in less than five months is quite a challenge you know (I still regularly wake up and cannot remember which country I am in - a little like some of my more senile friends!)

Anyway, I had just taken a 16+ hour, overnight Greyhound bus to Brisbane from Sydney, expecting to stay there for three days before making my way north, when I decided to investigate possible liveaboard options for the following week. What I discovered made me very anxious:- 

     1. a distinct lack of decent dives near to the shore of Australia (known as the inner barrier reef) due to damage, pollution and the large volume of tourists and divers who visit them

     2. the very high cost of liveaboards who do go out to the far less damaged, visited and accessible outer barrier reef

     3. the availability of said liveaboards

     4. the fact that the barrier reef goes incredibly far north beyond Cairns

Eventually, I found a company which looked the business and I decided to give them a call. They basically said that if I wanted to see the outer reef I needed to get my arse up to Cairns asap as their boat would leave on Monday!! I promptly booked a flight to Cairns from Brisbane and checked out of my hostel a day early so I could arrive in the wee small hours of Sunday morning and give myself a day to prepare.

I could not have chosen a better vessel. The Spirit of Freedom is 'the' ship to use to visit the Outer Barrier Reef. I gulped at the price - debated for approximately 10 seconds about whether I could afford it or not, and then paid by credit card. I decided that as this could be my only time in Australia and possibly my one chance to dive in a place I had dreamed about for so long - I would regret not choosing the best.

    

                                                              Gorgeous - isn't she?

I would be sharing a cabin with three strangers to keep the cost down and we would be departing Monday morning and returning Thursday afternoon. I knew nothing else about the dive itinerary and I was too busy buying sea-sick tablets, gluten-free food to take with me (just in case) and organising storage for my luggage and return accommodation in Cairns, to investigate.

                           

                   A giant clam (1m across)                   Do you recognise this handsome diver?

The Spirit of Freedom can take a total of 26 divers/snorkelers and has a crew of 8. We were fortunate enough to not be full (17 divers and 2 snorkelers.) The ship was stunning. 37 metres of luxury and state of the art diving equipment. I was anxious about what my fellow divers (and room-mates) would be like, but I needn't have worried - they were excellent. 

                           

                            The lovely Jessica                  Tom and Joann - who I hope to visit in Nashville

                                 from Toronto                                              (hint, hint - guys!)

Our diving was amazing. 11 scheduled dives over the next three days including one at night. My cabin mates were Riley from Cape Town, Danielle from LA and Kim from Korea. You'll be pleased to hear that my snoring did not keep anyone awake, though the amount of sea-sickness tablets everyone was popping, on top of the physically demanding dives and the massive levels of nitrogen building up in all of our bodies, probably helped!

DIVE DIARY ENTRIES:- the following transcripts are from my phone, snatched messages and memos which I used as an audio diary. They are not grammatically sound and ramble a little, but imagine me speaking in haste and with enthusiasm and you'll get the idea!

Day One (transcript): "It's 7.25pm on Monday and I have dived twice today off the Great Barrier Reef!!!!! And there were sharks and turtles...and one turtle swam to within five centimetres of me. - Wow!" (noise of laughter)

                                 

Day Two (transcript of audio recording): "We've dived twice this morning already. The first dive was around seven am. We had first breakfast (I just had a muesli bar), but we were really struggling to get into the water because of the swells. And I was in the last group going in. We did four little boat trips - in our two inflatable tenders with outboard motors - so we could enter the water further away from our big ship. And that way we could then drift back with the current, but by the time it was my turn to go in - I had already ralphed twice! But I still went in and it was a good dive. And then on the second dive - we were feeding the cod. Now I didn't know what cod looked like, but these things are a metre long and they are covered in black spots - they're really remarkable. We sat in a circle on the sea bed - all of us - and they basically fed these fish right in front of us. I got batted in the face by the tail of one and you had to keep your fingers to yourself, as they would think they were fish and take a bite. That was great. And we've seen lots of fish and sharks too. The biggest shark so far has only been about 4 feet, but still that is pretty impressive!"

     

      Underwater photography taken by the crew during our three days of diving - cheers guys

"For second breakfast I just had a single hash brown and a cup of tea - I couldn't face the rest of my fry up! Lots of people are being sick and some are missing out on dives. I am taking motion sickness medication (4 times a day) which kept me fine yesterday and overnight (as we travelled 12 hours straight) but the swell when we were waiting for the first dive today was huge and I was finally sick. Feel fine now. Going to have lunch and some more tea. I am diving well, but struggling with my buoyancy. I normally dive with 5-6kgs in my weight belt and I am already up to 9. My fellow divers are cool (mostly), from USA, SA, Canada, France and Russia - I am the only Brit."

"Third dive of the day done. Two more left including one night dive." 

"We are currently racing to our next location. People are relaxing in different areas - resting or sleeping. Not everyone chooses to dive each dive, but I am five of five so far. We are 100 miles off shore. I am sleeping well, eating well, chatting and laughing. Brilliant!"

    

Day Three (transcript of audio recording): "It is 10.38 am and we have done two dives and enjoyed our first and second breakfasts. Wildlife is unbelievable! First dive was along 'Dynamite Pass' - you just flow with the current close to the reef wall - amazing. Really making some good friends on board. We did five dives yesterday, the last at night with torches! We'll do four dives today and then head to Lizard Island tomorrow to catch a small aircraft to fly back to Cairns. Woo-hoo!"

                                            

                                              Dynamite Pass briefing notes and dive groups

"It's our last night on board. All the guests and crew have just had a big barbecue on the sun deck - kangaroo, steak, prawns, fish - the works. Great. One couple revealed they have been celebrating their honeymoon on board and were treated to champagne. I've been watching our group photo log in the main cabin with a few of us who have stayed up."

    

                       Jason and Aleysha (from the US) celebrating their honeymoon

    

                                                          Fabulous life on the coral

    

                     Tour of the engine room                            French brothers Jean & Aurelien

To be continued...

The Great Barrier Reef Diaries - Part Two

Final transcript of diary recorded on Day Four after I had returned to Cairns: "Well, I am back on dry land and what an experience. I did 11 dives in three days. One of them was at night. They were all amazing. I didn't miss on any dives - even the one when I had to ralph first! (laughter.) Other people had to miss on the odd one or two because they were exhausted or feeling sea-sick. There were 17 of us diving and an older couple snorkelling. There were 8 in the crew and oh my goodness - we were well looked after. Whilst there were a couple of people on the boat I didn't get chance to speak to - other people are going to be life long friends. One girl, Danielle, is from LA, but living in Vietnam, and we chatted non-stop today when we got back to shore and had a meal together. We've agreed we'd happily work for each other in the future and I think our paths will cross again. Another girl, Jessica, was quiet on the first day because she felt ill, but by the second day showed her true colours and was the life and soul of the party - real hutzpah. She's in accommodation down the road and we'll definitely meet up later today - maybe go for a meal tonight - as we have photos to share with one another."

                                  

                     Jess and I did go out for a meal back at Cairns - seafood of course!

"So what did I see whilst I was diving? Well I saw quite a few sharks. I saw a two metre long sea snake which is pretty deadly. It's head was the size of my clenched fist, but they are also quite scared of people, so it swam back into the hole it came out of. I saw something called a Mantis Shrimp. Which was about a foot long. It actually has the fastest 'strike' action of any animal on the planet and can punch holes in thick shells. It is sort of the ninja warrior of the under-sea world! Apparently they are very hard to spot, but I saw it in a cubby-hole/crevice and I got one of the dive-masters to come along and take a photograph of it. Afterwards he told me all about it. Mantis (like the preying mantis) shrimp - lethal (though not to humans) with an amazing punch!"

                                      

"I saw lots of turtles and one swam to within a foot of my face and had a good look at me through my mask before turning course to pass by my side. He was just under a metre in length - the size of a coffee table. And another one I just swam with - erm - I sorta followed it. I was about two metres behind it and wherever it went I went, before I thought I better get back to the group. What else? Moray eels, triggerfish, parrotfish, bannerfish, little nemos, flutefish, stonefish, unicornfish, wrasse, pipefish, groupers, some really big jacks and some tuna that were about two and a half feet long, oh and a napoleon fish which was rather large."

    

                                           Bannerfish and the massive Rock Potato Cod

"Last night we fed some big fish that were about two feet long (ramores and giant trevally) and some sharks, off the back of the boat. We just kept throwing in bits of bait and raw meat and whatever else we could find and we turned the lights on underneath the stern which attracted all these fish and lots of white tipped reef sharks. We all cooed and ahh'd at their size and speed. A real feeding frenzy!"

"Life on the boat was amazing. Literally the dive master would suddenly come around and say 'Dive time, dive time!' and we'd all put our swim stuff back on and make our way to the rear of the boat. We'd pull on full body wetsuits and boots - to protect us from jellyfish because there were plenty in the water and some were pretty poisonous. The crew refer to them as 'stingers!' though the box jellyfish are lethal to humans. Then, we would put on our buoyancy jackets (the thing that holds the air-tank at the back.) These were the first ones I've used with integrated weights, usually I wear a weight belt around my waist (which I prefer to be honest), but with this one, the lead weights are in the jacket itself. But because I had a full wetsuit on and because my body-mass has changed (as I am a lot lighter than I was and a bit more muscly than I was) - I started my first dive by putting 6 kilos in, and the next dive 7.5kgs and my next dive I put in 9kgs. Well, walking around with 9 kilos of lead on top of your tank, your jacket, your octopus regulator and all your equipment - it's damn heavy I can tell you. Eventually, after team dive briefings and buddy checks - it is time for your dive group to get to the bottom of the stairs 

    

(there are two staircases sweeping down at the back because basically this is a gorgeous luxury boat) and you go down and the crew put your fins on your feet, they clean and anti-fog your mask, you step onto the platform and you normally do an entry called a 'giant step' which is a really big stride and then you signal that you are OK and you make your way over to the anchor line and you wait till your group is ready and then you descend. Occasionally the weather was so bad on the surface that we didn't wait on the surface - we descended to about three metres, fifteen feet, and waited there. But you didn't want to do that - nobody did - because you are using up your air waiting for other people - and it always pisses you off as you don't want to use your air up - you want to keep as much as you can in the tank to extend your dive."

"I buddied up with different people at different times. And it was a bit hit and miss. I mean there was one American guy called Jeff and he was a rubbish ...in fact I am going to say it - he was shit at being a buddy because he just did his own thing and went anywhere he wanted. I knew he was like that. I had seen in him in previous dives and he just kept going off on his own - a danger to him, never mind anyone else. So when I was buddied with him I spoke to him first and said we needed to stay close together and for the first 25 minutes I accommodated his wandering and kept as close to him as I could whilst keeping an eye on our dive lead because the visibility at times was only about 10 to 15 metres. I mean, if you lose your lead - you're buggered really. Anyway, eventually I got low on air so I signalled to the leader (a Japanese guy called Taku) that I was down to 50bars from a 200bar tank and he signalled me to go up and do my five minute safety stop at five metres. I nodded. So I thought well that's it. I don't know where Jeff is - he's buggered off. So I signalled to Taku that my buddy's somewhere and then I went and waited on the line to do my safety stop. Anyway, soon everyone ended up on the line, including Taku, because we'd all got low on air and there was no Jeff. And I'm looking around and I'm writing on Taku's underwater whiteboard 'Jeff ?! - you need to look for him!' Taku, replied he could see him and wrote 'he always does that.' Taku had better eyes than me (laughter.)"

"Anyway, I had to partner with Jeff again so I went to Jeff and I said 'Jeff, I was really not happy about that last dive. We got separated and then when I ran low on air I had to go up on the line and I didn't even know where you were and I don't want that to happen again. Can you stay closer?' And he said 'Yeah, yeah, yeah - of course I can.' So again I tried to accommodate him as he was everywhere, but I thought if I stay behind him at least I can't lose him. But in the end again - the last 10 minutes - he is just buggering off doing his own thing. So I just pointed him out to the dive leader and then left him and looked after myself, swimming with the rest of my group."

"My best dive partner was a girl called Aleisha. She was married and on her honeymoon and it was the night dive and we got paired together and she said she was scared and I said 'actually I am too, but it is an irrational fear - there is nothing to be afraid of - you are just convinced there are big things around and behind you.' I asked her, 'would it help if I hold your hand?' and she said 'that would be good' and I said 'good - because I want someone to hold my hand!' (laughter.) And we got in the water and for fifty-five minutes we never let go of each other. It was so reassuring to hold this woman's hand. She was filming and we both had torches and we were surrounded by sharks. Absolutely surrounded by them. And none of them were more than four or five feet in length, but they were unbelievable as they hunted all around us. We had these big fish swimming around us and even through our legs. I saw one of our group hit one shark on the nose when it got too close! The sea bed is just alive at night - for that's when many of these fish start to hunt. Aleisha was a great buddy and a very reassuring hand!"

   

   

"The food on board was brilliant. We had this chef called James from Ipswich in England. He'd lived in Australia for so long he sounded more Aussie. He didn't know I was a coeliac before I got onboard. I'd taken some snacks with me, but I basically told him on the first day. After that he did his very best to cater for me - he went the extra mile to give me a separate this or a different that. He got me a pudding at one point - and I haven't got a sweet tooth, but because he made the effort I ate it and he even waded through some trash to check if the hash browns were gluten free. So that was great and the food was phenomenal. Which is important. For all you do onboard is eat - you literally get up at 6.00 - 6.15 and you have first breakfast and then you dive. You come back on board and you have second breakfast - which is a big 'f-off' full English. And then you go and do another dive. And then there is lunch and you pig out massively because by then (if you are not sea-sick) you are absolutely starving. And then you do a dive in the afternoon and have a drink and a snack afterwards and then another dive before the evening meal. And people are then knackered, because you have been swimming and diving and have gotten up so early - so usually people go to bed around 8 or 9 o'clock."

               

             James in the kitchen              Cassie and Charlotte           Dive Captain Jack (Sparrow)

"That said, I stayed up til gone 11 last night and it was such a good group of us left up and chatting. Jess, Danielle, Dive Captain Jack (Sparrow), the French brothers and a couple of the English crew Cassie and Charlotte. Jack was looking through our feedback forms. So I said to him. 'OK Jack, you've got our feedback. What about you giving us some feedback? What are we like compared to most people who come on this boat - you know - have we been good, bad or ugly?' And he sat down and he looked at us all and he said 'I can honestly say that my dive crew and myself think that you are amongst the best we've ever had. You've just been phenomenal. There's been no issues. No problems. You've all been courteous, considerate, friendly, funny and open. You've not had a word of complaint. We've enjoyed working with you.' He said 'sometimes my staff end up in tears because some of the people we have on board are such gits.' So we all went to bed feeling very good with ourselves."

       

"So this morning they got us up early again - 6.15 - for first breakfast. We were supposed to have packed last night, but my little cabin, with two bunk beds and four of us in there (two girls and me and Riley) was a pig sty. Nothing to do with me - just the consequence of four people with lots of bags in a tiny space. So I thought - there is no point me trying to pack whilst it is in this state. I'll let the others get on and just keep out of the way, but as soon as we finished first breakfast I had to get on with it. Then it was time to go on top deck for a final group photo, farewells, hugs and kisses and a couple of certificates for those who had completed their Advanced Open water training. Then it was time to clamber into the tenders so they could take us to Lizard Island. We landed on a white sandy beach of this island which is used by scientists to monitor the barrier reef and is currently having repair work done to the runway facilities and buildings after storm damages and floods last year. We all went paddling and then Jack said 'come on - it's time to climb to the summit' which we did. There were ants all over the forest trail path. Loads of them and everyone was getting bitten by them. Some people were walking up there barefoot. I was doing it in shoes and socks and I still got bitten! I've got red dots all over my feet from these ants. Anyway, we reached the summit and looked down at the bay and our beautiful boat before heading back to our little white beach cove. A little boat arrived carrying second breakfast for everyone. Bacon, lettuce and tomato baps all round. Meanwhile James had prepared me a large salad box filled with various salads, sauces, strips of beef and bacon. I said 'hey there is no fork!' I was only joking. So Jack radioed the main boat...and someone came out on one of the tenders, holding a single fork aloft in the air like Excalibur - all the way across the bay to deliver it to me. I felt like a right bloody princess! I said to Jack 'I can't believe you really sent for a fork - I told you not to bother! I was only joking' Everyone laughed, so I said 'where's the knife?' (laughter.) They didn't send me a knife!"

    

                    Just delivered me a fork!

"When we finished eating we had to walk across the island to get to the runway and actually part of the island was submerged because last night was the highest tide ever. So we all waded through mangrove filled salt water. We ended up at the runway and these little Cesna aircraft landed one after another - four of them. We all boarded and flew back the hour and ten minutes due south - flying over the barrier reef and Port Douglas which was an amazing sight before landing in a blisteringly hot Cairns."

   

                             The runway and on board our little Cesna flying to Cairns 

   

   

  

Apologies for the rather breathless commentary. My audio diaries came out as a bubbling tumble of words without the grace of editing. But you can tell I had the most magical time. My dive log book is crammed with details of depths, times, water temperature (did I mention it was 25 degrees?), visibility and so on - be grateful I am not transcribing that too. 

The Great Barrier Reef is simply awesome - what a privilege it was to dive and what a great bunch of people.

Thank you everyone.

Paul

x

                                         

Cute as Hell or Out to Kill You?

Wildlife in Oz is remarkable. God must have laughed his whatsits off when he put this menagerie of weird and wonderful down under.

I saw dozens of creatures during my time in Australia. Box jellyfish and white tipped reef sharks, kangaroos and koalas, snakes and spiders, echidnas and kookaburras - all creatures great and small. Some could kill me, some I wanted to adopt. Here's a few for you to enjoy.

            

               A hot tasmanian devil                                                           Two sleeping koalas

    

    

    

    

                                   

                                          

No animals were injured during the production of this blog posting - though I did nearly stand on a couple!