Scuba Diving in the Land Down Under

Hey all,

Hope things are well back in the US. It is really rough getting on here in Australia, lots of sunshine, nice 80 degree weather, beautiful beaches, plenty of activities.

Last Sunday I flew from Brisbane/Byron Bay area (the end of my surfing journeys) to Cairns, which is in Northeastern Queensland, right on the ocean. It is a nice, laid-back beach town with a ton of diving and snorkeling tourism. You can also get to the rainforest from here which is north of the city in Daintree National Park and Cape Tribulation - an area well know because it is where the "Rainforest Meets the Reef." Seriously, the reef up at Cape Tribulation is right next to the beach and the rainforest goes right up to the sand. Much of the land is preserved and it certainly is breathtaking. But, i digress...this entry is about scuba diving.

On Monday, I got picked up by Deep Sea Divers Den and ventured off on my 3 day, 2 night journey to the Great Barrier Reef.

First, we got on a ~65 ft boat with 30 other people and powered out to the reef (Norman Reef) which took about 1.5 hrs. I thought we were just being transferred to the larger live aboard boat, but we actually started diving on the smaller boat. It was mayhem, there were 20 -25 people trying to put on their wetsuits and dive tanks. Then they said: "OK, find a buddy and jump in, if you want a divemaster it will cost you $15 per person extra." Huh? I have never been diving where they just throw you in the water without a divemaster, but whatever, the current wasn't too strong and they were willing to send out the small inflatable rafts to pick you up after surfacing. So we did 2 dives on the smaller boat, then got transferred to the massive liveaboard where we did 2 more dives that day. The last dive of the first day was at night after they started feeding the sharks offshore. We then did 4 dives the next day - i skipped the night dive in order to "snorkel with the sharks."

Yes, this comment requires a bit of explanation. So the first night, while they were preparing us to do the night dive, they started feeding the sharks (with leftover bits of dinner). By the time we jumped in the water, the sharks weren't around, we could only see a few off in the distance. So 3 of us decided to investigate the opportunity of jumping in the drink directly with the sharks. My roommate (Tim) and fellow scuba diving buddy (Matt) asked the manager of the boat to let us in with the sharks. He explained the process and told us we could do it. We didn't exactly jump in with the sharks, frankly they would have been scared away if we did. So we were allowed to lay on the large diving platform at the back of the boat and they lowered us into the water. We had our masks on and snorkels in and had the cameras ready. We stayed in the water for a good 15-20 minutes while the crew threw bits of food out right in front of us. There were at least 100 fish and 3-4 sharks that had a feeding frenzy at the back of the boat (right in front of our faces) as the rest of our boat mates looked on. It was quite intense and the sharks got comfortable enough to get quite close. These were standard 5-7 foot reef sharks that technically can rip us apart, but realistically are not going to cause any harm. There is no need for a cage unless you are bleeding, holding fish in your hands, or feel the need to provoke them. Needless to say, this was the highlight of the diving trip and you can view the video of the sharks feeding in front of us at the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS7_Sh2_1TI

The diving trip was a great experience with a variety of enjoyable people. I am now back in Sydney partying with a few friends (actually won a bunch of money at blackjack last night as well...yeah, at 4:30 am) and will head off next week on another set of adventures, some alone and some with my travel buddy.

Later

dave

Heaps of Roos!!!!!

After a long hiatus, it is finally time to re-initiate the blog. Honestly, writing this blog from Australia is more difficult than previous locations (believe it or not) since there is nothing shocking or cultural about the experience, so i will serenade you with humor (or at least make an attempt). I was originally going to make the next blog entry a synopsis of Asia travel - but it is too late...and was also considering writing about living "at home" with the parents in NJ - that is just humorous, especially trying to go out in NYC from the burbs - what a mess. But the time is right for a proper Aussie blog entry!

So you will get a lesson in Australian language and other tidbits of Aussie-appropriate information.

Language lesson #1: (perhaps there will be more to follow over the next few months):

1) G'day Mate: Everyone know this phrase and loves to make fun of it. But let's examine the details more closely: G'day is pretty obvious - means: hello, what's up, nice to see you, or if your name ends in a vowel and you are from NJ it simply means - "OOOHHHHHH" - with some fantastically guido handshake or thug hug thrown in
Mate - another Aussie and British specific phrase (also common in NZ and South Africa too) that means: friend, buddy, bro, "hey girlfriend", "you my n$%&a", and of course the inimitable jersey special: "OOOOHHHHHH"

2) Heeps: Part of the title of the blog - I am sure you are scratching your head - "Heeps of Roos?" - what on earth does that mean? Well listen rocket scientists - Roos are Kangaroos - yes, we have seen a bunch of them. Specifically the Eastern Grey Kangaroo and they are the Aussie equivalent of North America's deer population. Very weird to see them, so crazily different to what we are accustomed to.
Oh yes, Heaps - that was the confusing one. In Aussie speak - heaps means: lots, many, tons, a variety.

3) Thongs: Seriously, these are flip flops. It was suggested that I bring my "thongs" during the first weekend and of course I naturally started making jokes about the leopard prints that i had, etc, etc - they didn't really understand the joke (also not a surprise). Flip Flops - ok - just one of those weird things over here. Like "Double-fisting" in the US refers to drinking 2 drinks at once and in Australia and the UK...well, let's just say it means something I can explain on an individual basis.

There are likely lots of other phrases, but these will do for now. Will write in for any other hilarious phrases at a later date.

Aussie Culture 101:

Seriously, not much to report here. This is almost as ridiculous as saying "American culture." Unless you consider packing a lipper, frat parties, rap music or the oxymoron of educated yet ultra-religious people culture - it is safe to say we adopt much of our culture from other parts of the world. Probably baseball and football (known as gridiron over here) are some of the more defining things that are "American". Australia is very similar to the US or the UK in terms of the people and the city vs. countryside dynamic. "Culture" over here is best explained by surfing, rugby, Aussie leagues football, and obviously the accent.

Not knocking the Aussie people or experience, just trying to give you a sense that this trip is really more about adventure than anything else...don't get me wrong the Aussie trip has been a blast so far and I am happy to avoid a language barrier and am not terribly interested in spending more than a minority of my travel time learning about cultures anyhow.

The majority of the last week over here has been spent surfing. Had a good weekend crew from all over the world for surf camp (pictured above: Italy, France, Germany, US, England) and am now about 5 hours north of Sydney with a group that takes you to find the best waves for surfing. The first weekend I did fine getting back into the swing of surfing (catching waves, etc) but yesterday I got absolutely crushed. The waves were really intense - they didn't look that large, but had a lot of volume behind them. I am beyond the beginner surfer stage and have pictures to prove that I know how to surf for real, but yesterday was crazy. Took me 4-5 hours of surfing to get a proper wave and not get crushed into the sandy bottom. Was fun though - i wasn't going to leave the beach until i rode a wave all the way through...but I have never been tossed around like that - even in the hurricane induced surf along Costa Rica last year.

Hope everyone is well. Australia is a great place thus far. People are laid back and know how to enjoy themselves. Will be surfing then scuba diving for the next week and will head back to Sydney to meet some mates (see - good use of Aussie vocabulary). Later

Dave