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