PADI PADI PADI

Hey all...

Well Im sitting in an internet cafe in Cairns and its boiling hot... I feel like I have cotton wool wrapped around my head... My ears are blocked from the diving yesterday... Been the docs and he's given me some antibiotics... and some decongestants.. So if you hear a loud whistling noise and then a mighty pop in the next few days then that's my ears clearing... Apart from this minor annoyance the whole diving experience has been fantastic.

I am now a qualified Adventure Diver...

I spent two days in the classroom and pool - learning the techniques of diving and getting kited up.. Then Friday morning at 6am I was on a boat (Scubapro III) sailing out to the reef... The Great Barrier Reef is about 3 hours out from Cairns and the Journey was cool.. Saw a dolphin and a turtle on the way out... Got to the reef and the water was fantastically clear... you could see the fish over the side of the boat... Got kited up - You dive in pairs.. I was 'buddied' up with a lad called Alex who was in the class with me... Alex is from Switzerland and was a good laugh..

Anyway stepped onto the back of the boat... Did final checks and then looked out to the horizon and stepped out... Well the moment I got my bearings and looked under the water for the first time I was hooked... all the White Shark attack programs I stupidly watched with my house mate Shaun were forgotten - Once in the water you didn't care what was in there as it was so enthralling that you forgot everything...

That evening a few of lay on the top deck of the boat watching the stars and gently drifting in the current... I would of fell asleep if it wasn't for the poor selection of 90's tunes playing through the ships speakers...

The next two dives were exam dives... did tests like removing your mask underwater and replacing it then clearing it, Removing your respirator then again replacing it... sharing air form your buddy etc.. after dive 4 I became qualified... and then Myself & Alex and another pair Eunice and Catherina dived in a qualification open water divers.. Saw some amazing things, giant clams, White tailed reef sharks, clown fish... again too many to mention... We then did a second test for to allow us to move up a level on the dive ladder... Adventure diving. The first test of this was diving at night...

Now, diving at night was at first a nervous experience... not helped by our instructor Dan briefing us about what to do should we see a large shark as they were more common at night... By this point my stomach has turned upside down and I suddenly felt sick... That's when it clicked that Dan was winding us all up... git. So in I jumped and surprisingly it was quite clear & bright underneath... the light from the boat lit up a whole area... Fish at night are completely different.. The predators come out and the day fish sleep. Having just a torchlight to navigate/see by is actually really cool cause strangely you relax more and just take it all in.. saw another reef shark and huge walls of coral all pretty awe inspiring....

Two dives left and the first of those was to 30 meters... Once I had equalized my ears.. I swam down to 30 meters and sat on the ocean floor... There we did some mental tests... At 30 meters the pressure of the water can cause an drunken effect (narcosis) on the brain and simple tasks can become difficult... I then... Had a drink of coca cola from a can at 30 meters below the ocean... And it tasted great...

Not much left... The final dive was off a small dingy, and this time I took a camera... Now my respect for underwater photography has tripled... It was really difficult to concentrate on the diving as well as taking a good shot.. Professional UW photographers have my respect... Got some ok pics... will post them as soon as I fugure out how.... So now Im a qualified Adventure Diver - I am going to try and get some more dives in either Sydney or Auckland...

Off now to sway back to the hostel.. the blocked ears are still telling my brain im on a boat and it feels weird... and off to Alice springs and Uluru tomorrow...

Hope alls well.. Rich.