Swimming with the Fishes
Trip Start
Sep 10, 2008
1
34
71
Trip End
Sep 03, 2009
Cairns,
Queensland,
Australia
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Cairns itself is a little tourist town. Considering this is one of the main gateways to the Great Barrier reef, the beach leaves a lot to be desired. The water is far from pristine. The council have in fact built a lovely lagoon for this reason, free too use and right next to the sea, the lagoon offers welcome relief from the scorching heat when the sun is out. It even comes with some white sand and ice cream shops
Cairns Lagoon 1
. My main reason to come to Cairns, and in fact, probably Australia, was to get out onto the reef. With my sailing trip booked and underwater camera hired, I was looking forwards to setting sail. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't on my side and I managed to pick one of the stormiest days to go on. It rained for most of the day, causing us to spend a lot of time driving places trying to find somewhere where it wasn't raining. Most of us didn't mind, but some of the group were suffering from the choppy sea conditions and having to spend most of the time hanging over the deck in the pouring rain. We eventually managed to find a spot where the sea was calm enough for us to snorkel and where it wasn't raining. Plunging into the sea we swam through huge shoals of fish and over big chunks of soft coral. I spotted a reef shark swimming below me. I wasn't sure if it was likely to bite me, but figured that if it was going to try to eat me, it would have probably done it already. I reckoned I was a little bit longer than it, and as such, probably wasn't a convenient size for it to eat, so I watched as it darted in and out of the coral. I was however, slightly relieved when it swam away into the distance.
After a lovely lunch, we moved on through the rain to another spot
Yes, the weather really was this bad!
. The weather was again, a bit better here. Just as well as it was time for me to try to scuba dive! Having never done this before, and having no knowledge on the subject, I was a little nervous. We had to practice a couple of drills on the boat, clearing our masks and mouthpieces, and again practice them just under the surface of the water. Taking a few breaths on the boat, my breathing equipment made a rattling noise. Asking if it was meant to make that noise, the crew said probably not. Slightly concerned, I asked them what it was and they told me it was broken. Slightly alarmed by this I asked them if it mattered, and they said probably not. Not entirely reassured, I headed into the water.It was a lot easier and less scary (at first!) than I thought it would be. I found the breathing to be fairly instinctual. It was very strange breathing under the water. Our instructor took two of us towards the reef. You see so much more when you can get this close to the reef. I have to say, I did find the diving challenging. Without even knowing how to control my buoyancy, I really struggled to swim lower and felt a bit panicky as the other two went out of reach until my instructor altered my buoyancy a bit, allowing me to swim lower. You feel very powerless, as you can't speak. You also spend half your time concentrating very hard on not swimming into the coral which gives you painful stings and cuts! On the other hand, its like entering another world, so far away from the one we live in. Life is a lot simpler and free. I can definitely why see why diving appeals to so many people.
