Lion fish, Tiger sharks, and Barracudas, Oh my!!!
Diving the Great Barrier Reef has been a bucket list dream of mine for awhile. I’m not really sure exactly when it started but I remember flying over it in 2013 and telling myself that eventually I needed to make it happen. Well here I am four years later getting ready to do just that. In planning this trip, I knew I wanted to do a multi day dive trip. The multi day trips take you out to the outer reef where there are more fish and coral and less human intervention. I also knew that it might be pretty pricey but seriously, how often do you get the opportunity to dive the Great Barrier Reef. Originally, I looked at being a ‘hostie’ to cut down on the cost, but that didn’t pan out like I had hoped and I think it might have been for the best.
So here I was at 0545 in the morning, anxiously excited for the 0615 bus that was going to pick me up from my hostel to take me to the boat that I was going to live aboard for the next three days. Everybody on the bus had the same giddy anticipation, minus one or two people who you knew right away had to be very experienced dives. Once we made it one the boat, we go our quick orientation. This is a no shoes boat, don’t sit in the galley with wet swimsuits, and it’s a requirement to have fun on this trip. After that, it was pair up with someone with similar experience, and enjoy breakfast for the next three hours as we make our way to the reef. After breakfast, we mingled around a bit and got to know the people that we were about ready to know really well for the next three days. It was all pleasantries and “where are you from”s until I pulled out a deck of UNO and then everyone became themselves, and fun competitiveness and rivalries began.
A few hours later we were told to come up on deck for our first dive briefing. Martin our dive guide, with his thick German accent and dry sense of humor, educated us on the reef layout and instructed us on where we should go. This was a no hands-holding expedition. They were tossing us to the sharks from the beginning and we were so excited.
Internally though I was a bit nervous, ok freaked out. It had been six years since I last dove and my dive buddy is admitting to me as we are putting our stinger suits on, that he sucks at underwater navigation and was relying on me to get us back to the boat. Great, no pressure, it’s just like navigating in the air right? RIGHT!?! Externally I’m like, “No big deal, I got this!” Internally there was some really colorful language going through my mind. So we got all suited up, ushered out to the back dive deck and into the water we went in sets of two.
The first dive for both Mateo, my dive buddy, and I was more of a refresher dive; get comfortable in the water, swim around a bit, and once we finally felt that we had our stuff together realize that we could look around at the colorful world we had just entered into!
Words cannot describe and pictures just don’t do it justice, the beauty of the reef. There are so many bright vivid colors and interesting animals.
Funny Story. Initially I wore two 3kg weights for buoyancy. I don’t weigh that much so two should have been just fine. But I find myself on my first dive literally swimming with my feet in the air kicking down the entire time. Two weights is definitely NOT enough. Once we got out of the water, Martin jokingly asked if I burnt the bottoms of my feet. Ha ha. Thus, Fatty-McFatster here get three 3 kg weights.
The next two dives were similar to the first, with minor route changes. It was just nice to have the freedom to find your own comfort in the water. Plus, I got to see my first shark up close (6 feet away) and personal!!!
The last dive of the day was our first night dive. I was a little nervous about this one. Ok really nervous! The last three dives had done a lot to make me feel more comfortable in the water but there was just something about going in the water at night. I mean how far can you really see? I know this might be slightly irrational but I have this fear that a giant sea creature is going to come up from the dark abyss and just “chomp” …. Mmmm human snack! Or sharks! I’m going to be swimming around with a giant flashlight telling every little beast and creature within 100 miles that, here I am! Ok, enough with my irrational fears, crappy result of an overactive imagination!
So we get all suited up and I have my wetsuit on this time (and a fourth weight) because I was slightly chilled the last dive and we line up like little ducks in a row waiting for our guide. Thank goodness that all first night dives require a guide. At least this way I get to follow someone who seriously knows what they are doing. I’m fourth in line to jump in. I get in the water no problem, start descending down the guideline (a line attached to a pylon at the ocean floor used for mooring dive boats) and about three meters underwater Mateo starts frantically tapping me on the shoulder and motioning that my tank slide through its harness and is dangling between my legs. I know Mateo has reseeded tanks before so I’m not worried when he starts finagling with my tanks but then I see the three guys in fro of me start to disappear into the dark in front of me, begin slight panic. I don’t want to move too much because it makes it harder for Mateo to reset the tank but how do I let the others know to hold up. Quickly our guide, Kim, realizes I am holding up the show and comes to ask if I am ok. I reply yes but before I can point to Mateo and my tank she give me the hurry up and continue signal. Right as she does this Mateo taps me on the shoulder letting me know that he is done, whew, good. I don’t want to hold this show up any longer. My heart is definitely beating right now. In my haste to turn around and continue down the line I someone manage to knock my googles against something letting in just enough water that I am annoyed.
I should point out, at this point that in the Growler I am used to getting positive pressure from the oxygen mask, which means that air is generally blowing in my face. In scuba diving, this is the opposite, you have to purposefully breathe in to get O2. Normally this isn’t an issue but after flying various jet aircraft for the last eight years, a scuba tanks always makes me feel like I can’t get enough air. Add this to the already anxious situation and you have what I call a stress-puppy. At this point I’m just trying to keep up with the blue fins and flashlights in front of me (those 2 small dots on the left of the below pic).
Did I mention it’s really dark at night underwater. I try to look around but honestly I don’t see much more that 3-5 feet on either side and I’m only really looking around to make sure I don’t run into a coral balmy. This comedy show continues though, as we continue to swim along the water in my mask is slowly rising. Even with my multiple attempts to clear my mask, more water is getting in the mask. I finally give in to just not trying to do anything else. I can see and every time I try to clear it, it just makes it worse. Kim is way ahead and I’m afraid that if I stop, then I will be left behind. Now I just have to make sure that I don’t accidentally breath out through my nose, otherwise saltwater gets in my eyes and they start to burn and tear and there’s not a darn thing I can do about it. Thirty minutes later I start to see the spotlight of the boat and realized that my own little hell is about to be over. I have survived this personal battle of being uncomfortable underwater in the dark and not panicking (too much). I feel that each time you overcome a personal battle like this, It’s an achievement. God doesn’t give you what you can’t handle and he knew I could handle this. It was just a lesson in patience and calming myself down in stressful situations. While it wasn’t a great first experience, I was proud of myself. Proud of overcoming the tank issue, proud of dealing with the water in my mask, proud of dealing with my irrational fears of deep ocean sea monsters. It also made me more determined to rock the night dive tomorrow. I was not about to end this trip with a bad night dive.
Went to bed that night rattled but happy. I made it back to the boat safe. The irony of the situation is that I could have made that last statement in my other life and probably would have felt about the same.