August 8, 2012

August 8, 2012

The big tourist draw in Cairns is its other World Heritage Area, the Great Barrier Reef. Even though it has been many years since our last dive, I can’t come to Australia and not see it up close and personal. Aimee doesn’t feel the same urge, so I make my way downtown alone. While looking around for a good parking site, a local tells me to be careful parking under a tree with flying foxes. Their droppings will strip paint. I am in a hurry so I don’t ask any questions. Close to the harbor, I hear lots of screeching noise in the trees above and see things hanging in the upper reaches. Bats! Monster bats! Oooh, that’s what a Flying Fox is. These scary looking things have a dog’s head with jet-black wings. They look like little Draculas.

At the dock, I get checked in and find my dive boat. While filling out my paperwork, I realize that I left my dive certification card at the hotel. Uh-oh. I hope they still let me dive! They do, but they insist the first dive be an introductory one.

Although Cairns is a Reef gateway, it is still thirty-five miles out to the dive site. We are on a large powered catamaran and it is flying through the water. Unfortunately not fast enough with the rough water we are traveling through. I don’t do well on boats so I took Dramamine an hour ago. Apparently I am the exception. One by one almost the entire boat ends up on the back deck praying that we arrive quickly. At the reef, I don a Lycra stinger suit, a shortie wet suit, my Scuba gear and jump in. The cold water takes my breath away. I thought this was the Tropics! I am not sure if it was the cold or my rusty Scuba skills but I immediately thought I was too old for this. I am glad Aimee is not along or I would be worried about her too. I slowly descend the anchor line and try to breath calmly. It was a boring dive with little to keep my mind occupied.

Back on the boat, I can’t stop shivering so I delay my second dive until after lunch. I sat in the sun huddled up for 30 minutes before feeling better. I overheard the snorkeler’s briefing mention giant clams. Thinking I might miss this once-in-a-life opportunity I jumped back in the water with only snorkel gear to take a look. About thirty feet below I saw two huge specimens. Unfortunately I couldn’t equalize my ear pressure to get close to them.

Warmed up by a big lunch, I donned my scuba gear again and went out for the second dive. It was much more enjoyable. The coral was colorful and full of anemones. And giant clams were everywhere. I thought they only existed in movies! They were large enough to easily swallow a child. I swam with a huge blue fish as big as me called a Maori Wrasse, and I saw a poisonous but beautiful Lionfish lurking within the coral.