For the scuba diving, there was a separate platform that had an under ground area to allow everyone to get fitted up with gear and get the correct amount of weight to float correctly in the water. It was quite amazing to see the amount of fish life just underneath the platform while I was suiting up. It was very exciting. While suiting up, I struck up a conversation with my dive buddy, Jerry. He was from Santa Barbara, California and over in Australia on business. He is a designer specializing in computer interfaces that are used the cabs of heavy duty machinery. I told him I worked for John Deere in Waterloo and he actually knew where it was and had actually been to PEC. He had done some work with John Deere on the 9000 series cab with someone with the last name of Dunkin. The name didn’t ring a bell with me. This just goes to tell how small the world really is.
Once fitted up, we embarked on our scuba journey. For the first 8 meters, we held onto a rope to help everyone get acclimated to the water and their equipment. Fish were swimming all around and I could see a huge school of fish swimming around on my left side. They looked just like the videos you see on TV, where the school looks like it is dancing and changing formation every second. It was amazing. On my right side was the reef edge, which was a steep cliff with hundreds of different coral and clams attached to it. The coral was all different colors and many different species of fish were feeding on it. I could not believe how many different species of fish there were swimming around. The colors of the fish are beautiful. Also, due to the large school of small fish, there were many larger predator fish swimming around. Some of the large fish were easily the same length as me. During the dive, the guide showed us many things and allowed us to hold onto a few pieces of coral and starfish. On the way back up to the platform, we had to take a 5 min decompression stop at 5 meters deep, which gave our guide an opportunity to feed the fish. He had a little orange container, which the fish recognized instantly. A large swarm of fish that were a little larger than the size of my head swarmed around his hand and around the group. The guide went in front of each of us and let out a few pieces of food, which made the fish go crazy around my head. It was really cool. The dive was amazing and I wish I could have stayed down longer. I will definitely be making a trip back to the Great Barrier some day to get some more scuba diving in.
After the dive, I made it back to the main platform and found Britt. She looked very depressed and said “Oh, it’s you.” I said, “What is the matter? Why aren’t you happy to see me?” She was depressed because she was hoping I wouldn’t come back and she would get the life insurance money to buy many new pairs of shoes and even build a teal house with teal carpets and walls. Sorry Britt, your dream hasn’t come true yet, maybe next time.
I had some plans of my own, since I had watched the dateline episodes and really was hoping to start my retirement early with lots of fishing, golfing and watching football games. As you can see from the picture below, my plan worked……..
Just kidding about all the jibberish above. As you can see, Britt finally overcame her fears and went snorkeling. While on the ferry to the reef, Britt and I signed up for a guided snorkeling tour. The tour was with a real life Marine Biologist. The same type that Britt wanted to be until she found out that a Marine Biologist does all their work in the water. Before our guided tour, I got Britt all suited up with her flippers, mask, snorkel, wetsuit and life jacket. Once equipped, she looked like a professional snorkeler. We met up with our guide and got on the platform. Luckily, the guide had two life preservers tied together, so she could pull her groups along and show them different things along the reef. Britt did not let go of this at all once we got in the water. It took her a little bit of time to get used to her snorkel and kicking her feet, but once she got going she did awesome. The guide took us to various spots on the reef and told us the different names of the fish, coral, and other marine life. It was really cool and it was awesome to finally see Britt out in the water enjoying herself.
Once done with the tour, we got out of the water and I had bite to eat. Britt enjoyed herself so much on the guided tour, she decided to go out on the reef again with me. This time, we had no life preserver and no guide. We got into the water and I instantly found out who would become Britt’s life preserver, ME! Even though, Britt was in salt water, had a 5 mm wet suit and life jacket on, she still thought she was going to go under. She had a hold of me and wasn’t going to let go. One time, I was trying to adjust the camera to take a picture and had to get both hand free from Britt. Once I did this, Britt grab ahold of my back and didn’t care that I was going under. As long as she was above the water and alive, she didn’t care. I finally had to stop doing everything and tell her she was going to be fine and that she wasn’t going to drown. After this, she seemed to settle down and didn’t need to hold onto me. Before I knew, Britt was swimming around the reef like a pro and I had to look around every 30 seconds to see where she was. She was swimming around the reef like mad and taking pictures of everything. Before we knew it, our time out in the water was over and we had to get back on the boat. It wasvreally disappointing for both Britt and I because it seemed like we had just got into the water. I really wished we had more time out on the reef because it was awesome to finally see Britt out in the water comfortable and having fun. I think this may be the beginning to Britt overcoming her fear of water and finally enjoying some water activities with me. Don’t worry Janet, I’m not pressuring her into any of this. The swimming lessons she took at the YMCA before the trip may also have helped her out.
We took about 50 pictures under the water and look forward to seeing how they turn out. Once out of the water, we headed back to Hamilton Island. We were so tired from the big adventure, we decided to take a nap and didn't wake up until the next day, which turned out to be the worst day of the trip....
Britt’s Version:
Ted pushed me in the water Mom. I swear he did! And he told me I’d be just fine and to give him a thumbs up so he could one more picture of me.
Anyhow, I didn’t tell you guys that before we went on our trip, I got up the nerve to call the Y and sign up for some private swim lessons. Although I didn’t really “learn” how to swim, it at least gave me the opportunity to be more comfortable in the water, even go under water, and also practice with snorkeling gear (I bought some from Target for a couple of my lessons). Ted never pressured me one bit, I did it all on my own.
My only regret is, that I wish I could’ve had more time in the water. After I was out there, I was amazed at how beautiful the Reef was and all the different life that exists underwater. Pretty incredible!
Large school of small fish swimming at the surface
Hardy Reef (Part of the Great Barrier Reef)
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