Super human

Me, Liana, and Madeline before we got on the boat.

It has always been a dream of mine to be able to breathe underwater and swim with the fish. I’ve tried snorkeling before, but I have always wanted to scuba dive. Could there be a better place to scuba dive than the Great Barrier Reef? I can’t think of one.

I have been looking forward to this day since the trip was booked. Originally the girls and I were just going to snorkel. However Michelle, Liana's family friend got us 20% off snorkeling at Poseidon, so we decided to give it a try. When in Australia…

We woke up bright and early, and were picked up at Dougie’s a little after 8 in the morning. It was a short ride to the boat, and then we were welcomed aboard. They had a spread of breakfast food to eat; my personal favorite was the muffins. They were apple cinnamon I think.

What is the hand signal for shark?

After filling our bellies with the delicious food we filled out some paperwork, and the lesson began. Herold was the trusted instructor in charge of, as he likes to call it, 'keeping us alive.' He taught us everything we needed to know before the dive. We learned how to equalize our lungs and ears as well as how to read the gauges if for any reason something were to happen to our instructor. Perhaps the most vital information we learned dealt with communication underwater. I can't believe the thought never occurred to me, but we couldn't talk through our equipment. We were tested on the material, and then we were ready.

The boat ride lasted only a few minutes longer than the actual lesson. By the time our dive came I was ready to jump right in. The instructors helped to suit us up, and then we were pushed in. I volunteered to be the first of new divers to take the plunge; I had been waiting for this since we arrived in Australia.

Perhaps I was too eager. Once I was submerged under the water I began having a panic attack. Another fact about scuba diving that never occurred to me: You can't breathe through your nose. I immediately swam to surface in hopes of breathing in the salty air. Instead I drank heaps of salt water.

The instructors could give us all the information we needed to learn to dive, but there was no way for them to teach us how to breathe underwater. After I finally pulled myself together I realized all the new divers were watching. We were too far away from the boat for them to know what I was saying, but I'm sure half of them would've quit right then if they heard the fear in my voice. Then I thought to my own friends, specifically Madeline.

Madeline, me, and Liana just before the dive.

She already expressed her fear to us before we stepped on the boat. I felt like it was my duty to prove everything was going to be okay. If I didn't and quit right there she never would've gotten in the water. I still don't know how I got used to breathing through my mouth, but I guess it comes to do sink or swim. Unfortunately, Madeline couldn't bring herself to scuba dive. Thankfully she was still able to snorkel.

Liana and I continued with the dive and went down a rope to the bottom of the ocean. It wasn’t very deep, but it was still hard to equalize my ears. That translates to popping my ears. The dive wasn’t very long, but we got to see a lot. It was amazing to see the reef from that far under water.

Sadly the reef is dying, and we didn’t see the Finding Nemo colors. The reef actually looked brown, with a few parts of green and blue. The fish were more colorful than the reef. We aren’t sure, but the girls and I suspect that they can only take people to the places of the reef where it is dying. This way there isn’t substantial damage to healthy reef. It was still amazing to see even if it wasn’t technicolored.

The sea cucumber felt like slug.

After our dive the boat took us to another dive location. This time Liana and I joined Maddie on the snorkel. It was similar to the scuba dive only it wasn’t nearly as hard. We still saw some cool things, but it looked the same as before. I definitely wish I could’ve gone deeper, but my snorkel kept filling up with salt water. I swear I can still taste it in my mouth.

Hoping to get rid of the taste I decided to give lunch a try. I had lost the girls on our snorkel and headed back to the boat where they were waiting for me. We got out of our wetsuits and went to get food. It was delicious, but I was ready to swim again.

The boat took us to our third and final dive location. Liana brought out the underwater camera we had bought a week earlier, and we were ready to go. We swam around taking pictures of everything. I didn’t want the day to end, but sadly it did. The boat took us back. I found the ride relaxing, but poor Liana got seasick. Thankfully once we got back she started to feel better.

Our day wasn’t over just yet. We went to a nearby restaurant that is known for a having a giant fish that lives under the dock. We saw a part of it and it was huge.  After we realized that was all we were going to see, the girls and I thought it would be a good idea to go back and shower than go out for dinner. On our way back to Dougie’s we ran into our friend Conner and invited him out to dinner. We got Cocina Mexicana, and then went out for drinks after.

Port Douglas closes pretty early compared to what we’re used to so we headed back around 11 and went to sleep. Livin’ the Aussie dream.

Cheers, mate.