Finding Nemo

As I mentioned yesterday, lobby call was bright and early…730am to be exact. We booked our dive/snorkel tour with Calypso. There are so many dive companies out here, it was overwhelming to say the least. I had heard that Quicksilver was the way to go but the concierge recommended Calypso since it only takes 60 people max vs 100.

We got lucky. On our day, there were only 30. Matt was our driver and he actually ended up being my dive master. There were only 3 people diving today….me and another couple. I picked them out right away since the divers had a different color clipboard to fill out dive information. To my surprise, they were from Fresno. And even more surprising, they used to own property in El Sobrante….the next city over from Pinole.

After getting picked up, we drove about 45 minutes north to Port Douglas. Some interesting facts about Port Douglas: this is one of Clinton’s favorite vacationing spots every year; this is where Steve Irwin was notoriously struck by the poisonous stingray barb. Was I concerned? Very. But Matt assured me that it really was a fluke. Another interesting fact is that Australia lost another icon in the same week. I don’t recall the name but he was a famous race car driver. I guess it would be the equivalent to Dale Earnheardt’s loss. Ironically, he died in a car accident.

As we pulled out of the port, we passed by this yacht with a bunch of paparazzi boats around it. Turns out they were filming “Fool’s Gold” with Matthew McConaughey, Donald Sutherland and Kate Hudson. Supposedly, Goldie Hawn and Kirk Douglas were in town as well. Matt, our driver, said he saw Matthew McConaughey in a bar at Cairns and said he was a really cool guy. I heard he was celebrating his birthday out there.

I signed up for 3 dives. I was so excited! I couldn’t believe that I was actually going to dive the Great Barrier Reef. My one goal in diving has always been to spot a turtle and I was determined to do so today.

The divers took off first. I was a little worried because at one point, I didn’t see the wife anywhere. Apparently, she couldn’t equalize and had to come back up right away. Equalizing is when your ears get clogged and you pinch your nose and blow to clear your ears.

While I was diving, Rich snorkeled. He still got to see the beauty of the Reef because coral needs light in order to see the different colors. You can only have sunlight if you don’t go too deep. The Reef isn't that deep so I didn’t go that far down. I think I went about 45 feet. Interestingly enough, Rich saw large schools of fish and get this….a TURTLE! I didn’t even get to see a turtle!

As much as I loved it, I was a little disappointed. I thought this would be the BEST diving experience I would have but it wasn’t. The coral was beautiful but I didn’t see the sea life that I was hoping to see. To date, my best dive was in Cebu. It could be because it was my first one but I really think it was because it was amazingly indescribable down there. There were hundreds of fish swimming with us and the coral was just as amazing. It was also raining so when you look up, you could see the surface of the water being pelted.

The 3rd dive was really scary for me. By that time it was after lunch and the waters got a little choppy. They actually had to take us in a dingy away from our boat so that the current will lead us back to our boat. I’m not a very good swimmer. In fact, when I was training for my dive certificate, I was absent the day they made them swim laps and tread water….much to my relief.

Well, that last dive was horrible. For some reason, my mask didn’t suction well on my face and water kept on getting in. I kept having to blow the water out. Then at one point, the dive master and other diver started swimming against the current to check out a reef wall. I couldn’t catch up to them. They started swimming off and I went the opposite way. I panicked and swam as hard as I could but didn’t go anywhere. I think I used up half my air in that 5 minutes. But he came back around eventually and got me. At that point, I didn’t care about what I saw and wanted to just get back on the boat. I guess 2 dives in one day is my max!

On Rich’s 2nd snorkel site, he actually got a really bad leg cramp in the water and started screaming. A lady on the boat saw him and started calling to others that he might need help. I guess the other snorkelers heard him scream too, and all their heads started coming up and looking around. The cramp was so bad that he decided not to go on the 3rd site. Probably a really good idea.

Regardless, we still had a great time and I can say I dove the Great Barrier Reef!

On the way to dinner, I spotted a couple fruit bats flying in the sky. As soon as I pointed them out to Rich, they just kept on coming. It was dusk and they were just waking up to start their day. There were hundreds of them. I was so amazed I was looking up in the sky with my mouth open. I realized the danger of it, and decided to close my mouth. We tried to take pictures but because it was already dark, they didn't come out. It’s cool to be around nature like that!

PICS: Palm Cove Day 3