We walked to the hostel only to find out that we weren't allowed to check in until 2:00PM. Lovely. Some people were vocally expressing their discontent with STA, who booked our trip...I think alot of people just like to find things to complain about. These are the same people who were going to ask for refunds because we didn't get to see the beach or because the bus was late on the first night...neither of which really mattered in the long run or was STA's fault, if you ask me. I don't know, either I check into my room and go sit by the pool, or I sit by the pool and then go check in, I really just don't see the point in getting worked up over something like that.
Rant over, moving on. We dropped our luggage off and went for a walk. Managing to find a cafe open at 7AM, I ordered a giant burger. THAT's the way to start a day!
We walked over to the lagoon, which was a fresh water pool near the ocean and spent most of the day here.
Mmm, low tide.
Note the UV index. The purple is supposedly what your skin would look like without sunscreen.
We spent all of the morning here, sleeping in what felt like an oven. The Australian sun really is brutal! We walked back to the hostel and I randomly ran into three of my friends from Newcastle University who had planned their own trip to Cairns and had no idea we were staying in the same hostel. (Me: "So, what do you guys have planned?" Them: "I'm not really sure. We just got on an airplane and now we're here.")
We happened to walk past the hostel bar and OMG OMG NFL FOOTBALL LIVE!!!! Monday Night Football, Vikings vs. Saints. The whole group detoured into the bar and we ordered a couple of pitchers and cheered against the Vikings. I guess I always thought of our spring break group as being a pretty homogeneous group, as we were all American, but sitting down to watch the NFL game, I realized that this same group back home would have been as diverse as they come. We had two Packer fans, a Viking fan, a Seahawks fan, a Bears fan, a Chargers fan, a Cardinals fan, and a Redskins fan, all of them from those areas. It was good fun watching Reggie Bush run back two punts, but it wasn't enough and the Vikings came out on top.
At the hotel bar that night, the special was two for one drinks. Someone took this opportunity to catch me sipping on two lemon/lime vodkas. Haha.
Day 13 - Reefquest, Great Barrier Reef, Queensland.
Today's itinerary included two scuba dives and all-day snorkeling. We hopped aboard a very fancy looking boat that it appears I have neglected to take a picture of. We departed Cairns and began the 1.5 hour trek to the Great Barrier Reef. "The Captain presses a button, and Windows 95 will navigate us to the reef"
The divers were broken into several groups, the intro divers, divers doing a class onboard, divers doing a certification test, and finally the fully certified divers. There were about 12 of us total, and we paired off with our dive buddies for the dive briefing, which describes conditions, currents, temperatures, hazards, and the surrounding ocean floor. Here's a map of one of the dives. The boat was anchored near the middle bottom. My partner and I went west and then north, up the "ski slope", and then back around.
Really amazing scenery! Your first dive of the day is always your deepest, and I made sure to go down as far as I was certified, a full 18 metres. I've never been down nearly that deep before, it was cool. Once again, I burned through air faster than he did, reaching the minimum 50 bar when he was around 90. We headed back to the boat and did some snorkeling before lunch.
Our second dive was scheduled for 1-2PM, up to an hour, or when one partner runs out of air. I made sure to ask why I was running through air so quickly. I'm an experienced diver and I know how to slow my breathing, it shouldn't be happening. One of the instructors overfilled my tank to 240bar. I still managed to tear through this before Adam took in his 200, he had 70 left when I was out. I really think I have sports induced asthma or something, making me gasp for air and tear through it faster than Al Roker through an "All you can eat" sign.
The highlight of this dive was seeing two white tipped reef sharks. The first one was just kinda posted up in the reef, watching everything happen. The second, I chased around whilst making chomping motions with my hands. OM NOM NOM!
We saw plenty of clownfish and "little nemos" Some of the fish are really ridiculous colors. There was an outcropping of reef and a GIANT really ugly fish underneath it. I barely even saw it, it was wonderfully camouflaged. Coming upon a school, I noticed that if you swim calmly, the fish ignore you, and you can swim right with them. Very cool!
I went for another quick snorkle, this time going off by myself and lying very still in the very deep, cold water off the back of the boat. While everyone else was studying the same anemones I had seen while underwater, I saw another shark, a family of giant manta rays, and the largest school of fish I've ever seen. I wish I had pictures!
At this time, I went back into the cabin to change back into my boardies. I heard gunshots and saw the captain, who was in his 50's or 60's, playing Farcry, a shooting game, on his laptop. We made small talk until it was time to go. He mentioned that the game allowed you to pilot boats and planes, and I asked him what piloting the boats was like. Haha.
One last shot of the reef. It was really cool to see waves breaking in the middle of the ocean. Haha.
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