June 23rd, 2019
Our day started super early to prepare for our 6:30am sunrise dive. All night my ears were kind of plugged and crackly, so I was really nervous about being able to complete this ‘deep dive’. To obtain the advanced certification we signed up for, I would have to at least get past 18 meters (60 feet). Since I had not gotten past 7 meters on all 3 dives yesterday I was really nervous. Failing the course would be terrible! We suited up and got in the water. The instructor knew how worried I was about my ears and even told me before the dive that if I couldn’t do it they wouldn’t charge me for the course which I thought was SUPER nice and understanding since I was already a day into it. We start our descent and for the first time on this trip I’m able to equalize my ears right off the bat. I was so happy and thought this was a really good sign. Everything was good until about 15 meters. One ear would not equalize, and the pressure began to build. It became painful every time I tried to go deeper. I knew I needed to at least get to the 18 meters but the maneuvers I tried were not working. I signaled to the instructor that I couldn’t go down further so we leveled off and swam around waiting to see if I could do it. As we were swimming at 15 meters every 30 seconds or so, the instructor would look back and ask if it was better. I had to keep signaling ‘no’ and was wondering how long he would wait before he had us all go to the surface and have to repeat the dive without me for the other group members. It seemed like forever although it was probably only a few minutes but FINALLY my ear equalized. I was SOO happy! I couldn’t wait until the instructor turned back so I could give him the ‘okay’ signal. When he did and I signaled ‘okay’ he did a celebration dance in the water kicking his feet and raising his fists which is exactly how I felt inside so I mimicked him with my own underwater celebration.
For the rest of the dive my ears were fine, and I was able to complete going to almost 25 meters (80 feet) where we all sat on the sandy ocean floor for some activities. You cannot see the color red at this depth, so the instructor brought down a tomato which was red at the surface but just brown at the bottom. He then shined a light on it so we could see the red color. He also cracked an egg under water and the pressure held the yoke together, so we got to toss it around without the yoke breaking. It was fun and we had a great rest of the dive. Ascending slowly, we discovered more of the incredible reef on our way up.
Our next two dives were really fun also. We worked on compass and natural navigation on one, and then perfect buoyancy on the next. Today we dove at 6:30am, 8:30am, and 10:30am before lunch so it was a lot of in and out of water without much time in between. After our last dive we had lunch and enjoyed getting to know the other 3 people in our group during these 2 days, a couple from the Netherlands and a college student from Michigan. All the food was excellent and so was the crew. After lunch we could go out one more time for snorkel which Brendan did, but I was ready for a break, and dry clothes. There was an underwater photographer with us the whole time and her pictures were truly stunning. They captured how majestic the reef and all the marine life are. I would have liked to buy her pictures so we could share the experience better with everyone, but the price was just too steep after what we had already paid for the trip. However, the beauty of the GBR will be in our heads forever now. After so much reading about how the GBR is dying along with coral all over the world due to rising water temperatures, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Also being a new diver and not having a lot to compare it with, I was just totally captivated by its beauty. It still lives up to its reputation and being one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. I hope as people we can come together and protect these amazing natural gifts on our planet for future generations. I did see some coral bleaching and once that happens it can only survive for about 4 weeks before it will die, unless the water temperature becomes lower. Coral reef only grows between 0.3-2 centimeters a year and the effect of rising water temperature is great.
When it came time to board the other boat and return to Cairns, it was kind of sad. It was such an amazing experience and I feel so fortunate everything worked out for us to dive AND get our advanced dive certificate at the same time. We are now certified to dive up to 30 meters (almost 100 feet!). They gave us wine and cheese on the boat ride home and we enjoyed chatting with our new friends from the Netherlands. Once back in Cairns we settled in for another night of car camping and dreaming of the GBR and the luxury bed on the boat.
What incredible life you are seeing. Love, Nanny
The GBR sounds totally Awe inspiring!! You said on the phone that you were swimming thru “Mountains of Coral” and that the GBR was “the size of Japan,” if you have the name of the photographer maybe she has some of her images online. That is interesting about the egg and tomato, sounds like space. With your new certifications you will have a foot forward toward preparedness for the upcoming commercial space tourism trips. You both look fabulous and comfortable in your gear, experience of a lifetime!