Everybody was up at 6am today for another busy morning. The boat was due to leave the reef at midday and we had three dives to complete by then, plus the necessary breaks to ensure we didn’t exceed our nitrogen limits. It was very overcast and raining heavily, so underwater was probably the best place to be! The first dive involved navigating to and swimming the whole way around a bommie (which is a large area of coral, almost like a huge rock on the bottom of the sea). The surface of the water was quite rough but once we were 2-3 metres down below the waves there was just a mild current, and the visibility was excellent again. On our way out to the bommie Steve and I saw our first Green Sea Turtle of the trip.

While we had breakfast the boat was moved again to an area called ‘Tennis Courts’ on the Flynn Reef for our last two dives. On the first we saw a Titan Triggerfish, so called because when protecting the nest and feeling under threat it raises its dorsal fin in a trigger-like action. Although not particularly dangerous, these fish will chase and bite divers if they get too close. We also saw another Green Sea Turtle and a Pipefish. The highlights of our final dive included seeing a couple of Bluestreak Cleaner Wrasse. These fish stay in areas called ‘cleaning stations’ and, as other fish swim through, they will use their mouths to clean them of unwanted parasites. Sometimes the wrasse will even swim inside the mouths of larger fish to clean the inside! By hovering in the water quite close to the cleaning station we were able to have our fins cleaned for a few minutes. This also prompted Steve and I to do a spontaneous underwater rendition of the Car Wash from ‘Shark Tale’ (Oscar, played viagra propranodol by Will Smith in the film, is a Cleaner Wrasse). This progressed into the ‘Sprinker’ and the ‘Macarena’ – maybe we’d had too much nitrogen after all! On the subject of films, during one of our previous dives we found Nemo – a Clownfish, which is a particular breed of anemonefish. While navigating back to the boat we were distracted by a Hawkbill Turtle and the current took us slightly off course (we weren’t the only ones!) so had a speedboat tow back to Scuba Pro II.

payday loans in belton mo

Once everyone was safely back onboard, the boat quickly left the reef for the three hour journey back to Cairns. This took us straight through a storm and so it was a particularly rough ride. The wind was in excess of 40 knots, and there was a swell of up to 3 metres. Almost everything (and everyone) on the boat was thrown around – saucepans fell out of cupboards, drink cans exploded, part of the ceiling in the dining area fell down, and we exhausted our supply of sick bags. Fortunately I escaped with a couple of minor bruises, and proved that I definitely don’t suffer from seasickness. Overall it was a really good trip from start to finish, and in total I spent about 10 hours underwater on the reef.

In the evening most of the divers and divemasters met in town for dinner and drinks followed by the Woolshed nightclub. While a few managed to keep going until 3am, I headed back to my hostel at about 1am ready for another early start. Tomorrow I fly from Cairns to Alice Springs, right in the centre of Australia.