Seven Tenths

I have always been a water baby. I could swim before I could walk and grew up spending huge amounts of time in pools and lakes. As a kid, I used to paddle around in even the chilliest water until my lips turned blue and my parents forced me to get out of the pool. Nothing much has changed (except that I'm not so much of a fan of cold water anymore) so my love for water activities added to the fact that seventy percent of the world is under water had us asking "how can we do a trip around the world without checking things out down there"?

Every Christmas, Rich and I give as a gift to each other some sort of fun activity that we'll do together over the coming year. Last year it was Mandarin lessons, this year it's our PADI Open Water Certifications - and what better place to get certified than the Great Barrier Reef?

After two days of pool and classroom time, we were ready to hit the ocean for our 3-day liveaboard boat trip to check out one of the world's most famous diving spots and do our open water dives for our certifications. I think we're hooked. After 8 dives we couldn't get enough and actually decided to add an extra certification to get the most out of our trip.

Our Adventure Diver Certification included a night dive, a deep water dive and a photography dive (hence the fab underwater photos). It's harder than you might think to take pictures underwater. Your subject usually stubbornly refuses to stay put, the background sways in the current, you sway in the current and you have to get really close to get enough light into the lens - all the while trying desperately not to scrape the entire first layer of skin off your body with the coral.

The night dive was eerie but cool. The colours were obviously less brilliant but learning to navigate in the dark was a pretty interesting experience. At least it's alot easier to find the boat - just look for the light!

Our deep dive was also a really different experience. At 30 metres you can really feel the pressure. Colours are distorted (green looks like yellow) and air gets so compressed that full pop bottles completely collapse inward. When you dive that deep, you also run a greater risk of getting "narked". Nitrogen narcosis isn't really dangerous long-term but you can feel pretty euphoric and the things that you might do in that state can be both funny and dangerous (like trying to give your regulator to the fish). I guess that's why you have a buddy (as long as they're not narked too...). A couple of people in our group experienced it and provided entertainment for the rest of us. We also got to drink a Coke underwater, which I'm assured tastes like yummy syrup but tasted alot like seawater by the time it got around to me. Pretty cool anyway though!

Our experience left us feeling pretty excited about diving. We saw loads of sharks, stingrays, a lionfish, a huge crayfish, clownfish (you know, Nemo!), gorgeous coral and sea plants, and all kinds of beautiful fish that we Canadians usually only see in an aquarium. Too bad diving is usually associated with a boat ride of some kind. At least we managed to alternate our seasickness so that we could take care of each other - a perfect match for diving buddies. Let's just say that there was much Gravol and ginger consumption over those 3 days and, even with all of that, I still managed to "feed the fish" quite alot on our second morning dive. They were pretty happy with that. Actually, once you get off the choppy surface and down a few metres, it's fine - but the waves shaking your body around in every direction all at once combined with a few mouthsful of salt water and it's goodbye breakfast.

After getting off the boat, it took us a few days to get our sealegs back and to stop dreaming of being under water. I actually woke up one morning trying to do a regulator retrieval since it wasn't in my mouth... Hmm. I wonder if you can get delayed nitrogen narcosis...

Diving aside, Cairns is a really cool place in its own right. In some ways it reminds me of Vancouver. There are rainy humid green mountains, there's ocean and there's a pedestrian friendly downtown core. We 've actually taken a break from camping to stay downtown (and to have a break from sleeping in and packing up a wet tent). It's been a really chill time. We've been able to just wander around and endulge in a gelato or a drink here and there on a terrace in the evenings. It's also croc country and we've taken the opportunity to check out these prehistoric looking beasts. My favourite thing about this city, though, is that I got to meet up with my cousin, Eliza, who I haven't seen in a couple of years. She's in England and Rich and I are a bit all over the place so we don't see each other much. I was so psyched when I found out we were all going to be on the same continent! We're hoping we can meet up again soon and maybe do an awesome diving trip together.

After a little break on Long Island in the Whitsundays to do a bit of snorkeling (check out my sexy stinger suit - needed to protect us from jellyfish), hiking, eating and sleeping, we were off again to do some more diving. This time, at one of the world's best wreck sites, Yongala. This site was the driving force behind getting our PADI in Cairns. It is so highly regarded among divers that they still get excited talking about their experience there. We were not disappointed. We took a quick boat (30 minutes) from Ayr and managed to avoid the 3 hour trip each way from Townsville (thanks Bec!). Holy crap. There are almost no words to describe this experience.

The S. S. Yongala sank in 1911 with all 121 passengers - there were no survivors. So, this is an aquatic gravesite as much as it is a marine wonder. It felt special to be there somehow. People lost their lives right there and the wreck has been left respectfully unadultered. You can see where the washrooms were and the dining room and there are still human remains in areas. Aside from the human tragedy marked by the wreck, the site is truly amazing for the marine life there. Because the ship sank in sand, there isn't much around it for fish to hide in - so they all hide in the boat. There were more fish than free space and in all colours of the spectrum. We saw sea snakes, tons of turtles, baracuda, all kinds of little colourful fish, sargeant fish and loads of amazing coral and seaweeds. The most amazing things we saw, though, were the Queensland Giant Grouper and a bull shark! The grouper, was as big as a car with eyes the size of a human head (no exageration). I had to blink my eyes to be sure I was really seeing a fish that size! As for the bull shark... wow. Apparently, bull sharks are the 3rd most aggressive shark in the world and are responsible for several attacks on humans each year. I can't believe it's safe to dive with them. How cool are we? Or stupid... One way or the other, it was our favourite Australian experience so far. We felt very privileged.

Since then, we have picked up our friend and traveling companion extraordinaire, Sam, shaved Rich's head (he did it to entertain us one evening when we were bored in Coff's Harbour. Isn't he great? What a keeper. I love the new look too!), and checked out the dolphins in Port Stephens on a huge catamaran with nets on the front and sides so you can get right near the water. Dolphins swam right under me! It was so cool! The sun was shining and there was no sea-sickness. A very good day.

Then the circle was completed and, after several months of traveling around this amazing country, we arrived back in Sydney. It's been great being here with Sam since she hasn't seen this city for over a decade and has been keen to check out some of the things that we missed the first time around. One of my favourites has been Max Brenners Chocolate Bar. There are no words to describe the decadence of the things we tried there. Among other things, I had a milk chocolate Italian thick hot chocolate. Oh. My. God. I now actually believe the scientists that say that chocolate and sex release the same chemicals in the brain. They really should serve these things up in private rooms. As you can see, Sam also gets pretty excited about chocolate.

Now we're saying our last goodbyes to friends and family (this is Rich with his sister, Andrea), organizing ourselves for the final few months of our trip, sending packages home, taking care of selling the car and all kinds of other administrative things. It's busy but we're still having a blast and looking forward to the next chapter!

Life is good.