Finally the last bus trip I had to take this holiday. Unluckily I ended up sitting next to a 150kg disgusting Aussie who insisted on talking to himself, burping and generally being rude to everybody. So that was an 11 hour LONG trip.

Came to Cairns in the late afternoon and after checking my Lonely Planet book for recommended hostels, I walked over to the Esplanade where I got a room at Hostel 89. Actually a single room – finally some privacy after having slept in 6/8 man dorms the last couple of weeks. I must right away really recommend Hostel 89 to everybody who thinks about going to Cairns. It’s not that the rooms are better than all other hostels, but they got a really service-minded staff, and it is on the middle of the Esplanade.

The reason why I went up to Cairns in the first place was to dive – something that I’ve never done before. After recommendation from the receptionist at Hostel 89, I got booked onto the last seat at Pro Dive Cairns’ 5 day PADI Gold Open Water Diver course. Pro Dive was recommended because they include more stuff in their course, looks at dive security as one of their main goals, and has special purpose built boats where you stay on the boat all time instead of being transferred between boats during the course.

The course started next morning (after pickup from the hostel of course) at Pro Dive’s pool & learning centre. There we started off with learning the basics of diving. Boring or not – it’s something you have to go through if you want to be a certified diver. Our dive instructors were Nic Holmes and Brendon Fredrickson – two cool kiwis. The fun part started in the second half of the day, when we picked out our equipment (snorkel, mask, wet suite and BCD – buoyancy control device).

Walking into the pool and breathing under water through your regulator is a strange feeling the first times you do it. You may not manage to force yourself to do it at all, you may over exaggerate your breathing or you might actually just do it quite fine. After being accustomed to breathing out of a tank, and not from free air, everything goes easier. You start doing exercises under water, such as dropping your regulator and finding it again, removing or filling your mask, using alternative air supply and perhaps most important of all – learning how to communicate under water by hand signals. Without it it would be hard, or possibly impossible, to communicate with your buddy (you always dive with at least one buddy) quick enough if there was an emergency or other situation that requires a quick response. The worst thing for me was probably filling and removing the mask. Somehow I probably think that I’ll inhale water through my nose, and therefore stops breathing. With practice it goes better of course.

Finished the two first days in the pool with a final theoretical exam. The third day we got picked up and driven down to the marina where ScubaPro II, our dive boat, was waiting for us. Onboard we were greeted by the crew that would accompany us for the next 3 days. Will the skipper, Hannah the cook, Ben the dive supervisor, Arno the German dive instructor and offcourse Nic and Brendon. The trip out to Flynn Reef, Great Barrier Reef took a couple of hours… not everybody managed to keep their stomach content inside their body although. Did two dives the first day out in GBR. Actually 24-25 degrees in the water, so not bad being winter! On the bottom we did the same exercises as we did in the pool – just deeper. Great sensation diving among such beautiful corrals and all the fish. Again not something which words can explain. So look at the photos and dive yourself!

Hannah took great care of us all, and really did the course memorable and enjoyable. All you did out on the boat was sleeping, diving and eating. You didn’t have time to do much else such as reading a book or listen to music. Most of us actually went to bed around 8 o’clock – we were dead tired then. Anyway, the food cooked by Hannah was worth every cent of the course fee.

Every day we got awoken around 6 o’clock in the morning, just to take a dive half an hour later. After four 4 open water dives you’re a certified diver and don’t have to dive with an instructor any longer. This gives a good feeling of freedom since you then can look at exactly you want to yourself, take the time you want and do exactly what you want. Offcourse within practical and personal limitations. You also offcourse has to cooperate with your buddy so that you both agree on what to do once you’re under water. It’s much easier to use hand signals when you know what to expect when both divers follow a plan.

The second day we took 4 dives, after the two first we got certified, and the 2 last was ‘pleasure dives’. On the first pleasure dive I rented a digital underwater camera onboard the boat, and I managed to take about 40 photos during the 22 minute long dive. All of these (except some who had to be censored) you can see in the Gallery. Thanks to Craig Stevenson, Scotland, for letting me put up his underwater photos. The last one was a night dive where we dived with flashlights and luminescent sticks. Probably not more than 5 meter visibility, but what a rush. You also have few or none reference points, so you descent much faster than normally unless you watch your dive computer.

The last day we where supposed to have 3 pleasure dives, but I skipped the last one due to me flying the next day (even though I was far within the 24 hour safety limit for diving and flying). The most exciting thing happened on the morning dive the third and last day. My buddy Shawn (Canada) and I were looking at a 2m long Whitetip shark swimming away from us at a distance. Right after it followed a huge steam with probably thousands of blue fish. Just a couple of minutes later as Shawn and I were hovering on the bottom the shark came swimming against us, and was at the closest just 2-3m away. Incredibly sensation that raises your pulse a notch or two, even though you know it won’t attack you unless you threaten it.

So what did I see under water in Great Barrier Reef; many Whitetip sharks, some turtles, rays, Nemo (Clownfish), beautiful purple clams, corrals of all kinds and shapes and lot more as you can see of the photos. I cannot more than enough recommend try diving in GBR as it opens up a whole new world before your eyes. Also use Pro Dive if you go to Cairns (or any other place they operate) – they give you a comfortably, professionally, fun and personal diving experience.

Having problems equalizing the pressure in one of my ear and getting water in it was quite uncomfortable, and still now 3 days after my last dive I still have dots in my ear and can’t hear quite well. Probably because I had a small cold when I dived, so don’t dive when you’re sick.

In the evening of our final day most of us met at a restaurant for a final dinner, beer and drinks to say goodbye. A nice relaxing night at Rattle’n Hum – a restaurant I recommend to everybody (hot waitresses as Nils and I agreed upon!).

My trip ended in Cairns where I took a plane back down to Sydney, where it of course is much colder. Brrrr….
Now that I’m back in my apartment I have offcourse also uploaded all the pictures I’ve taken. You can find them in the Gallery: Great Barrier Reef and Cairns.