The diving buddies: Marcello, Jan, Karl, Eva (from left to right)

Pro-Dive Course

Please click on the link above to find out exactly what we just finished. All I can say is, IT WAS AMAZING!!! Some of you may know that we were wavering between taking advantage of a $350 offer for a 3 day/2 night sailing adventure in the Whitsundays, just north of Mackay, and going ahead up to Cairns to do scuba diving. I also may have told you that we met a couple coming off of Magnetic Island who HIGHLY recommended going to do the dive thing and doing it through Pro-Dive exclusively. I expressly remember the woman repeating over and over how amazing it was and how well that company in particular takes care of its passengers and just to go ahead and DO IT!! She could hardly contain herself, and that's EXACTLY how I feel these days when I tell people about the East Coast Trek. Just can't explain it, but it was the best use of my money so far in my life.

We did a 5-day liveaboard-- a diving certification course. It consisted of two days in the pool doing diving theory both in the classroom and in the pool. Our class of about 16 divided up into two groups of 8 and we stayed in those groups until we boarded the boat. Karl, Caroline, Eva and I all started off on the first day having no idea what to expect, just that the Pro-Dive folk would come get us from the airport bright and early after dropping off the car. We didn't know it at the time, but the person who picked us up turned out to be our instructor, Mick!! Mick was absolutely phenomenal both as a person and as a teacher and as a diver. But you can read my little summary of him when I list everyone who was on the boat (or try to).

After going through all the stuff that day and beginning to meet people and get used to the idea of being together for the next four days, we finished up and departed. Caroline went home early because she decided to snorkel out on the reef instead of dive, so she'd gone home to make sleeping accommodations. As it was raining all day, we were extremely happy to find that we could switch our already paid for camping site to a dry, warm cabin.

The next day was huge. We finished up the learning, the sun came out, we had lunch on the Esplanade looking out over the ocean in downtown Cairns, we got our stuff ready for the boat. Everything was so organized and put together that I almost felt like I was in adventure day camp! "Alright kids, stick close together and don't wander too far away because as soon as lunch is over, we're going to head back to camp!" Just kidding, but it was nice to just have to follow directions and not have to figure things out on my own.

That night, we were in for a surprise.... REEF TEACH!!! I was expecting a marine biology lesson about the GBF. What I got was a lunatic Scottish-Australian jabbering away in a lingo I could only partially understand about how to classify fish according to their sharp "fiiiiiiins" and curvy "friiiiiillllls." I learned how knobby coral will "grow and grow and grow and grow and grow and grow... and then it will get too big so it will branch off and that branch will grow and grow and grow and grow and grow and grow and grow........ and that part will get too big and so it will branch off and grow and grow...." you get the idea. The guy was nutso, but if nothing else he verified Bill Bryson's assessment that all Queenslanders are simply, "madder'n cut snakes." The show was fantastic, and surprisingly enough I retained enough information to actually be able to identify a few things down there.

When I call Day 13-17 User-friendly, I mean that this trip essentially had a flat rate for everything it included. No hidden fees like reef taxes. Great food. Excellent instruction. Books and pressure group guides included. Transportation provided. Equipment rental covered. This company has the reputation for being the best, and there's a reason for it. I cannot rave enough about my experience with them.

We left on the Pro-Dive Scubapro II yacht on Thursday, bright and early at 7 am. Another great thing about this company is they get you right out on the water as soon as possible. They don't want to skimp you; they want you to get as much out of the trip as humanly possible. That very day, we beginners went for two dives and had the afternoon to snorkel. We began to fill out our log books to make sure our nitrogen levels were not too high and that we had a long enough surface interval before we went diving again. That night, the experienced divers got to go on a night dive, and we watched their flashlights wander through the deep waters of the reef in two groups. I could not stop thinking about how tomorrow we would be doing the exact same thing... going down into 14 meters of dark, dark water to see creatures that only come out at night....

The next day we did two more instruction dives in the morning-- and then we were certified!!! Mick told us that we could celebrate with champagne-- the non-alcoholic kind of course (for obvious reasons you're not allowed to dive after drinking alcohol). We got to do one more dive that afternoon with our dive buddy-- Karl and I explored together. I don't remember what we saw in that particular dive, but I remember some of the things that stuck out to me overall-- I'll list them below as well.

Friday night, we suited up to get down among the nighttime creatures. We were warned that sharks come out to feed at night. Mick explained that if we see two glowing yellow eyes, under no circumstances should we shine the light at them. They would then go blind and generally head toward the light. If that mistakenly occurs, he went on, we should probably then shine the light on our dive buddy and scoot out of the way. After a peal of nervous laughter, he shook his head and continued with his explanation. If we see yellow eyes a bit farther apart, we will probably witness a dive format known as the pile on-- where everyone just gathers into a big group out of fear of a tiger shark. If we see eyes really far apart, the instructor will already be in the boat, and we're on our own. Mick continued with his explanation when the chatter died down: When we get in, we'll find that the sea bass that hang around by the boat might choose to swim by our heads. They're harmless, says Mick, but they've gotten quite smart. Goaded by our curious looks, he cheerfully explained how these sea bass use our idiotic torch manuevers to locate sleeping fish. Once the light shines on them, the sea bass snatch them up for dinner. Mick warned that we probably should not treat this occurrence as a video game, as we might incite aggravation and maybe even fury in the conservation-minded instructors.

All I know is that I used twice as much air in the 25 minutes we were down there than I would have in the daytime.

I saw little shrimp eyes poking out of the coral, getting ready to go scrounge up some grub or clean some sleeping fish. I saw a massive blue lobster crawling out of his hole in the coral... I could not stop looking at it whilst trying to keep myself from shooting up to the surface. The best thing Mick pointed out was a loggerhead turtle that was about the size of a kitchen table, snoozing under a coral overhang. I used a lot of air, but I wouldn't trade the experience for the world.

That night, Karl stayed up and chatted with Mick and another instructor Christian, as well as Raquelle from Spain and Inger from England. They all had a great time swapping stories, listening to each other and just enjoying the time out on the water. I would have stayed up, but I had to get to my cabin to escape being hit on by one of the German kids!

Saturday was spectacular weather. We got up early to do two out of three of the dives for the day; we had to sit the last one out so we would be able to fly without risking decompression sickness on Sunday morning. Karl and I had our best dives where we saw a white-tipped reef shark and some turtles, giant clams, a clownfish and lionfish and so much other stuff. Needless to say, the three hour trip back was quite bittersweet as we all knew that, once the Cairns skyline appeared on the horizon, we had to face real life again.

Still, the fun wasn't over yet! Saturday night is the night where everyone goes out for one last night on the town. We ended up at the same hostel as a few of the other divers, including Jacob and Christian from Denmark, Christoph from Germany, and another woman who I'm not sure I ever officially met. Caroline, Eva, Karl, Jacob, Christian and Christoph all went to dinner together at one of the backpacker joints for either a free meal or one that's upgraded to a steak for $6.00. After snagging some food, about 25 crew and passengers crowded into the back of Rattle and Hum on the Esplanade to begin a night of fun. I'll post a few pictures, but highlights of the night included a little arm-wrestling fun by one of the couples, getting an underwater photography lesson from one of the instructors, facing dress-code discrimination, and turning up at the hostel at 3 am not quite knowing how I got there. (Don't worry my readers; I think Jacob and I were the only ones who got into the last bar, but we looked after each other and got safely home.)

I'm absolutely positive that this is not a proper rendition of the trip. I can only say that I'm happy I have three other people to reminisce with. We all agree it couldn't have gotten any better!!

Crew Profiles:

Ben: The self-proclaimed Kiwi dive supervisor. A Kiwi is a New Zealander; A dive supervisor is a man who is very very very busy. 27 year old Ben's humor was rather dry, but meshed with the other instructors' humor very nicely. Ben knew everyone's names by the end, better than our own instructors did!! "Briefing on the top deck!" was his most common call, otherwise I would see him bustling about on his way to get something done.

Mick: I'm still not sure I understand this man's accent. He hails from Switzerland, but served in their army (I didn't know they had one!) in special forces and was posted all over the world. He's lived in Australia for 6 years now, and has taught diving for a portion of those years. Now that's he's 30, he's now training to be a helicopter pilot, so who knows where he'll be next? Mick's humor was one of those "Wait a second, did he really say that?" kind of humor which kept all of us cracking up long after he made his comment. This guy takes no shit, expects people to do things right, but definitely puts a little fun in the grab bag as well. I cannot speak highly enough about this man. If he was only a bit younger... (just kidding!)

Nick: The captain. I always picture captains as white-haired men who sit at the controls in their captain uniform and give instruction to the crew. Not this one. Nick is 27 years old, ancestors from Tahiti but has an accent from Melbourne. The man wore sunglasses with a croakie, a t-shirt, shorts and no shoes. His demeanor was a bit stoic, but needless to say, he's a bit of eye candy for the young ladies.

Megan: Another Kiwi, the only girl on crew except for the cook. Unfortunately I didn't get much exposure to her, so can't really comment.

Christian: The German instructor, Christian was a somewhat squat fellow of about 27. His eyes gleamed as he made all too common remarks under his breath. This is the same guy who taught me about underwater photography and that Karl swapped stories with on Friday night. We were all surprised to find out that Christian is a daddy, and that his kid was wandering about the deck when we got back!! Interestingly enough, he did come bar hopping with us that night...

Passenger Profiles:

What we saw