my first leap

Back in Townsville and being allowed to drink again, Cullen cooked, we ate and we stayed up yesterday night chatting, and drinking G&Ts, nice and relaxing after diving. The last couple of days have been getting to know the people around me, diving and studying.

One such person is Sarah, my roommate from England who told me of her experience at one of the bays, beginning with B that she and her friend was sunbathing on for a while before seeing a guy walking by totally naked. Yes, on Magnetic Island, there is a nudist beach. I would have liked to see this but I didn’t have time. So Sarah thinks I was American from my accent. Nolan, another roommate, thought I was Australian. Others can’t figure it out. I call Adam in Canberra and he didn’t recognise my voice, thought I sounded Japanese – well, the first couple of sentences. My accent must be going a little crazy with all this travelling! If only I can control it. I also got used to intellectual, sometimes heaty, discussions at 8am while having breakfast with my other roommate, Eric from Austria, before we got picked up by Pleasure Divers. And he always offers me a bag of tea so I can dunk my peanut butter and jam sandwiches – thanks Eric!

I was sad to say goodbye to my friends at Pleasure Divers, Dave (who runs the place and is very approachable, friendly and I trust his judgement and expert knowledge), Nina (my instructor, who is friendly and cheerful, who I want to thank profusely for teaching me, looking after me and always making sure I was okay during the whole course), Elona (I think that’s how it’s spelt – the crazy guy from Israel who keeps denying he has a camel back home). They had become like family during my stay and I will miss them. It felt good coming back to Townsville and Cullen. I will also miss my conversations with beautiful Maxine and watch her being playful with sensitive, French, David.

My diving buddy this time was Ben from Canada. Ben is tall, physically fit and moves much faster than I do in water. So I had to keep reminding him, especially for the Yongala dive, to keep an eye on me because if you lose your buddy, you’ve got to go to the surface and find him and it’s all over. Me, with my kiddy fins and short legs, I move slower. And I joked that when I get up, I don’t want to say I only saw one fish – him – because I had to keep up with him. So Ben kept an eye on me to make sure I was by his side and Nina was wonderful; her ‘ok?’ signals were very reassuring.

The boat powered by Adrenalin Dives (very professional and cool people) that took us was much bigger than I had expected but I realise later that other people were joining us. When we were offered to purchase seasickness pills, I thought I didn’t need them because I’ve been on choppy seas and never even felt sick. The 3 hours ride there was great; I sat on the top deck and the waves breaking were fun to ride and the sea looked calm. It was only when we anchored and the waves moved the boat and you had to grab on things or you get knocked about that my stomach slowly turned on me. One girl from the other groups asked me if I was okay. She said my face was white and asked if I wanted a bucket. And all I could muster was a little ‘okay’. Once it was put on my lap, I puked out breakfast. I felt so bad because others had to watch me and feel sick as well, I kept apologising. A couple more pukes and my stomach was empty, my throat sore. After the first dive, we got back onto the boat for lunch. I preferred being in the water because the boat rocked and churned my stomach. I thought lunch would be a good idea. Bad idea. Lunch came back up in a quick burst, every last morsel. And on the way back to Magnetic Island, I was as quiet as a mute, keeping my eyes shut and slept if I could trying not to puke again.

The Yongala Wreck dive was the best I’ve had, which is not many but I got to see a lot. From struggling to see my buddy (1m) to seeing the whole length of a ship covered in corals and millions of fish, this for me was amazing. Before the dive, I made sure I read my book on deep diving and wreck diving (you’ve got to do this for the tests but I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything) because going down 28m felt like the centre of earth to me and because of my ear, I was worried about equalizing so I wanted to know everything I needed to know – you know, you’ve got to be responsible for yourself. But because the visibility was so clear; 28m didn’t seem far down at all and actually the 6.9m in murky waters felt much longer.

Unfortunately, 2 dives were cancelled due to surfer waves and strong current so I didn’t get to finish my Advanced course. That’s okay. I’m just glad I got to see the Yongala Wreck; the other two I can do anywhere but the wreck I can’t. It gives me an excuse to dive in Taiwan or Thailand and I’m looking forward to warmer, calmer seas.

Arohanui! (means big love in Maori, normally at end of letters – thanks Nick for that)

So arohanui to family, friends and babe-magnets (my favourite word at the mo) out there!

***

For Seb: Hehe, the French bit was from David on Magnetic Island. I hope you’re resting well. Are you in Switzerland yet, babe-magnet you?

For Tobias: My ear is much better. The deep dive seems to have got rid of it being blocked every time I got out of the water. I check maye_choo@hotmail.com and mac_jessie@hotmail.com the most.

For Poyi: Good to know you’re reading. Things will be fine. I called your brother today to sort stuff out and spoke to him and his wife (I can’t believe I won’t actually get to meet her) and it’s all cool.

To Veronica: Go girl, go! Thanks for the compliment – well, I’m taking it as one, describing me ‘as a whirlwind that spun in and out of one week in my life and facilitated change in it’ – I like that very much. == kia ora! – ki te pehi a koe? == So the first bit is ‘hello’ I’m guessing but what is the rest?

To Nick: Congratulations on getting A’s for your essays! Go celebrate you super-sized headed man! (To people reading – Nick is a babe-magnet; and a-Shortland-Street-watchers-magnet (most of New Zealand) as well and the owner of a big big big head.

To Everyone else: Thanks for the info on the trees, thanks again for reading and I do try to keep it short.

What is uttered from the heart alone, Will win the hearts of others to your own. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. German Playwright, Poet, Novelist and Dramatist. 1749–1832

Tags: Pleasure Divers, Sick, Townsville, Travel, Yongala Wreck

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 20th, 2006 at 2:57 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.