I left the hostel at half past 6, having had a cereal breakfast and reached the pier for 7am. This was before Calypso camera shop was open, and was the time that the bus was scheduled to leave the hostel for the pier, so I'm glad I chose to walk.
I checked in, which was enough time for Calypso to open, and went in, managing to be the 2nd customer in line. Everyone in the queue was shown at the same time how to operate the camera, while we were presented with paperwork to fill out for the shop's own insurance purposes. I selected the package which cost an extra $10, as that gave me insurance against accidental damage of the camera, and also gave me a backup of the photos I took for up to 2 months after I returned the camera.
I boarded the Passions of Paradise boat, and was presented with more forms to fill in regarding safety for snorkeling and liability disclaimers, and was asked if I wanted to Scuba dive or not (for an extra $70). I said I had never dived before and wasn't certain, and they advised that there was a 10 minute introduction skills bit where you could decide if you wanted to proceed or not after that, so I decided to go for it - this was going to be probably my only chance to scuba dive at the reef, so I decided I would be insane not to!
I was given another form to fill out, since Scuba is more dangerous than just snorkelling, and saw a note that mentioned about flying after a dive, so I check up on that, and discovered that I could only take part in the first dive, as you can't go on a flight within 18 hours of a dive, due to risk of getting the Benz.
During the briefing for the scuba dive, one of the girls t seasick and had to leave the cabin, but the essential equipment part had been covered so she was still ok to dive.
After we had all had our briefings, and sorted out our stinger suits and masks, we reached Hastings reef, where the boat moored up to a bouy, and we went out on the dive.
After the skills check, where we had to demonstrate we could lose the mouthpiece and get it back, clear it, as well as clear our masks of water. Nick gave the "OK to go down?" and we set off, Joe collecting myself and the seasick girl.
During the dive we saw two sets of large fish, the first one being near the start, that being a Maori Rass. Seeing the reef up close from a few meters below the reef was quite an experience. I had to keep remembering to equalise the pressure in my ears, but was surprised at how easy it was to breathe. For some reason I had expected to have difficulty due to the pressure squeezing my lungs in but I guess that's what the mouth piece and regulator is for.
On the way back to boat, we saw four Bump headed parrot fish swimming in a line. I am glad Joe was guiding us, as I was somewhat disoriented in terms of where in relation to the boat we were, so seeing the boat I was quite surprised.
The whole dive was about 25 minutes, but it felt much shorter, and if I hadn't got a flight the next morning I almost certainly would have gone out on a second dive at the other location
There was still time at this location to go snorkelling, so I got helped out of the scuba equipment and grabbed the underwater camera, and headed out. Being much closer to the surface, it was a lot lighter and in terms of visual appeal probably slightly better than the Scuba. The thing I was concious of most though was that I had to concentrate on whether or not te snorkel was under water. The technique to clear the mouth piece of the scuba gear of water proved invaluable often - though the advantage of the snorkel is that you can surface to breath in before clearing the water out!
We all got back on the boat and a roll call was made to make sure everyone was signed in. At some point just before this, the crew were shouting for "Mr Wong, is there a Mr Wong here? Please if you are here, you're on the wrong boat!". I'm not sure if this was for real or a joke by the staff to be honest, and it wasn't really made clear!
Once everyone had been marked in on the manifest, two crew members performed a head count to make sure that all the numbers matched and that nobody had gone back in the water.
We were all fed a buffet lunch on the boat. I had left my glasses in a cubby hole in the main cabin, so had to wear my mask to be able to see the food on offer - this amused the staff who took a photo of me - I might have to email them to request a copy of it!
The next stop for the boat was Micklemas Quay and Reef - a location where the reef had sand over it, making a sand island in the ocean. Smokers were advised this was their only location they could smoke (on the beach area), so lots of people took the boat there, making me decided I didn't really want to go there.
I jumped in with my snorkel and flippers, and ended up going the wrong dierection, having been attracted by the reef to my right, only to discover that that was where the boat was going to go, so I had to swim back the other way until they had left.
There were so many fish and corals and colours, I lost myself for the full allocated hour, learning how to free dive with the snorkel, being blown away by the giant clams, and colours and scenes.
On the way out, there was a green turtle, which the divers were able to follow along the bottom - it was odd seeing divers just a few meters below me in the water. The turtle was still there when I came back, or another one was.
I stayed out until we were all called back to the boat, and the crew performed a roll call again. This time they had to do the head count multiple times due to having mismatches, so everyone had to stay were they were for a lot longer than the first time.
Just before we headed off, the crew fed some of the large fishes that had been swimming under the boat as I was boarding - the fish obviously knew what was about to happen. The ones that got almost all of the food were the giant trevalli, which can swim at up to 60km/h, allowing them to out compete the sharks for food. They are the apex predators of the area.
We headed back towards Cairns after having had a great day, and discussed what we had seen. Some of the people who had gone to the beach while snorkeling had seen reef sharks, which made me think I should have gone there after all, but I think I was rather like a kid in a candy shop when I was snorkelling and swimming in amongst the fishes!
Nick recommended that I download or get the "Bob halstead fish guide" or any app that was a "Coral seafish guide"to help me identify everything I had seen - fortunately I had taken photos and video so I could do that at my leisure later.
I settled the tab I had run up (stinger suit and prescription mask), and was surprised when I was advised that it was $88, but then I remembered that I had also had the Scuba dive which was $70! I decided it was well worth it though, and I am tempted to try and find a 4 day course to become a certified diver, which would allow me to go out on my own. I'm not sure if it needs keeping up to date, but I can research that at any time.
There was a man overboard drill, which created some excitement for the passengers - we were all told to stay in the cabin and not climb out of the windows - so of course some people did exactly that - what are rules for if not for breaking!?
Nick then did a presentation about the life cycle of coral and the reef, explaining why be=leaching was happening. Part of the way through this, the ipad that he was using ran out of powe, so I came to the rescue by providing my power block - that's twice it has saved the day now!
One of the statistics we were given that was the most alarming was that 30% of the coral has gone in the last 40 years, which is he highest rate of extinction since the dinosaurs were wiped out. It's likely that tis trend will only continue given how the politics of the governments and corporations are playing out.
We used the sail during the presentation, which helps the company reduce its carbon foot print, since less fuel is needed - i wasn't windy enough today to go sail only, wind speeds only being about beaufort 4 - though that was also a blessing as it had made for great snorkelling and diving and it meant the journey wasn't too bumpy for those prone to sea sickness!
We made it back to the harbour, and I went bcak to Calypso to give the camera back - no damage and so I got my deposit authorisation slip back. I was given the memory card, which was a micro sd inside a normal sd adaptor, which meant it was going to be very easy for me to transfer to the phone - and also noted that the file names were different enough that I could just upload them to the gallery without having to do anything special!
I got back to the hostel, and went straight to the pool for a swim before taking a shower to wash the salt water off and cool down a bit, though having been at sea all day, it wasn't too hot for me.
While I was drying myself off, I rubbed my eyes a bit too much and ended up taking the top layer of skin off them - I'm not sure if this is due to sunburn or some other issue.
I made some dinner, he same as the previous 3 nights, but just as tasty, and sorted out the file uploads and write ups, as well as trying to sort out packing. While I was doing this, I met Nico from Brighton who was going to be in the bed below me tonight. He knew Maisy, the girl who had arrived the night before late on, and they both went off to another hostel to party the night away.
Erik and Bradley arrived back around 9pm and we discussed our day - they had also gone out to the reef today, but didn't do any Scuba diving - both had felt too sea sick to be up for it they said, and also were too nervous about the prospect of all that they would have had to pay attention to. We chatted until about midnight and I went to sleep having mostly packed everything.