| Diving at the Great Barrier Reef |
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During the middle part of my trek through Australia, I enrolled in an open
water diving course which involved me taking 2 days worth of classroom and
pool skills, as well as 3 days and 2 nights of live aboard boat open water
diving. The location could not have been better. The outer
great barrier reef was just spectacular. I Not only completed my
open water certificate, but I continued to do my advanced level, which
included night dives, and deep dives (around 30 meters or 100 feet).
I am now certified to dive to 40 meters, and made a total of 8 open water
dives on the reef. WOW!
Look who I found. This was a prize winning photo. I think it involved a bit of luck. Hi Nemo!
This is the boat we (30 of us) lived on for 3 days, about 100 KM from the shore of Cairns.
There are lots of hand signals to know under water. I am saying "Everything is ok"
This is one of the several sea turtles we saw. This one is about 4 feel long. On the night dive we saw Brian, a giant 7 foot long turtle.
This is a Staghorn coral formation. Some of these "forests" can be huge. We're very careful not to land on them as they are delicate.
This is a giant carpet anemone, larger but similar to the one I have in my large tank at home.
The dive team wet
The dive team dry plus our young friend Floyd Just 12 years old and one of the best divers.
I was lucky to get into the school of Yellow tip Fusiliers. These are very playful fish.
This cabbage coral is about 8 feet wide. Dozens of fish were living in it. It looks greener than it is because of the depth.
Yup. Identical. Andy and Josh. Probably 2 of the greatest people I've met. Not bad divers either.
I also got a neat opportunity to swim in this school of black Tang fish (surgeon fish) They are called surgeon fish because of the razor sharp spikes on their tails.
This is another photo contest entry photo. This blue giant clam is about 5 feet wide. I was snorkeling.
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