Diving into the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia

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January 7, 2010:

I'm not much of a water person, much more enjoy a mountain hike than a dive in the ocean. That said, the Reef is an amazing natural phenomenon, and I couldn't pass the opportunity to see if myself. 

I joined about 100 others on the Down Under reef tour boat (catamaran?) by 8 am on Wednesday. As we pulled away from the marina, we listened to the briefing of what we should expect from that day: we'd be going about 30 nautical miles away from the coast (about 55 regular miles), and we'd be making two two-hour dives at two different reefs. However, the part of the briefing that stood out the most in my mind was the mention of the potential hazards / dangers: the deadly box jellyfish, potential of seeing sharks and sting rays, being left behind by the boat, and the potential panicking with the diving equipment, etc.

Already a bit nervous, I sat in on the scuba diving briefing. The company gave us the opportunity to quickly learn to scuba and go under water for five minutes with an instructor. If we liked it, we'd give the thumbs up and stay down there longer (and pay later). Otherwise, they'd bring you back up. 

Right away I knew that scuba was not for me. I don't know if it was when they explained how to clear water from the breathing apparatus, when they told us the tanks weighed 35 pounds, when they explained how to remain calm and clear water if it got in your mask or mouth piece, or when they explained how to behave if you did see a shark or other large marine animal down there. I made the decision that I'd rather learn to scuba in a pool before jumping into the ocean with all that gear on for the first time. My choice was to snorkel. 

They stopped the boat at 10 a.m. - and we couldn't see land in any direction. The water was not as clear as I had envisioned - you couldn't see through it. They opened a hatch from under the boat - fish food. Soon, we saw all these colorful fish come to the surface to eat. One type of fish was a thin, 2-3 feet long, and with a pointed front with shark looking teeth. It was called a Crocodile Moccasin, or something like that - but apparently not dangerous. Not sure I bought it, and was wondering, "where did these come from, and what else is down there that either doesn't like this food, or is waiting to eat these fish."

Everyone began jumping into the water from the back. I had rented a wetsuit, as it supposedly helped you float and provided some protection from the jellyfish. Was it dorky - yes. But I didn't care. I was looking for anything that gave me some confidence. 

I waited for others to jump in, and soon I slowly stepped off the boat - in the middle of the ocean. Not the strongest swimmer, as soon as I entered the water I began to kick furiously to make sure I wouldn't sink. I'm sure it looked funny, but I didn't really care. I quickly relaxed and found that floating on my stomach was not going to be that difficult. And, when I put my mask under the water, the view was really, really cool. All this colorful coral being used as an obstacle course by so many colorful fish. It's what I had seen in photos. 

I swan around for about 40 minutes before I decided to take a break and get back on the boat. I thought I was getting a leg cramp, and was like 50 yards from the boat. Within a minute of stepping on the boat, I got really sick - like, I fed the fish from the upper deck sick. At least I felt better. I waited a little while and went back in the water for another 20 minutes. Before we left, the crew made sure to count and double count everyone. We ate lunch as the boat took us to another location. 

We got to a new spot, and I was now feeling confident. I was not going to go with the wetsuit this time around. I jumped in, and put my mask under, and couldn't see anything. It was deep, and we had to swim about 20-30 yards away from the boat to see the underwater life. I panicked. I wanted to float easier, so I jumped out and put the suit back on. By this time, the sun had broken through the clouds and the sunlight hit the coral, making it even brighter. So much of the coral was high up from the ocean floor that you couldn't tell how deep the water really was, until you got to the edge coral and then you could see the drop off and the scuba divers way down there (were told they were between 30-50 feet down). 

After some time, I had had enough and got back on the boat. At one point, a scuba diver surfaced and from the water yells out that that he's seen a shark down there. Within seconds, about 10-15 snorkelers splashed their way out of the water, while others jumped in to go searching for the shark. I was happy watching this from the second deck.