Father and Daughter Dive the Great Barrier Reef, or, That Time I Found My Dad in Oz, or Divers Down Under (the Sea)

Tuesday December 30^th- Brisbane

Finding Gary!

Today, I found dad! Woo! We had a lovely reunion, after a year without seeing each other,  in the Brisbane airport. Originally, when planning the trip, we were going to rent a car and drive up the East Coast of Australia, from Brisbane to Cairns, stopping to dive along the way, and then doing a few dives on the Great Barrier Reef once getting to Cains. 

 

After talking to multiple travel agents in Australia, and thinking a bit harder, and talking it over with dad, we realized that we didn’t have as much time as we thought, and that if diving the reef was to be the purpose of the trip, our best option was, indeed, to get straight to the reef in Cairns. This required booking another flight, from Brisbane to Cairns. We thought, if dad’s flight got in on-time, that we’d have time to see some of Brisbane and fly out in the evening.

But then, dad arrived minus his dive bag- which the airlines seemed to have lost. :(

When I found dad, we had to make some calls trying to sort this out- since losing a bag full of all of your dive equipment, including your dive computer and new prescription mask, really sucks. By the time we sorted that out (still no real work on his stuff- we’ll see, fingers crossed!) it was too late and too expensive to leave the airport and make it worth the money we’d spend, so we hung out in the airport and caught up. I was able to show him a bunch of pictures from my travels since I moved to China, and we had probably one of the best times I’ve ever had in an airport……until we tried to go to Cairns.

We boarded, we heard the security speech (oh my gosh- I have heard that speech waaaaayyyyy too many times lately), and started pulling away from the gate.

Then, we stopped, an announcement about some very official sounding part was made, and we started pulling back into the gate. About 30-40 minutes later, in the sweltering plane, just after they’d served us water, we were told the very official sounding part was actually a big deal- and it was big time broken, so we couldn’t fly. So we got off the plane. I’m not sure that I’ve ever been told to un-board a plane I’ve already boarded, but happy to get off a plane that might not work, especially with all the scary flight stories in the news this year!

We waiting another 30 minutes or so before we were told to change gates, and soon we’d be boarding another plane! EXCITEMENT! By this time, poor dad had been traveling for over 48 hours (including a cool day trip in Taipei, which provided some neat pictures- and now dad knows some fun Chinese culture facts, and he wants to visit more of China)

We FINALLY got in the air and, thankfully, made it to Cairns quickly and safely. Also, we were on a plane with an Australian Basketball team from the NBL- the National Basketball League. And Boy were those dudes tall. And some of them were pretty handsome too.....so of course dad goes: "Hey, my daughter wants to marry you." Insert blushing teenager here......thanks dad.

 We had arranged an airport pick up- for 8:45, but it was 10:30 before we landed, so it took some borrowing of really nice stranger’s phones (this has become a bit of a travel theme for me), and some more waiting, before we were picked up by a friendly Hungarian man who took us to our Air BnB housing for the night.

Just a few hours sleep before we had to be up and at ‘em to get on a dive boat!

Wednesday, 31 December 2014- New Year’s Eve!

This morning, we got up bright and early  to walk to a hostel near where we were staying, to be picked up by a van, to be taken to a bus, to a boat, to another boat!

The views on the first boat were amazing! Mountains, crystal clear and blue water, bright blue, sunny skies, and the ocean was smooth as glass. I barely got queasy! Dad was already right in his element and loving every minute. He especially enjoyed the dive instructors humour.

We’re staying on a boat called the Kangaroo Explorer (how Australian!) and we have a lovely cabin. Our boat has 3 stories- and we’ll be living aboard for 3 days and 2 nights. Luckily, all dive gear was included- so dad still gets to enjoy diving, even though the airlines lost all his stuff.

We’ll be doing 3 dives today. I’ve never scuba dived on New Year’s Eve before- nor have I spent it on a boat- and it has been YEARS since I’ve rung in the New Year with my dad. It’s pretty special that he and I get to share this trip together- and I’m really, really thankful it gets to happen.

Our first dive today was mediocre- the visibility wasn’t the great, and we both had problems with weight belts, so we had trouble staying under as long as we would have liked. That said- it was still an awesome dive! The water is bath-tub warm, and the colors of the coral, even in poor visibility, are vibrant and beautiful. I saw so many colourful and interesting fish! There was even a HUGE barracuda. And we saw sweet sea turtles hanging out on the surface while on the boat.

The "We're in Australia, on a boat, on THE GREAT BARRIER REEF! pictures:

I was pretty exhausted from not much sleep the previous two nights, so dad is currently enjoying the second dive without me.

And tonight, around 7pm, after dinner, we’ll go on a night dive. I’ve done one night dive before- and it ended in a jelly fish sting and near night mares. The things deep

 in the ocean at night at truly terrifying, friends. They glow, and have big teeth, and look like the monsters that would attack children’s nightmares.

Nonetheless- I’m gonna brave it and do a night dive as long as dad is also up for it. Night dives are his favourite. Except all dives are his favourite.

Then, if we can find a cork screw- we’ll open up the wine I bought from the winery near Melbourne and toast in 2015!

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So, we went on that night dive on New Year’s Eve…..and it wasn’t as terrifying as I remember- in fact, I rather enjoyed it! We both did.

After the dive, we went up to the 3^rd deck of the boat and played a good game of chess. Dad won, as is often the case. The waves started picking up that evening, so there was a fair bit of boat rocking as was played. Literally as soon as we finished, I was starting to feel more and more sea sick- and I just made it to the bottom deck before I ended up feeding the fish. I hope hope they enjoyed my dinner. I DID NOT enjoy it the second time, coming back up.

Due to sea sickness, and tiredness, we both went to bed before 10pm. So much for wine and toasting in the New Year!

Thursday, January 1, 2015- Happy New Year

The first dive of the day was at 6 am, with a 5:20 wake up call. Neither of us was up for that, so we went back to sleep til breakfast at 7.

Then we did the dives at 8 and 10:30, had lunch and a nap, and dad did the 4pm dive while I continued my nap, and then did some writing.

During one of those earlier dives, dad got bitten by a trigger fish he was trying to photograph. The fish was not happy about having its picture taken apparently! No worries, it was just a nibble and dad is fine. 

During another dive, dad’s photographic eye saw a great shot and he was trying to get me in position to make it happen. Because of the current under the water, I was having trouble getting and staying in the place he wanted me for the shot. We had a bit of a silent Abbot and Castello skit for about 5 minutes, with dad pointing and motioning, me motioning that I understood- then having to swim up and away, and then around, down, and back, multiple times, and each time, the current pulling me away from the  shot he wanted. It was making me laugh, which makes the whole swimming underwater thing a bit trickier than when you’re not laughing.  I’m sure it would have been comical to watch me not be able to get to the spot he wanted me in for the picture. He eventually did a giant face-palm and we moved on. Sorry dad!

We then both did the after dinner night dive at 7pm. This night dive was not quite as good as the night before.

What was better though, were my sea legs. No puking this time! What else is getting better and better every day as well are dad’s legs. You may know he has bad knees (from college football, knee surgery, age, etc), and since getting on the boat and getting back into diving, he’s been walking faster, and getting up and down the ship’s 3 flights of stairs with increases speed and ease. I’m super proud of him for that- it’s pretty awesome to see!

Dad and I played 2 games of chess, and listening to some fun stories from the local dive masters. Lots of good stories and conversation, and still in bed by 11, because that 6 am dive is EARLY!

Friday, January 2, 2015- Last day on the boat

We both made the 6am dive this morning- and it was lovely. A nice warm-up for the day. Dad and I also took a few selfies underwater, so hopefully some of those come out. There should also be some good shark pictures (yes- SHARKS! Awesome.)

The best dive, perhaps of the whole trip (at least for me) was the 8:30 morning dive. We saw basically everything there is to see, including 3 turtles. The last turtle we saw was either trying to play with dad, or eat him…..but dad had to manuver a lot to get out of the turtles way, and the turtle just kept coming at him. 

Dad is currently doing his last dive.

Since I am flying tomorrow morning (dad flies much later), I had to stop diving. Because of the way air pressure works and all the science-y things about SCUBA diving, you have to have 24 hours of surface time after your last dive before you fly- so, sadly, I had to miss the last dive. Which means, I had time to snap some photos of dad, and write all this!

I can't dive because I have to fly selfie:

Dad is having a great time, and has (hopefully) got some great pictures! In true dad (old)fashinon, he is using a film camera to capture the under-water moments (film, what’s that?!). This should result in better colors and really, really great pictures. The only downside is that (you probably remember this from your pre-digital youth) you never quite know if you got that awesome shot until the film is developed- so as far as pictures go- we’ll keep you posted.

But, the photo reel should include: huge sea turtles, Laurie and Gary selfies in front of various cool things underwater, colourful reefs and fish, Sting Rays, Sharks!!!, barracuda, cuddle fish (like a squid), and a bunch of other awesome stuff. Dad took about 6 rolls of film, so here’s hoping we got some great pictures to send you!

It’s now our last lunch on the live-aboard boat, before we transfer back to the smaller boat that will take us back to Cains. I, for one, will be happy to be on land again, but I’m pretty sure dad could live out on this boat, diving every day, forever.

Ps: Guess what arrived 30 minutes after we got back to our accomdations- on land…..after we were done diving? Dad’s dive bag! With all his gear! YAY! And also- isn’t that the way?