Birthday diving on the Great Barrier Reef

So, as Richard said on the last post, we're a bit out of sync, and also somewhat behind on updating the blog - too many things to do!

Back to Monday, and it was the big day for me!  I was faced with reality very early in the morning when checking in at Mike Ball Diving - I had to complete the standard form, and one of the first questions asked was my age....  Not a great feeling writing 50!! Anyway, the shock soon wore off when we were brought to the small plane to fly us to Lizard Island where we would pick up the boat.  I got prime position right behind the pilot, hurray.  It was a low level flight, just a couple of hundred feet above the sea, so perfect view of the coral reefs - stunning!

Up beside the pilots

   

Barrier Reef from the air

On board, and after sorting out equipment and discussing diving experience with Craig, the trip manager, we were ready for the first dive.  Unbelievably, I was buddied up with a girl from Comber, a town just down the road from where my parents live, and she also went to the same school as me!  Fantastic opening dive on Cod Hole where we saw some very large Potato Cod and barracudas.  Unfortunately just after that dive I got rather seasick (it was a fairly rough sea) and I was the only one who hadn't taken seasickness tablets - had to bail out of the next dive, and lunch.  Felt much better for the night dive, which was brilliant!!  So much life, it was amazing - highlight being when I was filming a turtle settling down for the night, and was photobombed by a shark!  Heaps of smallish sharks all out hunting with loads of trevally.  Also saw a baby octopus out on the sand - hope it survived the night with all those hungry mouths circling!

Back on board and I started to feel rough again - I tried to have dinner, but lamb curry wasn't appealing, so I retired to the deck for some fresh air.  I was called back to the dining room though - everyone on the boat was gathered to sing Happy Birthday and Darren the chef had baked me a lovely cake.  I only wish I had been feeling more human, because I couldn't even eat a mouthful of it...  Bottle of bubbly was also popped for me, but at least Richard enjoyed some of it - I can't remember the last birthday I had without a single drop of alcohol!

The rest of the diving for the three days was all fantastic, even though the coral bleaching was clear to see.  Also much of the coral has been damaged by the number of cyclones which have hit the area in the past few years - there were a number of the dives where there was massive scree faces of dead and broken coral.  But there is hope that it will regenerate and get back into a better state.