Day at THE Reef

This morning started off fairly rough. Physically I mean. The last day or two I've been feelin' a little spotty when it comes to my stomach. Maybe swimming in Milla Milla falls wasn't such a good idea, that water was bloody cold!
But, some pills, some toast for breakfast and I was ready to start the day which began with a quick shuttle ride out to the marina where I was guided down the wharf to the Tusa III. The first two tusa's didnt' fair so well, but they weren't on the reef tour. ;-) lol
It was a smaller boat, only 28 passengers and 6 crew, while some of the other tour boats will take out as many as 150 if not more. ya, totally picked the right boat to go on, they even provided milk and muffins which I whuffed down. Apparently my stomach was doing much better!
Our dive instructor went through the list of all the possible horrible things that could go wrong and leave us dismembered, paralyzed or dead (cheery fellow) and then got us to sign our names to the waiver.
The morning was glorious! I mean, it's been raining pretty much the past 5 days or so, very ugly nasty weather, and finally on probably one of the most important days of my trip, it's beautifull! very clear blue sky, bright sun to fight of the chill of the ocean breeze, and low winds, a perfect day to be out on the reef!
It was about an hour and a half hour boat ride out to our mooring near the reef, and about half of that was spent on a relatively quick "learn to dive" with adrian. Who by the way, is one kewl dude and he was my groups dive instructor. Elizabeth and meagan, along with our fearless captain Brett were a lot of fun to be around, and who knew rather a lot about the reef. Brett showed me the various controls, gps, radar etc of the "bridge". What a kewl job, go to sea, dive, snorkel, entertain tourist, and get paid. ya, wow.
The basics of dive over with, how the regulator works, emergency surfacing, equalizing pressure in the ears and we were set to go. I sat up top next to the cabins chair and enjoyed the clear views of Cape Tribulation and some of the cays and real islands viewable on the horizon. Again, a beautifull day! (i had really missed the sun for this so-named "sunshine state")
As we approached our floating bouy the reef was cleary visible as a darker... mass beneath the surface, with lighter colored pathways of clear ocean water running between it.
My wetsuit i was given was a tad too small, kinda like having a permament wedgy, but i made do, there were fellas there bigger than me crammed into the next size up, so i was content to have the suit i got. Besides, with all the hustle and bustle of getting divers geared up, going through the safety checks yet again, i was easily distracted.
I was in the 3rd group, and it seemed like an age before the other two were geared up and in the water, but finally it was my turn to take a seat at the back with the two others of my dive group. A 5 pound weight belt, a fully primed air tank, a little de-fogger in the mask attach the fins. Insert regulator, hold mask securely to face and one big step out into the blue! The water was rather warm, and the sun made the visibility underwater really good.
To ensure that all the intro divers could hold their own we began at a bar right on the surface, our instructor decreased the buoyance of our vests and down we sank. Once a few feet (maybe 2 meters) under the waves we had to demonstrate our ability to clear our mask of seawater, to clear our regulators of water and then to check and see if we were able to equalize the pressure in our ears. The first two were cake, the last one for me was a struggle the whole dive, but i made do. What's a little discomfort for a chance to dive on teh Great Barrier Reef?
Well, with the precautions out of the way our instructor led us into the depths of the ocean floor (30 feet maybe, so 10 meters) and we began to explore the corral. The amount of fish was startling, along with their colours that even at that depth were vibrant. It was a tricky thing remember to not hold my breath and just breath normally, but as long as you weren't thinking about it, it was easy. Granted my jaws got a little tired having them clamped on the regulator... but hey, my first real dive, ok? lol
We swam around for a good 20, 30 minutes, the limit of an intro dive. But were were able to see a wide range of corral. I can't really name them all, hard to have an underwater guide, words don't do so well under the sea, the extent of our communication were simple handsignals, like "A-OK" and , well, no, that was about it. lol
It's hard to describe the dive, it was exciting, to be in the middle of everything, the coral below you, on both sides of you and all the various forms of life swimming right around you, often close enough to touch. (though the fish dart away rather quickly)
Probably my favorite sight was this rather large (giant) clam. It was a varying shade of purple, and it truly stood out from its surroundings. Apparently the algae etc that life on the surface/living part of the clam give it it's colour. The thing easily could have fit a car tire within it's mouth, and passing your hand over it disturbing the water around it would cause it to close rather quickly. It was fun to see.
All to soon it seemed like the dive was over, and that i was trying to haul that big lug of metal (the empty air canister) up the back of the deck. It was exhilerating, but once the excitement wore off you start to notice the lil aches from the wetsuit as well as the slight ache in the legs from the swimming. But i'd do it again in a heartbeat, and next time take my own underwater camera. ya, sigh, no underwater photos from me, but the dive ship did have it's own pro photographer. She did some superb work and i bought two photos of myself off of her. I can't uplaod them here, but i will upload a few others i took.
After the dive, we headed off to a cay (basically, dead corral, filled with sand, that ahs become an island) for lunch. Chicken, grapes, fresh bread, ham, rice and potato salad. It was very revitalizing. With my new found strength i went snorkelling amongst the new reef area and again saw a wide range of life. I'd even swear i saw a reef shark sleeping beneath a corral ledge, but i'm not entirely sure
The colours were brilliant, all the various forms of fish swimming around were entertaining. Even saw a school of squid. Those little boogers are fast!
But the parrot fish was one of the most common, or atleast most attention getting, with it's bright colours and how it would ignore you till you were almost upon it.
Man, totally awsome, defenitly the best part of my trip thus far. The sun, the waves, the reef, the crew and the rest of the gang, it just all fit together.
I'm pretty much bushed. catching a flight into brisbane tomorrow and meeting crystal. Leaving at 5am to get to the airport, so going to crash very soon.

update pics of me actually in the water etc when i get to brisbane. but adding pics to the last post.