Finding Nemo: whitsundays & great barrier reef

We had a day and a half to do 800k till Airlie beach. From there we left the next day for a 3 day sailing tour along the Whitsunday islands, my first big meeting with the world heritage great barrier reef. We entered Apollo: a retired competition sailboat who has many victories on his name. I helped raising sails to head off far far away from the mainland. We first started snorkeling and it was amazing how many fishes we could see in the clear water. The reef was stunning and the little beach where we could have a quick rest to clean our masks from fog was made out of old coral that had turned into stone. It was a masterpiece by its own!  I was surprised the most by Elvis, a 150y old rastafish moving slowly his big body through the reef. He didn’t seem to care to go on the photo with me and looked me in the eyes with his I don't care attitude. 

We changed our snorkel for diving gear to get our introductory dive. Tom, the dive instructor took Phil, Norman and me under water without almost explaining anything. But I felt pretty much at ease. I enjoyed the sound of the breathing apparate and felt one with the reef. I started even looking forward more to my PADI course in Cairns. The sky was blue and the weather was even so good that there was no wind to sail. And with a dozen of Swedish girls tanning on the deck we had nothing to complain about.  

 

 

Elvis

 

The Boss

 

Swedish friends

 Giant Clamb and Coral
 

The engine took us to a small “beachstroke” for a sunset with goon and crackers under a red bathing sky. It was an amazing trip. The next day we woke up while the captain was already driving for 2h to one of the top 10 beaches in the world. Whitehaven beach was pretty white but after seen whole Australia I was not really impressed at first. I know..  #spoiled. The captain parked the boat behind the corner of whitehaven to pull out the ropeswing by sunset, waiting for the Barbie to heat up. When the sun went sleeping the full moon appeared from behind the mountain. We took the zodiac to take a walk to the viewpoint over Whitehaven. The perfectly full moon shining her light on the flat water, showing a staircase to Whitehaven was so impressive that I could stay there the whole night.

 

 

 Whitehaven Beach
 

Barbie on the water

 

Amazing staircase to the moon

On our way back the last day weather changed and sails were raised. Heavy clouds and rain passed by and we could raise the sails again to make the Whitsunday experience complete. Satisfied I said goodbye to Apollo, hoping to make it back another time…

Ropeswing x 4

Norman the ropeman

Phil and Norman sadly left south again, but Marlene, a German girl from Noosa wanted to join me to Cairns. After a free bbq and free goodbyepizza in Airlie we left in a big thunderstorm. Our first stop the next day was taking the ferry in Townsville to magnetic island. Not much to say: it rained for two days. We had one bushwalkshower and were too late the next day for the koalas. But still we had a good time there relaxing at X-base.
Coming back from the ferry my beloved Van didn’t want to start anymore. I had to let him tow away to the garage and we were stuck in Townsville for another two days. Since they couldn’t tell on friday how long it would still take we quickly booked the greyhound to Cairns the same day. I had to hurry up to get to the garage, where I had 10min to put some stuff together which I thought I needed for the next days, weeks, or ...I didn’t know.  I took my backpack and had to run to catch my bus to get to greyhound. I was loaded way to heavy to run to the bus stop, sweating all over, and off course it started to rain. Knowing that this joke would
probably cost me more than 1000$ and no idea when and how to get my car back from Carins (400k more up north) you could say it was not my favourite day. Why me? Why now?  #deja-vu. :-(

 

We arrived around 9pm at the Gilligans hostel in Cairns. I was in a bad mood and wanted to relax on my bed and have some rest. But when Marlene and me arrived in our 8 dorm there were around 15 people sitting all over and the giant speaker in the corner told me sleeping was not an option in this room. So we started drinking and went for the G-spot downstairs. (That’s just the name of the club). The next day we recovered to get drinking again in the night. My Denish friends Mads, Matias & Chris also arrived in Cairns to have some fun! I guess this is why most backpackers love Cairns.

I like to party, but I had a greater mission. Cairns is one of the best places to access the top attraction in Australia: the great barrier reef! After my rehearsal on the Whitsundays it was time for the real stuff: a 5 day dive training in the brand new 5 star Pro dive center to obtain the worldwide recognized PADI open water dive license on one of the best diving spots in the world. This is it!
The first day in the swimming pool was all about making us comfortable in the water, getting to know the gear and checking if we could swim. I first tried the T-rex, but ended up with a black uno! Day 2 we practiced the procedures and signs for setting the gear up, going down in the water and, clearing masks, Of course we also had to know what to do in emergencies like when you’re out of oxygen. Finally on day 3 we went out on the Pro Dive 3 boat for 3 days far away from any mainland. The first dives were part of the course and we had to do some exercise and emergency skills, but after completing the license we could go with my buddy “Aya” without instructor. Since we had to do 9 dives there was a tight schedule: eat, sleep, dive, repeat, eat, sleep, dive, repeat… The food was really good and the pro dive crew knows what they’re doing. Sam was a great instructor and explained everything very well.

The diveteam

Logbook & timetables

It might be a cliché, but we know more about the surface of the moon than the bottom of our own ocean. I cannot tell how it feels to be under water, it’s a totally different world. Although thousands of visitors explore these dive sites every year, the ocean still covers many secrets. It was amazing to see all familiar and new underwater life and get so close to them: turtles, clown fishes, stingrays, white tipped reef sharks, lionfishes, see cucumbers, hermits crabs, glass schrimps, triggerfishes, X-mas worms, spangled emperor, moon jelly, maori wrasse, Cuttle fish, Clambs, celestio phildelia, see star,..

 

Divebuddy Aya & a pineapple sea cucumber

Giant Clamb & Coral

 

Nemo the clownfish

 

Barracuda

Stingray

Maori Wrasse

Turtle

 

 
On day 2 after dinner a special dessert was waiting for us. At 19:30 the sun was down and the lights of the boat attracted many fish and made it a great place for sharks to hunt for a snack. We witnessed a lot of sharks swimming around the boat and all of a sudden they went for an attack on the fish. But we didn’t come here to stay dry. We started to get ready to do a nightdive! Weaponed with a torch we jumped into the water where the sharks were swimming around us. Deeply hidden in the reef was a turtle sleeping in a cave. Without exaggerating this turtle was around 2m long!! He was huge!

Cuttle fish

White tipped reef shark

In the late hours we had some relaxing time and also the captain needed to work his flexibility after driving the boat the whole day.

The Captain doing Yoga

 

Diving opened a new world for me. The experience of breathing under water and discovering a whole new range of life you didn’t knew about before concludes what travelling is all about: “Trying to explore the world and the more you’ll see, the more you realize you haven’t seen anything yet.”

I would like to thank the amazing crew for this unforgettable trip, with special thanks to the sharks for not eating me. Cheers