Dive Day 3

We rose at 5:45am to head out for one more dive at the same location of our night dive from the previous evening, but went a different direction again.  This time we teamed up with Christine, since her buddy was doing something with the training group I believe, so all three of us headed out.  We had a great dive, and saw many more beautiful things than I could think to write.  We also had a great dive time, and I went a bit deeper than my buddies, just for a moment, primarily so I could write a deeper maximum dive time down.  I made it to just over 15 meters on that dive.  Christine really enjoyed this one too, and commented that it was her best dive of the trip.

The real thrill was our last location though.  After the first dive of the day, we moved to a new location, one that the dive crew rarely gets to visit, since currents are sometimes stronger and seas choppier there.  But this time, we lucked out, and all was calm, so they decided to share with us the rare delight.  This location was just filled with beautiful swim through caves and canyons.  It was quite deep in spots, so we had to watch our depth.  But this was by far my favorite location.  On our first dive, there was one deep swim through our instructor told us he was doing, but we should not because we would not be able to do subsequent dives if so, due to high nitrogen content that could build up in our blood, raising the risk of decompression sickness later.  But he told us where to find another shallower swim through, a full 20 meters long!  Unfortunately, we wasted too much time seeing the other beautiful things, and by the time we reached the swim through, we were running just short on air.  I entered, but then realized my buddy David was not following, so turned around.  He signaled his air was at 70 bar, the point at which we were instructed to return.  So we sadly skipped the swim through.  We made it back, and had actually exceeded our maximum recommended depth of 15 meters.  I had slipped to 17.2 meters in fact.  I was afraid they would not allow me to do the last dive.  But they said I was ok, and allowed me to.  I asked if we could skip the last intended dive plan, to try the swim through again.  And they said no problem!  So we planned a new dive, to go straight back to the long swim through.  And our “little mermaid” Enya told us not to worry, she would guide us straight there.

When we got in the water, I wasn’t sure we would find Enya.  Several times before, we made plans to meet up with some folks in the water, but once you are under, everybody looks the same in their dive suits, and it is hard to see who is whom.  Generally we would just end up with our buddy, and as long as you are with the person you are supposed to watch, that is all that matters.  But this time, Enya found us, and we realized she was “free diving” without a tank.  She motioned for us to follow, so we did, and sure enough, she took us directly to the spot.  I actually thought I was entering the longer swim through the first go ‘round, but had found one right next to it, which is actually more of a vertical swim through, and shorter.  I was through it in short order, and found David still just behind and not yet in, but motioning to the other long one, our intended destination.  So I followed back, and we entered.  I was a little nervous.  It was really a true “tunnel”, about 20 meters in length, and in spots, quite dark in fact.  However, it was well explored previously by our crew, and I felt confident to enter.  And we did.  We loved it!  It was so surreal.  Once I got a little tangled on the rock in a tight spot, but did not panic or even feel fearful.  I calmly extracted myself, carefully checking for my buddy behind, and we continued moving methodically and carefully.  Soon we were through, and glided gently up the exit, out to the larger reef above.  What a thrill!  What a fantastic thrill!!  We found another one thanks to Eyna’s help.  This was the one where she shocked us by free diving right in front of us, all the way through the swim through!  She had no tank, and it was at least 10 meters deep!  I thought she would point it out quickly and then surface to breathe, but the girl just kept right on swimming, through the thing!  She must truly be part fish.  She also swims like a dolphin, both feet together.  She did look just like a mermaid, frolicking through the water.  Amazing!  

And then, on the way back, we passed the deep one, at “The Gates”, where Oscar had previously dived.  At first I didn’t recognize it, and Enya was in fact telling us to skip that one, but I mistook her motioning to mean we could try this one too.  It was quite short, and very broad, but the problem is the depth.  It was about 21 meters deep.  So although a bit foolish, I did not realize it, and David enthusiastically agreed through signals, so we headed in.  Before Enya could even stop us, we were down to depth!  We went through slowly, with a sense of real wonder.  At that point, I realized we were too deep for recommended maximum depth, but it was too late by then, and we were already half way through, so I figured I might as well enjoy the view.  What a view it was, too.  We glided, floating softly above the white sand at the bottom.  I reached out to touch the sand with my bare hand, lightly running my fingers through the bottom of the deep blue sea…  We were quickly through, although it seemed like it may have been a thousand years I spent there just as easily…  We hurried back up as quickly as would be safe.  Then I was keen to spend a good amount of time on the bar at 5 meters under the boat, for the “safety stop”, realizing I had been too deep.  This is critical to allow nitrogen to dissipate in the blood.  However, I unwittingly was doing something dumber, actually…  I let my air run down to 20 bar.  This turned out to be a violation of Queensland law, in fact.  You are required to surface at 50 bar.  The dive crew gently chided me and warned me I should never do that.  I will know for next time, and was glad this was the last dive, so I could get off without losing any dives as a consequence!  But in the end… it was totally worth it!  I said a prayer that I would not suffer any decompression problems, and indeed, I did not.  I will be more careful next time, but on the other hand, I would not trade that experience for safety, in retrospect.  Lesson learned, but also not the slightest trace of regret on this one…

And so, in a whirlwind, we realized, it was done.  We ate another hearty meal as the boat headed for land.  Within an hour or so, the beautiful mountainous terrain of Cairns and surrounds was large in front of us.  And then, as quickly as it all began, we were briefing for our disembarkation, and packing up our bags to head home.  The crew invited us to dinner at a local pub, which we heartily looked forward to.

When we got back to the hotel, though, we crashed so hard, we completely missed our dinner.  That was one thing I felt badly about.  We had in fact checked with all our new friends, wanting to be sure everyone came to dinner,  but then we missed it ourselves!  Luckily, we got emails from everybody before we arrived, so we did have that.  And in the end, Enya nor Christine could make the dinner anyway, so our best friends from the trip were not missed.  But I did feel badly that we didn’t get to buy a round for the crew we came to love and adore.  So we resolved, the only solution is to return as soon as possible to earn our advanced certification!  And we shall…

Panoramic shot coming back into Cairns

Breifing board for first dive at Thetford Reef, "The Cathedrals", my favorite dive spot, full of "swim through caves"

View of Cairns on return

Mark and Oscar in the bridge

Navigation computer

David, Enya and Oscar

Me and David and Enya - the "mermaid"

Glenn from Newcastle, New South Wales, and Naama from Israel

Nina, the cook

Neils, my late night shark watching buddy, from the Netherlands

Petra, from Switzerland

Lauren, the certification instructor on board, and Enya

Julieanne, from the Black Forrest region in Germany, and Mort, from Switzerland

Mike and Jackie, the couple sailing around the world

Me and David as we sailed into port

Enya's home, the catamaran on the right