Scuba Dave

Nope, I didn’t misspell ‘dive’ in the title above. I put Dave on purpose, because Dave did such a good job scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef last week. He probably wouldn’t want me to tell you all, but I am going to anyways because I was so impressed.


Before we left on our 5 day liveaboard, Dave had completed his 4 certification dives, and then only 3 other dives. We were scheduled to do up to 14 dives on the liveaboard, at 3 or 4 dives/day. The conditions on the Great Barrier Reef at this time of year do not make for easy diving. Because it’s winter, there can be a lot of wind, which means choppy waves and swell.

We certainly had swell and choppy conditions. The boat was rocking so much at some points, you had to hold on not to go flying across to the other side of the boat. We even had to cancel the trip across the open ocean to Osprey Reef for the shark feed because the conditions were too rough. When we were diving, the boat was usually fairly protected from the swell by the reef. However, it was still choppy and rough on the surface.

It was also a little bit cold – particularly our spot on the boat, which had to be the windiest spot on the whole boat. Even though I love diving, I had to psych myself up to put on my wet, cold wetsuit and then sit in the wind before getting into the water. Also, on the last day, the visibility was pretty terrible (the bad weather I guess had stirred things up.)

Despite all of these trying conditions, Dave completed every single dive (13 – they had to cancel one night dive because of bad conditions) and really did an excellent job. He was very calm in the water, and often saw things that I didn’t. He made me very proud, (which is good, since I was his instructor!)

But, onto the exciting part – the diving! We saw wonderful things out there, including Minke whales, which are sort of like overgrown dolphins. They’re attracted to sounds and things and people, so they came over to the boat, and we were allowed to get out and snorkel with them. It was pretty awesome.

Underwater, the sea life was great. The coral has to be some of the most amazing I’ve ever seen, and we saw lots and lots of small and large things. We have a number of pictures up, and have some great video from the trip, so when we get back, we’ll be happy to have some viewings. We’ve already watched it several times, and just love it!

It was my first time on a liveaboard, and I have to say it was pretty good, especially considering the cold, windy diving conditions. Essentially, you go for a dive, eat, dive, eat, have a nap, dive, and then eat. If you go to the Great Barrier Reef to dive, I think the liveaboard is the only way to go. The reef is not really that close to Cairns, and the best, healthiest parts of the reef are generally the furthest away. To give you some idea, we left Cairns at about 4 or 5 in the afternoon, and we made it to our first dive site the next morning after motoring out there all night.

I’m not sure if I would go again during the winter at the Great Barrier Reef (we went when we did because it is Minke whale season, so now that we’ve seen them, I think we can go when the weather’s better!) But, I am excited to do another liveaboard at some point – we keep hearing how wonderful places like Borneo are, so we’ll have to see how we go.

But, I’m pretty thrilled to have had the chance to dive the Great Barrier Reef. It is huge and unlike any other dive sites I’ve ever been to. Essentially, you’re out in the middle of the ocean – sometimes you can’t even see any land or other boats. Yet, there’s a mooring, and if you follow the line down, you arrive to find an incredible array of life. Pretty sweet! You can see some of the photos from the trip here.