So I decided a while back that I wanted to see my own country as a tourist or traveller would. That is why I ventured out to Uluru and Melbourne, but I thought ‘ What is Australia really known for? Why would someone travel here?’ Then I realised I was missing the best bit! The Great Barrier Reef! With the rise of Global warming there more and more pressure to dive it before its too late!
The Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,300 kilometres (1,400 mi) over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres (133,000 sq mi) The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, Australia.
I thought the best way to do this was on a live aboard cruise because most of the best dive sites are very far out to sea. So, before we left on our trip, I decided to fulfil my childhood fantasy of being a Mermaid and I got my dive license. I got it through Pro-dive Coogee, based in Sydney, unfortunately I do not have such a beaming review for them. But you can get your license while on the cruise in Queensland. The course is 2 days and you have to complete a theory test and 4 dives with a dive master, including doing skills in a pool. Not going to lie, it wasn’t easy, but I am very glad I did it. I didn’t want to waste any of my trip studying and doing exams.
What to Expect
Due to time constraints, I decided to start my cruise from Cairns, it is possible to do some great dives a bit North at Port Douglas, but we weren’t able to travel that far. So we arrived in Cairns and headed for the Pro-Dive shop, at the store, they measure you and fit you for all the gear you will need on your cruise and they get you to check in. It doesn’t take very long and the people were super friendly and did not ever try and sell us anything ( this was the opposite of my experience in Sydney). The whole thing takes less than half an hour. Afterwards, we went out and enjoyed Carins for the night but went to bed early because we had to be at the store at 7 AM.
The Boat
Prodive had a shuttle come around to all the hotels to pick up everyone, which was amazing and helpful. We went to the surf shop and picked up the gear we were fitted for the day before and we were off to our boat! Now, I am not a fisherman, nor pirate so I do not know the official lingo but I’ll do my best at describing the boat we had. It was 3 stories, and there were about 32 guests on board, so i’d estimate that there are 16 Cabins. Of these 16 Cabins, two had double beds, rather than bunks. I had booked this trip fairly early so I was able to request one of the double beds onboard, everyone was fairly jealous. The bottom level of the boat was just cabins, the middle was the kitchen, dining and dive deck. The top level was more cabins and a very nice sun deck.
Before the Dive
We begin our trip with our captain going over the rules and structure, he kept it very light and fun and had a great sense of humour. The basic structure was that we would have 4 dives a day over 3 days, two of these would be night dives and between dives, there would always be food served. The best part of this is that it was timed to perfectly account for the time between dives and avoid decompression sickness. Just another thing I did not need to worry about.
On the dive deck, we all had our own set place where we could store our gear. So we would go for a dive, put our BCD, Tank and Fins all in the one area. While we were on a break, one of the crew would come around and fill our tanks with air ready for the next dive. The expectation is that you are in charge of your own gear, you are not babied this trip, which is why everyone has to have a dive license to go on this trip. But i don’t like being babied, I think you get more out of your holidays if you get involved as much as possible.
When Something Goes Wrong!
Before every dive, they would do a dive brief, where the captain would outline where we were and what to expect. He would also outline a good route for us to go and what degrees to use for navigation. However, if something did go wrong and you got lost or got caught out to sea, they had a little boat ‘a dingy’ that they would get you with. It was nicknamed the ‘Dingy of Shame’ fortunately I never had to use this but some people on the trip did and it was no big deal.
The whole trip had an awesome relaxed atmosphere and it was awesome to be a part of. Everyone on staff was incredibly friendly and helpful, no task was too big or small. They were all very well educated on diving and knew their stuff. I loved doing this trip because it was the perfect vibe. An awesome chilled vibe, great food and great staff that look after you and your equipment. I was 100% do this again and recommend it to anyone who is going to do the Great Barrier Reef.
