The Great Barrier Reef

It happen on a Friday and it was the 13. ....

Initially I only want snorkeling at the Reef around the area of Airlie Beach. Everybody I met along my way, talked about the amazing Scuba Diving in Cairns and Port Douglas.

So I changed my mind and took a lift with a very sympathic couple from the Switzerland to Cairns. Why is northern Queensland so popular for visiting the Reef? Because it is the closest point to the 2300 kilometer long Great Barrier Reef. It is just an 90 minutes ride from Port Douglas til the Agincourt Ribbon Reefs by catamaran. There is the shelf edge Reef. This is where the continental plates meeting and the Reef goes straight down til 2 kilometers depth to the ground, while the area between the mainland and the Outer Reef is a big lagoon with a depth from 50 til 100 meters with lots of small reefs, coral banks and sandbanks too.

This is the first time I have done Scuba Diving in my life. Ok, I tried diving one time before in Teneriffa, Spain, in a pool. But it is definately not comparable.

When we arrived at the first dive site I sighted directly three sharks in the water and nobody believed me as long as one of the divers jumped into the water and confirmed my statement. Later in the water I missed a different kind of shark, but at the third dive site I saw the fith shark at this day on the ground and I could take a picture. Anyway, the first divesite was gorgeously. The second one was a little bit dusty, sandy and the third one was nice again.

It was so awesome that I looked already for the prices of the padi-diving courses in Koh Tao, Thailand. Because the courses are there a quarter of the price in Australia.

However, back to the first dive attempt. I couldn`t take my rented underwater camera with, because they not allowed this at the first dive. My dive instructor was Danny and Herold the biologist on board supported him.

Unfortunaltelly, my first dive lasted not very long. I had terrible pain in my left ear and clearing did only work til 3meter depth. I had to cancel this dive and the crew on board gave me different tips to clear that problem while snorkeling and indeed, it worked well and so I was able to dive at the second dive site til 12 meters without any problems.

It was only awesome and I felt like a fish in the ocean. It was indiscribable and I didn`t think at all that diving stuff hanging around my body. Equally the breathing threw the mouth worked independent. It was so fascinating and I felt like being in my own new world, accompanied by this beautiful colored fishes in this big pool.

At this point I want to thank Susanne and Alexander. Susanne is a very good friend of mine and Alexander was my travel buddy in Bali, Lombok and the Gilis. Both talked very enthusiastic about diving. Now I understood what they talked about and what they want to tell me.

The second dive was very short and the dusty dive site wasn`t so pretty as the first one. While we had lunch they drove us to the third spot and that was also an amazing one. This dive was the longest one. One time I sat on the 12 meter deep ground and tried to take picture of me. Sorry, can`t show you that, because it didn`t work.

A few words to the pictures taken at the Great Barrier Reef. They are all made by a Canon G10 with Fish-Mode. I thought underwater-photography is similar to the photography onshore, but it isn`t.

I haven`t no possibility for a review of the pictures, because this function didn´t work anymore on this cam.

That makes it double difficult and not to forget this quick fishes. First they swim in slow mode around you and every time I try to zoom on them, they escaped in the far colored surrounding. :(

Finally I have to say, sorry forthe quality of this pictures, because they are not as well I used to work, but they are the only one from my first diving. For the future I have definately to practise more underwater and hopefully the result will be much better than this time. :)

For the moment, just try to enjoy the Great Barrier Reef: