Sailing and Scuba Diving in the Great Barrier Reef: Day 1

January 24, 2018

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First off, I’d like to say – I might be new to scuba diving, but I’m already obsessed with it. Underwater is quite possibly the most magical place I’ve ever been, and scuba diving is the portal to that glorious, beautiful world. I really want to continue through the advanced courses and towards being a Dive Master.

Scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef has been on my bucket list for at least 10 years. There’s just something about the magnitude – sheer vastness – of the Great Barrier Reef that made me want to go. And since I was going to be in Australia, I wanted to spend the money and have an incredible experience.

So that’s exactly what I did. I booked a two-day sailboat excursion that focused on 5 dives in the outer reef. We would sail, dive, snorkel, eat, and sleep these next two days. I was so pumped.

I arrived at the dock at 7:45am, and we were off sailing by 8:15am. You know, after we signed a million release forms. You can really feel the difference between Indonesia and Australia.

We were encouraged to take motion sickness tablets since the waters were going to be bumpy. Even with the tablets, a few were nauseous within 20 minutes. Luckily I was fine for the whole trip.

I was a little nervous to get back into the water, honestly. The last time I went diving, I had my dive instructor with me who I trusted completely. Now I was with strangers I met two hours ago. But over the course of the trip, we became a family. And now I trust them completely as well.

When I descended into the water, I was instantly reminded of how much I love diving.

The formations in the Great Barrier Reef are bigger than anything I’ve ever seen. Imagine being 16 meters underwater, and you look up to see nothing but this massive reef formation above you. Maybe that’s why I love scuba diving so much. Almost everything about it is new. New animals I’ve never seen before, new plant life, new buoyancy. It’s all just so fascinating!!

Check out the different types of textures. It is kind of sad that I can’t touch anything. I’m desperate to know what it all feels like.

One of the highlights of the day was our night dive. And yes, it’s as scary as it sounds. But also incredible. We were given flashlights and a few extra instructions before embarking into a completely dark ocean. Both my dive buddy Nick and I were eager but a little nervous. We stayed particularly close to each other throughout the dive.

A night dive is special because of the change in marine life. Most of the schools of fish you see in the day are asleep at night, and the ocean becomes very quiet. So instead, we saw more predators out hunting small fish. I loved it.

Overall, today was simply the best. If you’re thinking about getting your scuba certification, I can’t recommended it enough. It’s one of the coolest things I’ve done.

Great Barrier Reef

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