Hi, I'm back. (1) Despite my mom's natural worry, I've been more careful about the sun than I've ever been in my life. (2) That wasn't a dress, that was a towel. (3) I'm on a time limit here, hopefully I'll catch up, if not, this will resemble the back-n-forth time leaps of my journal. (4) I don't have USB or WindowsXP at the moment, which is fitting, since the best stuff lately I've been unable to take pix of. (5) I hate it here.

I woke up at 6:30 on the 21st, and sleep too well because I was paranoid about sleeping through my alarm, as well as someone on the other side of the wall next to my bed must have picked up someone really loud. Crammed my possessions for the next three days into my day bag, and headed downstairs to meet the shuttle bus to my dive boat, where I would be spending the next three days. I ran into one of the Brisbane boys in the lobby, as they were to go on a fishing trip. It turns out all the fishing charters were cancelled due to windy conditions, which left me a little worried about the state of my trip. My fears abated at 7:20 though, as the shuttle showed up and carried me on to the rest of my "hurry up and wait" morning. Finally boarded a cruise ship at about 10:30, and we headed out to sea. The rollers were huge, and it wasn't long before the horde of Asian tourists and backpackers were yacking into paperbags. I'd taken a seasick pill generously donated by my scuba "buddy", Andreas from Germany, so between that and being hyped beyond belief, I was fine.
After about an hour and a half straight east from Cairns, we reached the Pontoon, essentially a quonset hut permanently moored in the sea, with the mountains of the mainland a faintly discernable blue against the sky. Between the isolation of the pontoon, and its accompanying helipad about 100m away, it reminded me of "Waterworld", for those who will admit to watching that movie. From the Pontoon, we were put on a little outboard ferry (with a glass bottom so we could actually see the fish - awesome!) which carried us to the dive boat, the Kangaroo Explorer, which was moored a little further out.
My first impression of the K.E. was of a pirate ship. Three decks, each with drying towels or wetsuits hanging over the rails, and a lot rustier than it appeared in the brochure. The K.E., like a lot of the boats I've seen in this part of the world, is a catamaran. At 25m in length, it only has 2m of boat below the waterline when full of passengers. We came aboard, were assigned bunks, and told to take our shoes off for safety. No problem mate.
After a hearty buffet meal, we hit the water for the first time (so much for waiting a half hour after eating.) We dove in off the stern, did a little snorkel trip for warm-up, then got our gear on and swam through the choppy sea to the front of the boat, where we were to pull ourselves down about 10m with the bow moorline. I think I pulled myself down too fast, 'coz I couldn't equalize my ears, and got a mask squeeze. I panicked, and let go of the rope, thinking "I can't do this, omigod". After a bit of thrashing, I got a grip, popped my ears (the left one is really stubborn), and gently descended to the bottom.
After four dives, I became a certified Open Water diver. For my fifth dive, my buddy Andreas refused the option of a guide, and like a couple of teenagers getting a car on their own for the first time, zoomed all over the shallow reef without any sensible destination. It was great, and after the dive, we reassured ourselves that we hadn't missed any cool stuff by not knowing what the hell we were doing.
I'm worried about becoming addicted to yet another expensive sport. Wildlife on land has evolved to become afraid of humans, but in the middle of the ocean, the craziest fish float by and basically nod, as if you were passing someone on the way to work. Rather than bore folk (and myself) with a dive-by-dive, some highlights:
- a huge dark cloud that slowly approached, I thought it would be a clump of kelp, but turned out to be a a tightly packed school of parrotfish
- lots of purple seastars (in this politically correct era, the name has been changed from "starfish", as they ain't fish
- several Napoleon Wrasse, huge mellow fish with big lips and nicknames like Elvis and Wally
- spiny lionfish, moray eels, butterflyfish
- in a dive site called the Fishbowl, essentially a shallow reefm being washed back and forth by the current and seeing the most amazing colours, coral, and fish on high speed
- anenome fish, aka clownfish, aka Nemo, doing the shake-shimmy among anenomes
- blue worms with fernlike antennae that burrow into the coral, and when you wave your hand near, they pop back in like the carrots in Looney Toonz
- giant clams that you rub, and they'll snap shut

There were hordes of other fish, most of which I couldn't individually name, but was blown away by the collective experience. Of course, I'm the guy who was blown away by being at the bottom of the 4m pool. I didn't take any pictures down where I was, as underwater photography is an artform unto itself, and the fish are usually coy in letting one get a good pic. I wanted to get the full experience without mucking around with a camera down there. That said, a common theme of this trip is turning out to be being in the wrong place at the wrong time when it comes to wildlife. Thus far, I've been elsewhere when sharks and green turtles were sighted underwater. Missed the whale sighting while I was on the boat. Sigh, this trip sucks.
While I was at sea, I decided to fall for one of the tourist upgrades, and signed on to get my "Adventure" certification, which means I'm qualified to go to 30m depth, navigate underwater with a compass, and swim at night. The night dive was surreal. I saw calimari squid, phosporescent plankton, the lionfish, and the parrotfish in their little sleeping bag of snot. There were only six students and two instructors down there for my night dive, and it reminded me of "The Abyss". You can't see the surface, nor beyond the dull glow of your "torch", but everyone sticks together, so despite some pre-dive jitters, it was a great experience. I can't wait to do "Underwater Combat", like in James Bond.

Like I said, I didn't take pictures, and this gushing description didn't do this stuff justice. Furthermore, I've since moved on to Magnetic Island, done another dive, and renting a car tomorrow for a random wander for the next few days. However, my credit here is running out, so I'll have to save it for my next post. This trip sucks.