Today is my last day with the group and we are going scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef.
At 7:15 am all 14 of us met at the front door of the hostel to get ready for our 15 minute walk to the harbour. The day wasn't really sunny, but warm enough. We boarded the catamaran, along with about 100 other people for our excursion out to the reef.
After about 15 minutes, Stephen wasn't feeling very well. Then Emma wasn't feeling well. I am grateful for small miracles - the sea sickness patch - because the water was rough and I would have been pretty green.
It took two hours to sail to the outer reef and I was enjoying the sun when it peeked out from behind the clouds. Ahhh, this is the life... sunning on a big catamaran and sailing out to the Great Barrier Reef.
Since I have not scuba dived for 19 years, I had to take their introductory course for the first dive. It was very remedial. Three of us all linked arms with the instructor and he took us down to the reef. It was annoying because we all were banging our fins on each other. It was amazing, but I didn't see any really colourful fish like I did when I snorkelled the other day.
After the scuba diving, the crew prepared a cold lunch for us - prawns, different kinds of salads and pasta with a choice of three sauces. One thing the Aussies know how to do is make the food on a day trip worth the money paid.
Two hours later, being the sucker that I was, I went for a second dive. This time I told the instructor that I wanted a little more freedom to venture out on my own since I am already a certified diver.
The second dive was deeper, but it wasn't as nice. Oh well, what's a little money; I've already thrown the budget out the window. Oh, now that I think of it, I didn't have a budget at all.
After a long day on the reef, we headed back to Cairns. Since I am parting ways with the group today, Sarah drove me to my hotel in Cairns where I will spend the next four nights. When I checked into the Bay Village Tropical Retreat I was upgraded to a one bedroom apartment - SCORED! First thing I did was have a shower and unpack so I didn't have to live out of a suitcase for four days. Since four of us - Gaelle, James, Emma and me - were leaving the tour, Sarah wanted to make the night special by having dinner at a restaurant called "Rattle n Hum" by declaring it 'sparkly' night, so we all wore something sparkly for the occasion. Note to self: don't wear jeans in Australia even if they do look nice with your new sparkly T-shirt.
I took a cab to the airport to pick up my friend, Jeff, as he is coming up from Sydney to visit me.
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