Asia Adventure 2012: Great Barrier Reef Liveaboard

Staff knocked on our door at 5:50am so we could get ready for the early morning dive/snorkel. At first I was worried about morning often being feeding time for fish, but after yesterday’s incident with the shark, I thought how silly it was to worry. So with the moon setting on one side of the boat and the sun rising on the other (reminded me of our experience on Kilimanjaro’s summit), we entered the water to see what we could see. It was indeed feeding time for the fish and so many of them were close to the surface.

A fantastic lumberjack breakfast was served, buffet style; toast, fruit, yogourt, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes/spinach, bacon, sausage, ground beef, tea, coffee, and juice.
After breakfast Marianne invited us to the intro-scuba briefing where I remained unable to muster up the courage to go underwater and actually add weight to help me descend into the depths. Greg signed up and enjoyed his dive tremendously. The group played with some gigantic sea worms and saw some giant clams.

During our final snorkel of the day, we saw another white tip reef shark. This one was smaller and I did manage to capture it on film. In fact, I was so confident, that I swam along behind it trying to get a better picture. But he was too camera-shy to humour me.

After all the snorkeling and diving were done, one silly passenger quietly entered the water for an unannounced swim to film the fish under the boat. When discovered, she was directed to return to the boat immediately and sternly scolded by staff.

Fried and stewed chicken were served for lunch along with cooked veggies and salad. We enjoyed talking to a young German couple who were working in New Zealand for a year while digesting our lunch and waiting for the SeaQuest to pull up alongside so we could transfer out and head back to the mainland.

The ride was uneventful and we were very thrilled with our Great Barrier Reef experience.

Deep Sea Diver’s Den drove us back to the Best Western Sheridan. We spent a low-key evening reminiscing about the snorkeling and dive and after being fed so well at sea we just had room for a small snack. We fell asleep in front of the television watching “Get Smart”.