Dive deep...

Isn't this just perfect? I had written the longest most detailed blog post of all times about my experiences in Airlie Beach and here we go, all gone. I will try again but there will certainly not be as much detail in it as originally.

Arriving in Airlie Beach which is close to the famous Whitsundays in Northern Queensland I experienced a sort of culture shock. Although the bus driver from the airport transfer proudly declared they finally had a McDonald's I was just reminded of the little town I had just left, which only had an IGA and 700 citizens. Besides the amount of people around the beach I also noticed their overall fitness and concern over their looks, which was so different from my home base in Tasmania. My main purpose, however, wasn't the partying - it was the diving. I therefore left my dorm mates to their loud and drunken business and tried my best at catching sleep before cruising out to the reef the next day for my intro dive.

Airlie Beach

There really isn't much to say about that first ride out into the ocean. The ship was huge with hundreds of people on it who were all shipped out to a big pontoon. Breathing under water really freaked me out and so I had to suck it up when the dive master pulled me out into the ocean. I must admit I couldn't concentrate on the coral or the fish as I focused mainly on calmly breathing and not panicking. There isn't much else to say about the trip.
As you can probably understand after that experience I wasn't too keen on commencing my dive course the next day. Anxious I waited for my first instructor Jack to arrive. Quickly I figured out that he must be a Kiwi by the way he pronounced his "i"s. Lucky for me we started off with the first half of my theory lessons before he watched me swim 200 meters and tread water for 10 minutes. To not get bored I asked him to tell me a story but instead he just kept asking me questions so I had to use my precious breath!
After lunch we started our diving practices and Jack patiently waited a few minutes until I had gotten adjusted being underneath the surface. Then we slowly started on skills like retrieving the regulator, emptying a flooded mask, taking the mask off and putting it back on. Over the two days around the pool we worked our way up to diving deeper down the pool where we took our gear off, turned the air off, practiced the Out of Air drill, diving around without mask and so on. At least by the end of this I felt comfortable being in pool water, though the thought of repeating these in the ocean didn't thrill me at all.

After my second day of the course it was time to go onboard the Anaconda III. I joined the group of 33 people slowly taking their shoes off and climbing up on the deck where we received our stinger suits and received a quick tour through the boat over a glass of wine. I was led by Bini (spelling copied from Luca so I don't know if it's right) together with my two Swedish roommates. Upon seeing our cabin I thought I was going to leave the boat with major claustrophobia. We had about a square meter to stand on and two tiny beds above each other. On our way back upstairs I was held up by one of a crew who reached out his hand saying "Are you the student?". Confused I shook his hand and said "Yes, I am Emma." which majorly confused him. Apparently Jack must have told Jono, who I knew was going to be my dive instructor, Shirin with the strawberry blonde hair would be his student. Just that I had started introducing myself as Emma to everyone on the boat, because of the initial debate over the pronunciation of my name. Honestly, after twenty years it gets tiring to be called Sherrin, Sharine, Celine, Shiwin, Chiline, Cherie and so on.
In general though I have never been around so many nicknames being given out. While most just took me as Emma Jono usually preferred Em or Ems and one of the Italian guys whose name was Alessio was sometimes called Ales, mostly though Mario or Mustachio (You can guess why). Oliver turned into Olivia and Wouter from Holland kept switching between Walter and Wooter. These were the most memorable beside self assigned titles like Bini's "Dey don't call me de horrse because I rrun fast." (My attempt at spelling out a strong Irish accent.)
After serving out the last glasses of wine we all sat back together for our first of many meetings. The most important thing here for you (I am sure repeating all the safety instructions is not very relevant) is the crew who was introduced by Bini. We had Baz the skipper, Ellie the hostess (mainly cookings), Bini and Harry as deckhands (mainly driving us out with the small boats beside others stuff), and our dive instructors Tom and Jono - "Dey dive togederr, dey live togederr, dey play togederr." It didn't take me long (got really good at distinguishing Kiwi accents) to figure out they shared a home with their fellow countryman Jack.
That's pretty much it for the start of the journey. We took off in the evening and anchored in front of one of the islands and everyone chatted before bed and got to know each other a little. The beer consumption radically sunk from the first evening to the next which you will understand in a moment.


Day 1: 
The boat took off before I was even conscious but from then on it all went fast. I woke up a hot sweat covered mess with a horrible tummy upset. Our air-conditioning hadn't been working properly and on top of we were rocking from side to side. I was weighing my options to stay in bed or to get up because I wasn't sure how long I could manage the nausea for. In the end I somehow managed to jump into my bikini and a singlet while falling from one side of the bathroom door against the other and violently keeping down whatever was roller coastering inside me. I also managed to stagger upstairs and right to the rail where sun and wind waited for me as did quite a few people who themselves seemed to sport a greenish tint. Once outside the extreme nausea fainted away, the unwellness didn't though and gradually my hands went from numb to completely cramped up. I sat on deck shaking with the water bottle Tom had handed me until Jono came over and stuck me in his jumper. Then he managed to catapult me into a complete state of embarrassment by constantly rubbing and holding my hands trying to decramp or even open them while keeping up a steady mantra. "It's alright, I am here. Not much longer and we are there. 20 minutes. Don't worry, it will all be over. Look, I am right here. 10 more minutes." If I hadn't been so worried about painful fingers I would have sunken through the bottom of the ship into the ocean where no one could stare at me anymore. In the end I suppose everyone sort of knew how I felt just instead of hanging over the rail feeding the fish or quietly spewing in the toilet for a completely random reason my fingers decided to turn into agonizing rocks. Only one guy actually used the upper deck as his spit bowl and Andre was quite upset when he heard everybody else had just stayed in their bathrooms. Before that he just kept mumbling he didn't understand why he got so sick. I myself felt reassured when he revealed it to me as at one point I said to Jono "Oh my god... I can smell it. Someone threw up." to which he replied: "No, no one did. No need to worry." Yeah, Jono.

Whitehaven Beach

As soon as the boat slowed down and especially turned into the shelter from the ocean waves everyone started feeling noticeably better. My hands loosened up and I felt more lively. Good as because it was already time to grab our stinger suits and be shipped off to Whitehaven beach. Its sand is said to be the purest with 98 percent silica. It can be rubbed on the skin for exfoliation purposes, used to clean gold and silver jewelry and has been used to make glass for a spacecraft. From that beach everyone was scheduled to do intro dives in different group. My group was the last one, number nine, and included me. I therefore had some time to walk a track through the forest where I met a few butterflies and almost made a head to head acquaintance with a huge spider and her home. Ugh!

By the time it was my turn the sky was pretty overcast and we could see a veil of rain crash down in front of one of the other islands. Luckily it spared us though. Again I needed to get comfortable in the new surrounding and luckily Jono as Jack was very patient. I went through all my skills alright although the saltwater stung in my eyes and nose and ensured to fill up my nose pocket with snot! Otherwise I was pretty okay with my work and Jono seemed so as well. By the afternoon he must have thought I was ready for my first real dive. (You see, nothing too exciting happened over lunch. I can't recall most conversations and they probably wouldn't be understandably funny. Not like Katie today wondering wether an aphrodisiac made you pooh.) I was nervous but felt safe as Jono came with me. I have to say the consistency of having one dive instructor really helped me get over my initial panic as there is always someone there who has followed your progress and knows how you have been feeling. And so we slowly sunk down consistently equalizing after doing a giant stride off the boat. Before he had been diving with the certifieds and when he climbed up on the boat he couldn't stop shouting out how "insane the visibility is!". Apparently this trip he had the overall best dives in all ten months he worked there. Needless to say I was nervous but curious and a tiny bit excited.

This first dive was my absolute favorite. I didn't have to worry about holding any of the more experienced divers back and it was more interactive. Jono dropped a sea cucumber into my arms and conducted a photo shoot with me. Whenever he got a good shot I could tell by his extreme nodding or alternatively the disbelief head shake. I also really enjoyed this dive because of the huge Napoleon fish that paid us a visit. He was blue and green and his skin which I expected to be rough was very smooth and hard (Jono placed my hand on him so I think it was ok to touch him). After dropping tiny bits of bread the fish kept following us around and suddenly disappearing right in front of me. Sadly I didn't get to see the turtles though who said hi to the snorklers.

Best selfie ever.!

No wait, this one is. When uploading the thumbnail I wasn't even aware of half the second person in it :D

After all the water sports our tummies were rumbling and so by the time I reached the buffet we were already out of salad. Bummer but I guess I was just too slow. As it wasn't pouring with rain like the night before, we weren't driving again (wouldn't have been fair with the night divers underneath the surface) and instead celebrated a little bit. Mustachio turned up Latina music and so we held a limbo competition with the height of the obstacle never really decreasing. Everyone was in a pretty good mood even with the strongly reduced alcohol consumption. Sadly again it started raining so we retreated into the boat until slowly everyone thought it was bed time.


Day 2:
Luckily Bini fixed our air conditioning and so I woke up in the morning with a completely acceptable body temperature. The boat was rolling again but I felt no discomfort whatsoever just laying down and breathing. Naturally then I was very optimistic when the breakfast bell rang and I jumped into some clothes and headed upstairs. By the time got there my state of wellbeing had gotten worse and though I expected it to get better, it didn't. Instead my fingers cramped up again. At least it wasn't as bad as the day before though. Everyone was feeling noticeably better and when Andre brought me some dry bread and orange slices I managed to nibble them away. When I was feeling fine again I thought it was the food until I realized the boat had stopped. We had reached the outer reef and anchored close to the bait reef. After a quick explanation of where we would be snorkeling and diving everyone jumped into their suits again and was dropped out into the ocean by Harry and Bini.
This time I was out with Jono and five certified divers and together we wove our way through the coral towers. At some point Jono excitedly turned around to me and held his hand up in front of his forehead.  I searched around until I discovered the shark just above the seafloor. He rested there a few moments and then swam away from us. Sadly I ran out of air before time and had to resurface earlier than the certifieds. Harry came to pick me up and I felt a bit like a failure. (As I later learnt Jono was very upset with me for apologizing to run out because I was an inexperienced diver. But more to his evaluation later.)

Also during the second dive I was not very happy with my performance. We went to a different site around the reef and looked at more coral and fish. My air lasted just like the others and we leveled off at five meters for our safety stop. I was waiting there and got more and more confused as to why the others would keep diving deeper. Just until I realized I was actually floating up. I tried deflating my BC to get back down but at that point it was already too late and within seconds my head was surrounded by fresh air. Naturally this mistake didn't make me feel much better and so after our return I didnt sit back down with my usual group of Indian Brits and Dutch but sat down with the German group on board.

By the way in that part of the sea no one is allowed (supposed) to go swimming without a stinger suit which protect from apparently common jellyfish and sting rays (I never saw any). As our crew didnt set off the best example, doing backflips off the boat in their boardshorts or Jono diving down only half dressed in the middle of the night to retrieve a lost weightbelt, naturally at least all the guys didnt bother with the suits anymore and jumped off for refreshment whenever the longed for it. Beside regular dips into the water we entertained ourselves with sunbathing, chats, music, chess games and the challenge of finishing your plate while its content is being blown from it.

As it was quite windy we all shared blankets to find shelter under and learned more about each other's nature of travel, general occupation and origin. We also discussed about the advantages of Rosamunde Pilchner novels and watched the long lasting magnificent cotton candy sunset. The colors ranged from dark purple to pink to light blue, green, yellow, orange and red where the sky touched the sparkling sea. As it got darker we could trace the glow stick circle under water where the night divers were exploring. Bini sat us down for a more detailed explanation on where we had been and what was still to come. His favorite topic were definitely the turtles and so he broadly described their life to us and left out no detail about the seemingly very intriguing turtle sex. (Everyone was advised to find the corresponding video on youtube). The eveningly rain started soon and so I dismissed my idea of sleeping outside that night as the floor would be to wet.

Day 3: 

For our last morning I had developped the perfect plan against sea sickness. As soon as I could tell we were about to start I grabbed my pillow and blanket and lay down on the deck floor. With the fresh air in my lungs the boat could rock and roll as much as it liked I didnt care. Of course I didnt manage to sleep but at least I found some relaxation laying there. I only know about one passenger needing to bend over the rail that day otherwise every one was of quite a sprightly mood. We reached our last destination back at the islands where we had 2 hours to snorkel and dive before lunch and our return. 

This time I went out with Jono, Ahley and Wouter and giving me a brief scare I learned Jono wasn't going to be my buddy. Nervous I did the necessary safety checks on Wouter and he assured me it was going to be fine. Our dive spot was similar to a maze with lots of little passage ways and tunnels to swim through and by the end Jono didnt even need to indicate for me to swim a little higher or lower in order not to hit anything, which I dare to say thrilled me.

It didn't take me long to understand why we had switched pairs and I started believing Jonos worss about me not being a bad diver. He held Ashleys hand the whole way through and sometimes dragged her up or down so she wouldnt hit the coral. She is a lovely girl with a usually great feel for her body but I guess she wasnt meant for the water. When the two of them briefly had to pop up I felt comfortable enough to hold an underwater dance competition with Wouter and after resurfacing I was in such a good mood that I didnt return to the boat right away and instead went for a snorkel. To be quite honest it was way more beautiful than underwater! Everything was shining in bright colors which you couldnt see so deep down. All the fish were swimming around in the shallower waters and the only reason I went back prematurely was because I had to take my theory exam before lunch. Jono graded it right when I was done and proudly congratulated me on 98/100 points. "I guess we needed one wrong one in there, otherwise it would have looked like you cheated."

That was pretty much the end of the journey. We pulled our stuff together, set a time for the afterparty and then all together strolled from the marina back to our hostels. At Magnums I was just settling into the room as the door flew open and three half naked very familiar Italians entered: Luca, Alessio and Alex. My female dormmates were very delighted at their tan sight and so they enforced the rule of shirtlessness for men that enter our dorm. 

Around 7 we all met up for dinner and after that were planned to go to a club. By the time I managed to move the six guys (three Italians, three Germans from the boat) there most of the others were already done eating and had consumed a pretty amount of alcohol. Merry they greated me with a "Happy Padi to you!" (Although I did the AUSI certification) and bhavin invented the Padi Power move to be performed by the Padi Puff girls (although I did the AUSI certification). I chatted away with whoever sat next to me and learned about more about Singapore and as of later, myself.

Excuse me, would you please finish your drink before you leave the venue.

Andre, the guy with the hammock.

After we had gotten to the club and started dancing the night away I ended up next to Jono who was quite on the merry side by the bar. Out of the blue he held a speech into my ear which I will repeat the main aspects of, since it really flattered me (despite the boldness and occasional rudeness). It went something like this: "Emma! Emma, you look great, but you don't know that. You underestimate yourself, you don't believe in yourself. You are so confident when you dive. I never have to worry I just look at you and you are fine, popping your ears, swimming around, always doing great. But you are stupid because you don't believe in yourself. When you apologized about your air that just made me so mad! You are such a pussy on the surface, always scared but when you dive you are so amazing! You only started but you just go with the certifieds like it's nothing. It's so nice and easy for me to see that. You have to be stronger, you did great! And I know I am drunk but I really mean it. Your buoyancy is always perfect, no worries at all. I really mean it."

Yes, it is far out for him to judge and insult me, I do believe in myself very strongly otherwise I wouldnt be here. But I felt flattered to know what he was actually thinking and to know I wasn't doing badly at all. His speech went on forever. I cant remember all he said but those things really stuck to my memory.

Overall I am thankful for the experience, my two instructors' patience, the people I met and got to know and of course my own personal achievement. I had a wonderful trip and a lovely evening to round it off, although I had to head home a little earlier because of my early morning plane to Brisbane.

To be continued,

Skipper