As my
parents’ visit was coming closer and closer, I started to get nervous, but not
for the reason you might
think. Sure, I was excited and thought I
should be excited to see them, but my brain was having an argument with itself
that I should be more excited. I was worried
I wouldn’t be thrilled enough when they showed up!
I was very, very glad to have almost the
entire time my parents would be here off from both jobs. I had originally wanted to work a few days,
just so I could still be making money, but the time with them was worth much
more than the money I could make.
We went down to Gary and Sue’s place to stay with
them and pick my parents up from the airport.
Gary graciously drove us to the airport and I was antsy, still nervous
about my emotions at seeing them. But
then they came around the corner and I was so relieved to see them. I would still have a crisis in the next day
or so where I went to bed feeling like I wasn’t allowing myself to be as
emotionally close to them as I should be.
Poor Joe doesn’t understand moments like that, but he still manages to support me. Of course I felt better and felt emotionally close again after only a short time.
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| First hugs! |
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| They look travel-worn, but about as happy to see me as I was to see them. |
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| Seeing the Curtain Fig |
Gary dropped us at the harbor on the morning of
and we boarded the boat. We were going
out on the same boat that we went on the day trip with, but we would be
switching vessels once out on the reef.
We were given coffee and a small breakfast in the elite room at the top
of the boat. It was a very different
feel from the trip we had done before.
Mom and Joe both did the seasickness patch that
lasts for three days. I considered it as
well, since I had felt a little queasy on boats recently and didn’t want to
have my first seasickness on a trip that was three days. Unfortunately, my mom had only two patches
and they had already attached theirs by the time I voiced my interest in having
one for myself. It turns out I never did
get sick, so I’m actually glad they both had attached them so that they
wouldn’t feel guilty and give it to me when I didn’t really need it and they
both did. I take after my dad and
neither he nor I have ever had any real seasickness ever. And the patches must have worked because my
mom and Joe felt fine the whole time.
The day boat pulled up alongside our live-aboard
out on the reef and those of us who were in the captain’s cabin filed over to
the other boat and went and sat down at the round tables in the main parlor
area. Here the crew came and welcomed
us, assigned us our rooms, and let us get settled in before the morning
dive. Being the cheapskates that we are,
all four of us were sleeping down “in steerage with the hogs,” as we put
it. This was the cheapest of the three
types of rooms, but honestly it was incredibly comfortable. The rooms were only meant for three people,
so my mom and dad were in one room together and Joe and I, as well as one other
girl by herself were in another room.
The bunks were very comfy.
The shower was small, but it put out a LOT of
great hot water. The room was small and
maybe if we had been spending a lot of time reading or hanging out, we could
have gotten one of the nicer rooms, but we were on the Great Barrier Reef to
see the Great Barrier Reef, so the room was absolutely perfect as it was.
We got into swimming suits and went upstairs for
an orientation. My parents haven’t dived
since they were on their honeymoon, I think, which was over 30 years ago. But they didn’t mention this when we were
going around the group introducing ourselves.
Hehe. They used vague terms and
said, “We are certified, but haven’t done a dive for several years…” Several, of course, really meant 32 years,
even though it suggested perhaps 3-5 years.
We were all really glad to have a nice
orientation for this reason. Other than
the quick dive that I did on the day trip to the reef, I hadn’t dived since my
certification course, which was a good 5 years ago. The basics are still the same no matter if
you were certified 30+ years ago or last week, but I think we were all happy to
have a little reintroduction to all the little details.
My parents looked as nervous as I felt, but after
getting our gear on (wetsuit, BCD, mask, snorkel) we walked down to the
platform on the back of the boat. We put
fins on and got ready to step in the water how they said to do it (holding the
oxygen and mask to our faces, with BCDs fully inflated), and we stepped in!
I was so glad to have a mooring line to go down
on. We didn’t have this in my course,
probably because the course was land-based, but it makes all the
difference. When you’re still working
out the BCD and your buoyancy, having a line to hold onto to ascend and descend
helps to prevent problems.
We awkwardly descended, each at different
speeds. We took it very easy at this
point because there would be many more dives and so doing it right, even if it
took more time seemed like the most important thing. My mom and I descended pretty well, but my
dad seemed to be having troubles. He was
trying to let as much air out of the BCD as possible, but he would sometimes
start to rise up and would have to try all over again.
Finally he got himself closer to the ocean floor,
but he was having to hold on to things to keep from rising. He seemed frustrated. He couldn’t get enough air out of the BCD. He looked ready to give up, but I pointed to
him and to mom, and then mimed clasping hands, hoping that mom had enough
weight to keep him down. I imagine the
divers on the boat that choose a weight belt probably guess at your weight. I think they would have guessed dad right,
except that he probably takes after his mother, whose bones seemed to be
hollow. This was a suspicion we all had
because she had a hard time sitting in the hot tub with us because she would
float.
My parents did great. Other than the tendency to float, they did a
stellar job, especially after not doing it for a “number of years.” :)
Dad eventually got frustrated and motioned that
he was going to go up, so mom and I continued to explore a bit, still taking it
easy. Right off the bat I think we saw a
shark, which is super cool, but a little intimidating. They’re only reef sharks, so they are very
little and not aggressive, but there is still a bit of fear in your body when
one weaves by easily.
It was sooooo nice to feel confident diving. It hasn’t ever been something I was gung-ho
confident at, probably because I had never been great at buoyancy.
The first lunch was amazing—a chicken salad that
was piled high with veggies and chicken, with an amazing dressing. It was so perfect. We would have a good few days.
Since we were doing the trip in the middle of the
week instead of the weekend, there was plenty of space in the boat. No shoes were ever worn, which was freeing,
and the boat was just the right size for the number of people there were. I wouldn’t have wanted to see it in busy
season though. I’ll bet it gets way too
small in the busy season.
The crew was very laid-back, which made all the
difference as well. You could see that
there was a sort of low-key popularity contest going on at all times, but only
just. This minor popularity contest
reminded me of stories an old flame had brought back after working in a dive
shop. The atmosphere on the live-aboard
was so different from the day trip boat we had done all those months ago.
The day was jam-packed with water sessions and
meals, which was just perfect. By the
second water session, dad had asked for a couple more weights to put on his
weight belt to help with the floating problem.
Dinner was phenomenal that first night, and
afterward we had a small orientation for the night dive that we would be
doing! The idea of diving at night made
me very nervous. I’m afraid of unseen
things in the water (something I will forever thank my brother Dave for), so
the idea of swimming around with only the light of a flashlight made me panic a
bit. But there was no way I was paying
for that and then not doing it.
We were issued our flashlights and told to go get
ready. Joe wished me luck. There was no snorkel session in the dark for
him, obviously. And I’m not sure he
would have gone out had there been a night snorkel session, since the sharks
really come out at night.
We all pretty much stayed in one of two groups,
since it was easier to get lost and disoriented in the dark. We saw the green glinting eyes of the sharks
in the darkness right away. It was eerie,
but they didn’t seem bothered by us, so I just tried to calm down as much as I
could. We saw a turtle or two, plenty of
sharks, and a few fish here and there.
As we ascended at the end, I looked out under the boat and saw many
gleaming green eyes and shadows circling those of us reaching the dive
platform.
By the end of the night dive I was elated. It was such an out-of-my-comfort-zone thing
and I did it! I was so proud. And Joe was proud of me too, which was sweet
as could be.
You see more of the big-ticket animals at night
(sharks and turtles), but you lose the colors and the fish blend in a lot
easier. It makes it almost boring, but
for the danger aspect.
Over the next couple of days we got in and out of
our swimsuits, ate, swam, and dived. I
managed to do all ten dives that I was allotted that came with the
package. Mom did nine and dad did eight. Dad ended up having trouble with his ear and
left the last couple of dives alone as he hoped the ear would get better.
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| We tried the ear candle out of desperation for my poor poppa, and learned later that it has no evidence for efficacy, plus it can even be dangerous! Oops! |
When I got back down to my parents I signaled the
direction we should go and we set off swimming.
We were swimming for a while in this direction that I hoped was right,
but eventually our time ran out. Our
dives were supposed to be 45 minutes or less, or at a certain pressure level
left in the tank. So we slowly went to
the surface. I noticed mom went a little
faster. When my parents saw how far we
were from the boat still, we started the slow swim back. Mom had to switch to the snorkel and then
yelled at me that she was going to head to the glass-bottom boat, which was
closer. I could hear the panic in her
voice, so I went to her. She had run out
of air and her snorkel wasn’t working.
She was panicked because she had no way to breathe!
I was worried for her, but I stayed as calm as I
could and told her everything would be okay.
I pulled the emergency breathing apparatus that everyone has attached to
the tank and gave it to her. We would
both breathe off of my tank. I gave her
my arm and we slowly made our way to the back of the boat. It took forever, but I am glad we got there
without either of us getting any more panicked.
As it turned out, mom’s BCD and tank were taken
at the beginning of the dive by someone, probably by accident, so they gave her
a different one to use. This was really
annoying to have to try to do the same shit with different equipment, even if
the difference in the equipment was minor.
It’s certainly possible that she had run out of air so fast because there
was something different about this different BCD. She was mad that they had given away her BCD
to someone else.
She sat the next one out and I don’t blame
her. I think it was a little scary for
her. It was scary for me because I
realized that I still don’t have much grip on underwater navigation. That will be my next study.
The dive that mom snorkeled turned out to be a
good one because my dad and I found the underwater photographer and a sea
turtle at the same time. Typically I
don’t bother buying the roller coaster photo and things like that, probably just
because I was raised that way. But this
photo was too good. Of course, my dad
and I both looked like goons, but we’re goons next to a happy sea turtle
munching on coral. Pretty cool. We bought a few other photos from the
photographer, which ended up being a really fun experience because all four of
us joked and laughed with the guy. It
was fun.
On another dive my mom and I were out together
with this other girl who tagged along.
She was a much better diver than either of us, but she was patient with
us. At one point I noticed that my dad’s
underwater camera that I had been using was shutting itself off and the plastic
covering on the screen was bent inward.
The girl motioned for us to come up to her height and I realized that we
were WAY below the depth that we were certified to dive to. The camera was shutting itself off and the
screen was concave because of the immense pressure that occurs the deeper you
go. Oops!
I felt really bad about that one. I mean, sure, I think mom and I generally
think we are do-it-ourself-ers, but going against regulations like that was a
bad move, especially where it wasn’t just a little bit over, but actually kind
of a lot. The numbers escape me now, but
it was definitely an oops. I apologized
to the lady who was basically the hostess and crew manager.
On our second night as dinner was being made for
us, someone said hey, there are sharks out here. Turns out that the grey water from the
kitchen sink, while filtered, still let some residue of meat and vegetables
drain out with the water. Basically the
kitchen was accidentally chumming the sharks.
We would be getting into that water with those sharks in a matter of an
hour or two. Woohoo!
I was reminded on every dive of that game on N64
where you are a gecko, I think? There is
an underwater level and I think of it every time I dive.
At the end of a snorkel session I did with Joe,
he was having a hard time getting his wetsuit off and so I was trying to help
and his arm suddenly squelched free of the arm and he elbowed me right in the
nose. It was so hard that it brought
tears to my eyes, though it didn’t really hurt that much. I think it was just alarming to get a jab to
the face like that. He felt so bad.
We had such a great time. All the meals were excellent, we got lots of
water time, the weather—while admittedly grey and windy—turned out to be
perfect. Far North Queensland was
hellishly hot normally, so it was actually nice to get out of the water and not
have the sun beating down so hard on you.
The ship was air-conditioned, so we were always comfortable.
The crew was so much more laid back compared to
our first reef trip. It seemed like the
elite boat, where the divers could relax and form more bonds with everyone.
And the whole thing was comparably so cheap
too. Two nights’ accommodation, three
meals a day, and ten dives. Had we
stayed at a hotel in Australia, two nights would have cost around at least
2/3rds of the price alone, and this was all inclusive. I sort of sound like I’m a salesman, but I
was just impressed that it could be done for such a good price. Expensive for every day, sure, but to see the
Great Barrier Reef, one of the wonders of the world, it was a great deal. And such an awesome way to do it. So relaxed being rocked to sleep at night by
the waves, hanging out in the lounge on coffee breaks.
Rant over. :)
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| While not Jaws, those were definitely sharks. I would be getting into that water in an hour! |
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| Mom and I watching the ocean |
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| Shade is so nice to find in that part of the world |
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| Lamb hock-- have I mentioned how gourmet meals on the boat were? |
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| Mom and I in the lounge room onboard |
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| It looks like we're dancing, which we sort of are, but I like to think the turtle is joining in--look at his mooooooves! |
Besides the dive trip, we spent about half the
time at Gary and Sue’s and half the time in Port Douglas. Drew had been so kind as to stay at a
friend’s house while my parents were around, but towards the end he came home
and so we were able to drag a mattress into the laundry room and sleep in there
for a night. It would have been another
night as well, but we decided the atmosphere at the house, thanks to an
unnecessary blow-up by Miles at us over something that was not our fault, we
decided to spend a night at the Daintree Rainforest in a hotel. It was a weird little hotel—cheap, but odd.
While we were there, we were lucky enough to see
a cassowary as it stalked in the woods by the road. It was a much better view of one than we had
seen in all our months there. Then later
there was a moment where my mom and dad went on ahead and we were left behind a
bit and I rounded the corner and there was a cassowary coming under the
boardwalk. I filmed and followed it
slowly, to find that it had a young one along with it! They say that the males raise the babies, so
it must have been a male and a few months’ old baby. That footage is very precious in our family
now. :)
One of the last days that my parents were in
Australia with us, I called Gary and Sue to come up to Port Douglas and the
five of us (Joe had to work) went to Breakfast with the Birds. It was a surprise for mom, since it would be
her birthday just after they left us. I love surprises. It was a really fun visit all of us together.
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| Hungry, hungry wallaby! |
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| Breakfast with the Birds |
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| Thanks for visiting, mom and dad! |
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