Cairns - Completed our Open Water Diver Certification!

February 6 – 11, 2007

After flying into Cairns, and please pronounce this ‘cann-zze’ NOT care-nzze, we were both headed for our 1st hostel experience ever. Being rookies to the trade, we opted for the deluxe double bed with our own bathroom (I know how sharing communal facilities for the ladies can be quite psychologically traumatizing). To our surprise the 200 square foot box was clean and appeared satisfactory until the unique ‘hostel odor’ hit aC hard. Picture this: leaving all your wet towels/swimsuits and sandals in one area & letting your dog play in it for a few days (hopefully none of you practice this behavior!) We had no choice but headed to Woolworths (aka ‘woolies’) to pick up a few scented fresheners and other ‘stuff’ to turn our place into something aC would consider ‘ready for entertaining friends’. Dinner was included at the famous Woolshed bar & grill and we were pleasantly surprised that for a $9 upgrade the two of us could eat spaghetti bolangnese, vegetables, salad and a full rack of aC style saucy ribs! Yummy! I think Dad would be very proud of us again!

Our 4 day PADI open water course started on Wednesday at 8:00am at Down Under Dive. The class consisted of 18 students, many in their early to mid 20’s, all on extended trips from Germany, UK, Luxemboug, Switzerland, Chili, and Quebec to name a few. Our instructor Heath, originally from Port Mcquarie was a long time sufer, and after some close shark encounters converted to diving. (apparently NO diver has ever succumbed as shark bait as opposed to the few surfers). Maki, our 2nd instructor was this petite thing originally from Japan but recently moved from The Maldives, completed most of her dive training in Thailand.

Day 1 consisted of an AM classroom session, followed by learning skills in the pool during the afternoon. If SCUBA required a swim test, I’d probably fail within 5 seconds because I don’t tread water nor do laps very well. (okay Michael Phelps and Ian Thorpe are not my idols) Being the competitor that she always seems to be, aC looked over with a smurk as I cheated while using the pool edges for the much needed help….ahhh..dammit, who cares, I’m the oldest one of the bunch anyways. Day 2 was much the same as the previous schedule with the exception of the dreaded 50 Q. multiple choice final exam. Give me a break, who actually wants to study while travelling and having fun in Cairns? Apparently aC thought this was UBC Commerce again ala 1997?!?!? Anyways the exam was fine as we passed with identical marks of 92%….noting that our instructor Heath encouraged us to discuss any answers with each other if we were stuck.
Our fingers were crossed for Day 3 because a cyclone had just passed through Cairns the past 7 days and we were praying that our next 6 dives in the ocean were not going to be cancelled. Yippee, we awoke on Friday to a clear sunny and warm day and headed out to the Great Barrier Reef, a 2 hour ride on this 90 passenger high powered vessel. After re-doing all our pool skills out in the water, we were 1 day away from being ‘licensed to dive’ in open waters. Day 4 was yet another awesome day; clear skies and 29 degrees! However, my 1st episode of puking came shortly after my 1st ascent. Dammit, I took these ginger tablets instead of gravol, and later I find out from Heath that they only work in less the 10% of the population. I guess the ride was bumpier than normal, and it hit me hard. If you want to know how I felt imagine this: lying in water with a super tight garmet on, a 30+ lbs weight on your back, salt water going up your ass and mouth, feeling hung-over while you’re trying to elude the jelly fish that may be lurking on the surface! After feeding the fishies with my vomit x2, I got a 2nd wind and was ready to finish our last training dive. We both passed all the skills, but if buoyancy control was really tested, we’d both fail instantly! We concluded the night with a celebration at a bar called The Chapel, mingling with our instructors and the rest of the class!

Check out our photo website for more pics of Cairns:
http://acswaustralasia.photosite.com/