"Going Down Is A Way Of Life"

Well I'm now a certified adventure diver! Woop! I spent the next 2 days after the zoo in the Pro dive training center - learning the basics for the next 3 days out on the reef. It was good fun but really tiring especially on the second day when our room mates were up till 5am partying in the dorm - I was an interesting site at 7am when I got picked up!

Monday (16th) we got picked up for the boat ride out to the reef, it was 3 hours and oh my work was I seasick! Actually turned a green colour & sent a lot of the time hanging over the side of the boat! - it was worth it though! My first dive there was a white tip reef shark lying right underneath where we descended! The dives that day were just spent practising skills - had a pretty rubbish dive that day as well though, first I had problems with my ears, then I could get to grasps with clearing my mask - which panicked me as I kept swallowing water - by the time i had got back to surface I was knackered and we still had to remove and replace our gear in the water. I managed about half of the task but was just to tried to finish it so got sent back to the boat - shameful! Going to honest, felt so angry and a little sorry for myself so hid in my cabin for a while, but I got over it!

The next morning we where up at 5.45am and straight in the water - something to add to every ones "to do" list is see the sunrise over the Great Barrier Reef - gorgeous! We had 4 dives that day on my last training dive I managed sort my mask task ( and did a little dance under water to celebrate) and then I was certified. We also did a night dive that night, it was amazing saw a huge eagle ray and a MASSIVE dent in the sand where something had obviously just been sitting - we think it might have been the huge turtle called Brian who lives around that reef.

The final day on the reef I did a deep dive and a naturalist dive (looking at ecosystems etc) which certified me as an adventure diver to 30metres! Then we headed back to Cairns, got a little burnt sunbathing on the top deck, but wasn't sick so that was a bonus!

We finished the trip off with a big night out which was awesome - met some really cool people and I'm definitely going to try and keep diving down the east coast if I get time! Going to finish my advanced certification and get my dry suit orientation when I get back to Scotland. Next year who knows maybe I'll be back out training to be an instructor!