Diving the Great Barrier Reef

My only previous dive experience was in Hawaii. That being said, I wasn't sure what to expect from the GBR. I also try not to have expectations.

We signed up for a 3 day/ 2 night live aboard dive trip. The reef is a few hours from the coast (depending of course on which part you go to). So, while it seemed like a ridiculous amount of money upfront, 11 dives in 3 days + equipment rental + 2 nights accomodations + all meals, etc. Added up to be a pretty good deal.

It had been over a year since my last dive, but the mechanics of it came back quickly. The amount of dives this trip almost doubled my total amount of dives-ever.

The first GBR dive was amazing and it kept getting better with each subsequent dive. The coral was absolutely mind blowing. (no signs of coral bleaching) Both the colors and the sheer volume of it were overwhelming. The variety of shapes (types?) Was also amazing. Most of my diving and snorkeling has included plenty of reef fish, so I was able to avoid being overwhelmed by those guys and pick out the unique creatures. One of my favorites was the giant clam-these guys were everywhere. Other new fish-types I saw included a few lion fish, batfish, maori wrasse, potato and flowery cod, bump head parrot fish, etc. And of course, nemo-while diproportionately popular, the clown fish are cute., I was amazed at how curious some of the fish were. At one point, there was one medium size fish that just wouldn't leave us alone. He wasn' aggressive, just checking us out, I guess.

The trip included 2 night dives. I had really built up the night dives in my mind so I was a little apprehensive. As soon as we got in the water though, my nerves calmed down. I was somewhat disapointed that we didn't see more creatures. I had just assumed that the reef would reveal a different side at night. I was not disappointed with our shark sighting though. It was just a reef shark and I know that it wasn't going to hurt us, but it's hard to erase the association of that animal with big teeth and lots of blood. The one we saw made its rounds, checked us out and moved on. Not so scary. It was actually pretty cool.

One of the best sightings of the trip was the moray eel. I was scouring cracks and crevasses looking for a little eel to show my partner. I was really intent on finding one. As we rounded a sort of corner, right in front of me was the biggest eel I've ever seen. Not only was he quite large, he also was pretty exposed. It's been my experience that you usually only get to see a little bit past the mouth.

The last few dives, we adopted a really slow pace and tried to look for the little guys. There were tons of christmas tree worms, plant/animals we couldn't identify, and even a few nudibrinks.

11 dives in 3 days was quite intense (dive, eat, dive, eat, dive, eat, dive, sleep, etc.) But it was totally worth it. Being in the water by 6:15 am turned out to be a really great experience despite my hatred for waking up early. I hope the reef is this amazing by the time I get back to Oz.