Capturing the Moment

Myles the Diver Rocking the Deep V-neck   Our three day scuba diving adventure is coming to an end too soon. It has been unreal how much of the underwater reef we have been able to explore in such a short time. Eleven dives in three days. Myles finished his certification as an open water diver, we had close encounters with sharks, we were the object of curiosity of a huge humphead wrasse named Wiley, we found Nemo and Crush, and made some friends along the way. It has been a whirlwind of diving and eating and I am sure will stick out as one of the most memorable adventures on our trip. It is also one with long lasting effects. Colorful Clam the Deadly Lionfish    Once you become a certified scuba diver you are certified for life. It never expires, giving you the opportunity for the rest of your life to don a scuba tank and swim with the fish. I became certified back in my college pool in Georgia, and have been on over 300 dives since then. After I di...

  Barrier Reef Live Aboard Trip: On the Outer Edge Day 2 on our barrier reef live aboard trip saw us getting to sleep in to the late hour of 6:45am. With all the early morning dawn patrol surf sessions we've been doing it was like getting to sleep in. We had a big day of diving, 4 dives in total with meals and snacks in between. That is pretty much the schedule out here. Dive, eat, dive, eat, dive, eat, dive, eat, sleep. There are snacks in between meals, and always hot chocolate and coffee on tap. My kind of set up. Colorful Nudibranch Nudibranch  The big event of this day was Myles becoming a fully certified open water diver. This meant he was now able to come diving with us, unguided. We usually do our deepest dives in the morning, and gradually get shallower with the following dives. I was pretty excited to find a real nudibranch today, which I only noticed after I saw its bright orange eggs clinging to a rock. I looked around nearby until I spotted a beautiful,...

Clownfish safe at Home Jack over a huge coral head Our great Oceana adventure has taken us to the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef, straight out from Cairns. We signed up for a 3day/2night dive trip with ProDive Cairns. Our boat is pretty fancy with lots of showers, AC in the rooms, and wifi! How about that? We have 32 people, almost all backpackers, from all over the world. Most passengers are here to become open water certified divers, a couple are doing their advanced course, and a handful like me are just doing fun dives. The boat motors to one patch of reef, usually less than a mile long, and we dive after mooring. Then the boat moves on to another reef, unless we can do two different dives on the same reef. Our trip is 3 days long so we will get a maximum of 11 dives in. It is a pretty intensive way to really explore the Great Barrier Reef in a short time. The fish life here is amazing. The variety is huge, which is a big difference from my home of Hawai...