GBR2

Lori stayed in Port Moresby this weekend to catch up on some work, so I decided to spend the weekend diving on the Great Barrier Reef. Yes my life is tough, but don't resent me too quickly because it was not a fun trip. It was a completely different experience from our trip in March. The winds were howling between 30 and 40 knots and it poured rain for 3 days straight. The 3 hour ride out to the reef was so rough, that quite a few people were sick. I spent 12 years in the Navy and I never got sick once, but I was feeling pretty queasy by the time we got out there. Because it's a dive boat, it has a very shallow draft and it bobs like a cork in rough seas.

Anyway, once we got out to the reef everyone was anxious to get under the water. It doesn't matter how crazy and chaotic it is on the surface, it's very calm and peaceful on the bottom. I used this trip to advance my dive training by taking the Advanced Open Water course. I'm glad I did that, otherwise I would have been disappointed with the trip. I felt bad for people who flew from the other side of the world to dive on the reef for the first time in such terrible weather. The reef looks very different when there are dark clouds and heavy rain blocking the sunlight. Very little colour was visible this time. We still saw lots of really cool marine life though. Lots of stingrays, bumphead parrotfish and a grey reef shark. I also saw a massive green turtle. He is known as Brian and he is 145 years old. I know everything is magnified under water, but when he swam by, it looked like a Volkswagen Beetle driving through the water. I didn't have my camera with me on that dive, but I did get a shot of one of his many children or grandchildren.

I don't have as many under water pictures this time because I was taking the course, but I do have some shots of life on the boat. This is the main dining/lounge area.

This is our cook Nathalie, who is from Sweden.

My luxurious stateroom. I can't complain, I was the only person on board with his own cabin.

The dive deck was wet for the entire trip. I think if you look closely, you can see water dripping off the towels in the background.

My fellow shipmates were from all over the world. Germany, Belgium, Denmark, United Kingdom, United States, Japan, Israel and Australia.

Overall it was still a good trip and I'm glad I went. It was still more fun than being trapped in the apartment for 3 days.

db