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VWBUS T4&5+
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We had spent more than a week enjoying
Cairns, a significant amount of time for
us, but now it was time to head up to Port
Douglas to Scuba Dive the Great Barrier Reef
W
e had booked onto
the Quicksilver
Silversonic
boat tour to
Agincourt Reef.
This is a ribbon reef, meaning it
has the best corals and wildlife.
Visiting the Great Barrier Reef
was something that I had been
dreaming about since I saw the
first of David Attenborough’s
‘Blue Planet’ documentaries, and
nothing was going to put me off
seeing prime reef spots before they
were lost to our warming seas.
This included presumptuous tour
shop employees, who, despite
being told a number of times,
were absolutely set on selling us
the cheapest tours to the notably
less biodiverse parts of the reef.
We camped on the streets of
Port Douglas overnight, getting
up early to have some breakfastHarriet Carpenter Dan IngramTouring
Exploring not
before boarding the boat. We
were only a small group and
jumped right into safety talks as
we headed out towards the reef.
The plan was a couple of snorkels,
then those who had paid to Scuba
Dive were going to be let loose
before another snorkel and then
home time. Both Dan and I had
no Scuba Certifications, so along
with a few others were going to be
getting our first lessons (theory and
practical) before being guided in
the water by a qualified instructor.
After being talked through
the fundamental skills of diving,
showed how to de-mist our goggles
and equalize our ear pressure we
put our gear on and headed out
onto the back of the boat. After one
final test to make sure we had been
listening we were ready to take
the literal plunge. I was intensely
nervous; doing all this stuff wasButterfly Gardens
easy out of water, but I was sure it
would be a different story under
it. As it turned out I took to it
with ease, as did Dan. We got
the all clear from our instructor
and headed slowly down an
anchored line to the shallow reef
bed. On the way we were tested
on switching to our emergency
oxygen supply. It felt very,
very, wrong to be a few metres
underwater and take your source
of oxygen away, even for a few
seconds, to switch it for the other.
Holding hands with the
instructor we swam slowly
over the reef below. The feeling
was incredible, like nothing I
have ever experienced before.
Breathing underwater was an
entirely different and more
calming experience compared to
snorkelling, without the waves
lapping above to knock you off
balance. If we had been allowed
to, I would have spent all day
on the reef floor. Watching the
organisms around me pass
through their day as I would
people in a shopping centre. It
was like people watching x1000.
Dan also appeared to be enjoyingTravel