Great Barrier Reef

Today we were diving the Great Barrier Reef! We were up early so that we could get everything together and be ready for our 7:40am pickup from the hostel. I had chosen the dive boat "Ocean Free" because they did introductory dives (which Alyssa wanted to try) and they had boats with a maximum of 35 people, whereas the other dive boats travelled with up to 100 people. I was down looking for our driver in reception at 7:43am as no one had yet come into the main hostel area looking for us. Alyssa thinks she is always on time, but she was still in the room brushing her teeth. Apparently the driver had already come and left! This was insane as I had been there waiting for him. I asked the receptionist to call the company and have them send him back. He arrived back at the hostel at 8:40am and we jumped into the van. He began berrating us with lines like "had to much to drink last night and couldn't get out of bed, eh?" to which I responded, "I'm almost 30, don't party and have been up since 6:00am. Not to mention I was downstairs waiting for you." He said that we were liars, that we were staying at a backpacker hostel so that's why he had assumed our personalities and that we had lied about being downstairs. By this point, we still hadn't moved from in front of the hostel so I said I didn't care and could he please drive the van that we paid extra for I'm to pick us up in so that we didn't miss our boat. As he drove, he wouldn't stop attacking us so as I checked out from it, Alyssa took over and laid into him. I've never been treated like that by someone who I have paid for a service. It was absolutely unreal. When we arrived at the boat dock, we complained to the boat company who had arranged the bus transfer, but they really couldn't have cared less. They half heartedly said they'd pass our complaint along and told us not to let it ruin our morning. It was so frustrating.
We got to the boat which was definitely smaller than the other boats, which is why it can hold fewer people. There were only five certified divers aboard, which was a good number so that we could all travel as a small group. There were also five people trying the introductory dive, so they were split into two groups to provide more individual attention for the divers. We rode for about two hours on the boat before we reached the outer reef just beyond Green Island. Some of the great inner reef dives take four days living on a boat to reach and we just didn't have the time for a trip like that.

Once we arrived, the certified divers went first. The dive was shallow but beautiful. There were tons of fish, different reef and giant clams. I think it's hard for anything to live up to the expectations in my head though. I had always envisioned diving at the Great Barrier Reef to be akin to swimming in a marine zoo, with tons of amazing wildlife surrounding you. Of course, the vastness and inherent variability of the ocean means that this will never be the case and so I was destined to be a little disappointed. I did have a good dive though. The water was nice and warm so I could just dive in my bikini which I always enjoy.
After I dove, the first group of inductory divers went which wasn't Alyssa's group, so we snorkeled together taking pictures of interesting fish and giant clams. They then called us in for lunch. There was a great looking buffet set out as everyone climbed out of the water. They told Alyssa to put a plate together which they would wrap up so that she could do her dive while we were all eating. We thought that was really annoying but there wasn't much choice. I wanted to get some pictures of her dive, so I was quickly eating my lunch, when I found a live worm wriggling around in my salad. I did my best not to throw up over the side of the boat and contain my disgust. If you know anything about me and food, you know that was the end of lunch for me. One of the guides asked why I was no longer eating, so I told her and she removed the worm from my plate. Damage done though I'm afraid. Instead of finishing lunch, I jumped into the water and got some pictures of Alyssa with her guide. They do the introductory dives with a guide literally strapped to your arm so that they guide you everywhere you go. It's such a shallow dive anyways that there really is very little danger of anything going wrong. After the dive, Alyssa said she enjoyed it but that she could see just as much snorkeling. I can't say that I agree with her assessment, but I'm glad she tried it.
We took the small boat ashore to Green Island to walk around for an hour. Green Island was just a huge tourist trap and was filled to the brim with Asian tourists. There was a German guy named Steffen on our tour by himself, so we let him tag along with us as we walked around the island. It was pretty but there wasn't much to see our do.

We headed back to the boat where I did my second dive and everyone else did some more snorkeling. Alyssa was awarded with her certificate of diving which I thought was a nice touch. We then began the two hour ride back to Cairns, during which they gave us tons more food which I was grateful for after the lunch debacle. Steffen even bought us some beers which is nice after a day of diving (too bad beer in Australia has 3% alcohol).

One of the boys working of the boat named Jeremy recommended that we go to Gilligans that night for "Bogan Bingo". We didn't really know what that meant but figured, why not? Steffen agreed to meet us there at 8:00pm, so we went back to the hostel to shower and change.

When we arrived at Gilligans and found Steffen, we sat down at a table and were given bingo cards. Apparently "Bogan" means white trash, so there were all sorts of redneck sayings and games that you had to play throughout the bingo game. They handed out prizes like a can of beans or coozies (which they call stubby holders). It was pretty hilarious. Jeremy did show up later in the evening and so we had a ton of his friends playing the game with us too. Turned out to be a pretty crazy Wednesday night!

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