I'm a dive instructor!

Guess who's a dive instructor!!!

After nine days of training and two days of examination... I'm a dive instructor!

It was a pretty big ordeal. During the course, we worked all day for nine days doing classroom presentations, skills demonstrations, pool presentations and open water presentations. We learned how to teach, what to teach, went over mass amounts of theory, skills and paperwork. We learned risk management, marketing and sales to boot.

It was a lot of work, a lot of studying, but it paid off because when it came time for exams, we all passed! The exams took two days. The first day was our pool session, where we demonstrated a number of underwater skills, like mask removals, regulator recovery.... things like that. We also had to teach a skill in the pool with the other instructor candidates acting as students. Then we had our 6 written theory exams that night in physics, physiology, dive planning, equipment, general skills/environment and standards. Woo. The next day we had a full day out on the boat to demonstrate teaching in an open water environment and we also had to demonstrate the rescue of an unconscious diver on the surface. We did also manage a fun dive! The last bit of work we had was a classroom presentation on dive theory and THEN... drumroll... four new dive instructors were born!

Me and my instructor-mates. Joe, Luke and Anna. 

Other than dive classes, there hasn't been much else going on in my life. Diving has taken over my life for the last two weeks, but the last few days have been much more chill. Just been hanging around Exmouth, sleeping by the pool and letting my body recover from 11 days of study and stress. 

Today I went on an adventure with Anna, the other girl in my course. We went into a national park nearby and went to check out some of the beaches, gorges and some of the terrain. It was a really great day, pictures to come soon (as soon as I get them off my camera) but its really really beautiful out here. Very very different from Cairns, much more desert-y terrain. Lots of red dirt.

I'm staying in Exmouth until Thursday. Hopefully in that time I'll be going on the whaleshark boat tomorrow and diving Tuesday and Wednesday if everything works out! Then I'll be in Perth, a city in southwest Australia until next Saturday, hanging out, exploring and visiting friends. Then its back to Cairns to try and find a job as a super duper dive instructor!

Love and fishes! 

Whalesharks and mantas and dugongs, OH MY!

Hello from the West Coast! 

I arrived in Exmouth last Thursday... not even a week ago, but SO much has gone on. I'm out here primarily to do my dive instructors course, making me eligible to teach diving (once I pass...). The other reason I'm out here is for the amazing marine wildlife. 

So I got into town on Thursday, but my course didn't start until Monday. In the meantime, aside from studying course work, I was also able to volunteer on some of the shop's boats including.... the WHALESHARK BOAT!!! 

We went out on Sunday and from the beginning it was perfect. The sun was shining and warm (which has not been the norm since I've been out here) and the wind was calm (also not the norm...). On the way out to the reef, before we even got in the water, before we were even at the reef, we saw a dugong, which is Australia's version of a manatee... they're not quite as fat as Florida's sea cows and more brown in color. I've been wanted to see one since I've been out here, so right off the bat, I was ecstatic. 

We first did a small snorkel, just to ensure everyone was comfortable in the water before we started snorkeling with the whalesharks. After ensuring everyone was confident, we set off to find our sharks! On the way to find the sharks, we saw three manta rays feeding in some shallow water, so we decided to get a little sidetracked and jumped in the water! It was incredible, when we got in the water, there was only one of the three hanging around, but it was amazing. I've been waiting to see a manta ray since I started diving and have had some pretty unlucky misses over the years, but finally, FINALLY got to swim with one. 

After our manta ray adventure, we all got back on the boat and went to hunt down one of those big spotty fish... 

Basically, there are spotter planes cruising around looking for big giant sharks. The planes call the boats, and the boats go to the sharks. One of the crew jumps in the water with the shark and after the boat works its way around in a good direction, everyone else jumps in and swims along side, a few meters away. The first shark we found was about 5 or 6 meters long (15-18ish feet) We were able to get in with it for quite a while, it was really cooperative and didn't dive away into the depths. A little later we found a few bigger sharks, closer to 8 meters (22 - 24ish feet). These weren't as cooperative and after a few minutes they dove into the deep blue sea. But still AMAZING to see. 

Now, if a dugong, one manta ray and a total of four different whalesharks wasn't enough, we found an area on the reef where there were about A DOZEN manta rays feeding. We jumped in the water with them and unlike the first manta in the morning that bolted pretty quickly, these ones were not even slightly bothered by our presence. Some of them got so close, one even bumped into me! I'm not sure who it startled more! The most I could see at one time was five. Whenever one swam away, you would turn around and find two more swimming in from the other direction. It was the most incredible moment, something like you would see on Discovery Channel, but in real life. 

Since then, its been a little less fun and excitement... I've started my dive instructor course. It's going to be A LOT of work, 8 or 9 days of classroom and pool training followed up by a very scary two-day exam. It's a ton of theory, mock student training, rescue scenarios and classroom presentations. Like I said, its going to be A LOT of work, but hopefully it will be equally as rewarding. It's been going well so far, but this is only the beginning (cue ominous music...). 

Hopefully I'll have some more amazing stories to add to the not quite as exciting dive training this week! 

Love and fishes!!!

Goodbye Cairns (for now)!

Well, after 7 awesome months in Cairns, its time to see some more sights. I'm off today for Western Australia, a town called Exmouth. There, I'll be doing my dive instructor course. That means I'll be allowed to teach and certify people in scuba diving! Also in Exmouth there's some amazing reefs and best of all, there are WHALESHARKS. Big, beautiful, plankton eating sharks that can get almost 60 feet long and I'm going to swim with them!

I'll be in Exmouth for about three weeks, then I'm going to spend some time in Perth, which is a city about a days drive south. After that I'm looking at coming back to good old Cairns and trying to get a job with my new dive instructors certification!

The last few days in Cairns have been pretty crazy. I had my last day of work two days ago, which was a blast. There's a tradition that happens on boats around here... on your last day of work you get thrown in the marina! The Cairns marina is pretty gross. All those boats in such a small space, I'm sure there's plenty of chemicals... also some crocodiles, dead fish and other horrible things. And I got thrown into it! Twice! It's a tradition forged out of love... or so they say... But its been a great last few days here, making it even harder to leave! The good news is I'm coming back!

So its goodbye to Cairns for now... This has been such an amazing experience so far, I've met so many amazing people that I love to death. I've found such a great little family out here! It's sad to leave, but for now its only temporary. I'm off to new adventures! So expect more blog entries soon, because a lot will be going on that I can tell you about! And hopefully lots of amazing pictures!

Explorations and New Adventures.

A gigantic hello from the Land Down Under!

Life has been treating me so exceptionally well lately. I really can't be happier. I haven't been working as much lately, but its left me more time for adventures!

We took a bus up to one of the local beaches a few days ago, Trinity Beach. It's maybe all of a mile long, but on the south end of the beach there are all these massive volcanic rocks... perfect to climb on!

Obviously if you give me rocks to climb on and rock pools to look in, obviously I'm going to start poking all the animals with sticks. Including this little guy! A little octopus in the rock pool (perhaps a ROCKtopus?)! 

Also, I've just had my first Australian birthday out here! For those of you reading this back home in the US, my birthday is today, but for me and my Aussie buddies, it was yesterday. And it was SUCH a good birthday. I worked during the day, a pretty average work day, all things considered, but the pub after work with all my Cairns friends was perfect. I've got such a great little family out here, from all over the world, but we've all wound up in this awesome city. 

Which brings me to some bittersweet news... I'll be leaving Cairns in a couple weeks to explore some new opportunities on the West Coast of Australia! I'm going to Exmouth, a pretty small town on a big beautiful reef with some big beautiful animals. Ningaloo Reef is one of the largest fringing reefs in the world. Fringing reefs are generally closer to shore than barrier reefs (like the good old GBR in Cairns). The Great Barrier Reef is at least 10-15 miles offshore, where Ningaloo Reef is accessible from the beach. Ningaloo is also an area where whalesharks, manta rays and humpback whales migrate through every winter (read: now). So, I'm heading out there in a couple weeks to get my dive instructors certification! This means I'll be eligible to teach diving after all this, which would open up a lot more working opportunities down the road. Also I'll get to play with whalesharks, which is only a major lifelong dream. :) It's an incredibly bittersweet moment though. I've met some of the most amazing people in Cairns and its a city that's really going to stay with me. I might come back after my little foray out west, but for now its off on a new adventure! 

Love and fishes! 

Fishy Photos...

Guess what I've got???

Pictures! Apparently I've been failing at the photography aspect of my life, so I finally took my camera out on the boat yesterday! Of course, as luck would have it, it was some of the worst conditions I've been out in on Compass. Super windy, rained all day, and terrible visibility. However, my camera is smarter than I am and makes it look like the viz was amazing, so thanks technology! 

I haven't been working a whole lot lately... we've only got one boat running, which automatically slows things down, but we've also had a string of terrible weather, keeping the boat from running for a couple days. Hopefully things will turn around and I get spend some more time on the water soon! But for now, some pictures! 

Giant clam! These guys are super cool... they're about a meter long. Actually heard a story from one of the other boats that goes out to a little sand island... a guy was walking on the reef (a HUGE no-no) and stepped inside a giant clam. Clam grabs onto his leg and holds on for the better part of 40 minutes with only the guys head and shoulders above the water. Yeah man, that's what happens when you try to destroy the reef... it fights back!! 

This is a Titan Triggerfish... they build little rock nests on the reef and if you get too close... they bite! Argh! 

The little yellow dudes in the picture are coral rabbitfish... they always travel in pairs because they mate for life! Or at least that's what I like to tell the tourists. They are almost always in a pair though, they're pretty damn cute. 

And this is the tiniest, babiest lionfish EVER. He could have sat in the palm of my hand, no problem. Cute little zebra lionfish...

And this is my boat! Well, one of them. The other one is still in pieces at the dry dock... but hopefully she'll be back in the water in a couple of weeks! 

Love and fishes! 

Different boats, new adventures!

Hello friends!!

So things on the boat have been a-changing lately! Reef Experience, lovingly called Rex for short, has been my home away from home for the last four months and change. Rex got pulled out of the water about a week ago for some much needed love. She's up in the dry docks getting all new insides. The saloon is getting completely re-done, including a new floor and everything.

In the meantime, we're just running our other boat, Compass. Compass is the cheaper boat, aimed at backpackers and low-budget travelers. It's a slow single-hull boat, taking about two and a half hours to get out to the reef, compared to Rex's hour and a half. BUT Compass is a hell of a lot of fun. It's a different crowd, a lot more chill and relaxed. I started working on Compass this week and it's taken a bit of getting used to, since its a whole new boat that I've barely worked on with whole new quirks. But this boat has really grown on me. It's a nice relaxed time with less passengers than Rex, so I've had a lot of time to hop in for some snorkels and dives. Even took a couple of pictures the other day!

We've had beautiful clear water lately... the weather has been AMAZING. Hopefully it keeps holding! 

This is Frank. He's our local Maori wrasse... it's hard to tell in this picture, but he's about 4 and a half feet long. Frank doesn't like being photographed, so he's rather hard to chase down. But he's awesome. 

Backtracking just a pinch... as I said, Rex is on refit, which I get to help out with! Something that's completely outside my comfort zone, for sure... I went out and bought the tiniest steel-cap boots I could possibly find. A size 3 in men's thank you. I felt rather silly. I've only done one day so far, but it was pretty cool! The floor of the saloon is gone, which exposes the engine room and the hulls and all kinds of other things I've never really seen. I'm not very good at this taking Rex apart, but I'm looking forward to putting her back together again!

Oh, one other rather entertaining anecdote that happened today.... our glass bottom boat lives out on the reef permanently. We pick it up at the reef, use it for the tours during the day and then it stays on the reef until the following day when it all happens again. It's a small boat, only maybe 15 or 20 feet long. Now, the reef that the glass bottom boat lives on is rather remote. There's nothing around for miles and miles. This means the glassy is a very popular perch for sea birds. Sea birds poop. Therefore, our glassy is constantly covered in bird poop and it's a pain to clean every day... it can be time consuming depending on how many birds were around, and its just downright gross. Our captain came up with a plan a few days ago and went out and bought some of those fake owls that they use to scare birds on land. The only problem is these birds that are causing our problems are SEAbirds. Birds that almost never go to the mainland, except maybe to breed. They've never ever seen an owl!! They have no idea that it's supposed to be scary! We'll see if it works, but my money's on NOPE! The boat does look pretty silly with two big plastic owls on top of it though! 

That's about all that's new and exciting for now! Sending lots of love back home! 

Love and fishes! 

Whales and cuttlefish and power tools, oh my!

Alright, so firstly a big sloppy apology for my lack of posts. This is due to a handful of reasons.

1. Nothing super fun and exciting and out of the ordinary was happening UNTIL
2. My internet died again.
3. Now, I would love to have gone to an internet cafe and write a post, BUT
4. I've been working almost every day of the last two weeks due to Easter holidays.

Basically the day I was going to post something cool and exciting, the internet died and it has just now been resurrected. I blame the kangaroos. Or the wombats.

So I do have quite a bit to update on... firstly WHALES.

Last week, it was a totally normal, average day at work. About 80 people on the boat, light winds, pretty good visibility. One of my co-workers and I were standing on the snorkel platform gearing up people and getting them in the water. I saw a big splash out of the corner of my eye. Now, this is not unusual, there are lots of shallow bits of coral around, and waves break over top of them all the time. But then I saw a big fin come out of the splash!

Initially we thought it was a huge school of dolphins, but then we realized they were huge and black, which can mean only one thing! Pilot whales!

They look pretty similar to dolphins, but they're much larger and black. But these guys were amazing. They were maybe 50 meters from the boat at the closest and they were jumping and diving and breaching. Our passengers were slightly intrigued, whereas the crew were standing on the deck, mask and fins in hand, ready to jump in if they got any closer. In total there were probably close to fifty whales, including some babies! Throughout the day, we would hear them occasionally in the water, which meant they hadn't gone far, but we didn't see them again after the morning. 

A few days ago, I had another really fun animal encounter. It was a really chill day on the boat, only 30 passengers, so I was able to jump in for a quick fun dive. I found this awesome cuttlefish, which are one of my favorite critters for sure. They're really smart and you can tell when you look at them that they're really thinking about things. They change color and pattern really quickly, giving them some amazing camouflage. But I chased this guy around for the better part of my 20 minute dive, watching him change colors and get more comfortable around be and letting me get closer and closer and closer. Cuttlefish are AWESOME. 

So now, things on the boat are going to start changing a lot... we're pulling out Reef Experience (my boat) for refit. She's going to be all nice and shiny... getting new floors, new chairs, a whole new interior. The boat's going to be out of the water for at least 6 weeks. During that time we'll still be running Compass, which is our company's other boat. I know I'll definitely be helping out with refit things, which means I need to go buy steel-toed boots... what? But it'll be interesting to see the boat come out of the water and get to have a hand in some of the work. Chances are I'll also be working on Compass a little bit. I'm not entirely sure how its all going to go just yet, but Rex comes out of the water on Tuesday, so I'll be able to let you know soon! 

Now, I pinky pinky swear it will not be so long until my next post. I'm sure I'll have some interested stories to tell about me in steel-toed boots with power tools. 

Love and fishes!