On to Catalina

There's a small diving shop around the corner from my house called Beach Cities Scuba - I bought my underwater camera housing as I mentioned a few months ago. When I was in the shop back in April they had a white board displaying all of their dive trips. The next one went to Catalina Island on June 18th. You might say that Catalina is well known as a good dive spot. People also take day and weekend trips to explore the island but we weren't going to make landfall.

 

If you've ever heard of Catalina, it might be from the song Pasadena by a great band called Modern Skirts. I can play that song on repeat for days.

Anyway, Catalina is also known for its kelp forests and cold water marine life. I'd never done any cold water diving and I heard it was really different than all of the reef diving I did in Australia. I signed up for the trip but was nervous about the water temperature. They rented me a 7 mm wetsuit with hood, gloves and boots but I was still skeptical. All of that plus three meals and a full day on the boat with three dives came out to about $250, so overall it was a pretty good price.

I got up at about 5 am on Saturday morning and drove for 45 minutes up to the marina at San Pedro. The day started off kind of gloomy and uninviting until we shoved off and cruised through a pod of dolphins.



I had forgotten to even worry about sea sickness pills and I was pretty tired from the early morning wake up. I found a spot in the middle of the boat to minimize the rocking and dozed on and off for the 2.5 hour ride. I felt it coming on at one point but managed to keep my breakfast where it belonged. On a day with rougher water, I'm not sure I would've held out.

The dive master paired me up with another solo diver named Alex and they let us all do our own thing. Every other time I've gone diving, it's been with a small group that sticks with the lead. We were really just left to wander on our own. Neither of us had any idea of where to go and I think we probably missed out on the best parts of the dives. Lesson learned - even if you don't have to stick with the dive master, do it. You'll probably get more out of it.

That being said, it was still a pretty cool trip. The wetsuit kept me surprisingly warm and I got a few good pictures. The fish weren't as varied or colorful (except the bright orange Garibaldi pictured below), but I did see a horned shark... not as scary as it sounds. A few of the others saw a 4 foot eagle ray which would've been cool. Again... stick with the dive master.

So here are the pictures. I'm considering another trip to make full use of my camera before the water temperature drops. A day trip to explore the island itself is probably in order as well.

Garibaldi, the California state fish

 

Weaving in and out of the kelp forest

 

Horn shark - they have stingers like rays

 

Sea hare - the size of a small cat

 

Spotted this rock fish for Alex

Best of the Great Barrier Reef

As a part of my Best of Australia recommendations, these are my opinions on the Great Barrier Reef. When you go to Australia, you have to go to the reef. That's all there is to it. I took 7 days for my drive up the coast, but you can do quicker if you fly. There is a lot to see between Sydney and the Whitsundays if you decide to drive. Byron Bay is a cool surf town and the scenery is much different than Sydney or Melbourne. I didn't spend any time in Brisbane, but I'm sure there are things to see.

You'll have to balance between time and budget on how you want to get there. You can find one way flights to Hamilton Island from $100 up depending on the season. You'll want to book a sailing trip from Airlie Beach. I took a boat called Summertime and spent 3 days there. It was the best vacation of my life.  There are all kinds of different boat trip packages, styles and formats.  Do a little research on Google and find one that works for you.  If you're into diving or want to be, get your license before you go.  But even if you can't do that, a lot of the boats will let you do introductory dives without one.

If you love the reef as much as me and have even more time to see it, I would also suggest adding Cairns to your itinerary. It's further out of the way from the bigger cities and is only mildly different in sightseeing options, but any excuse to go diving and sailing is worth it for me. #1 is the Whitsundays, #2 is Cairns as far as priorities. If you can do either, you'll have an amazing time.

Summertime - Day III

Curious Priscilla joins our dive

See Days I and II for the other parts of the sailing trip.

Our first dive when we woke up in the morning was in the same exact spot as the night dive from the day before, but it couldn't have been more different. We were swarmed with all kinds of fish. Flo picked up a few pieces of dead hard coral and started clicking them together. The next thing I know, this massive - I mean MASSIVE fish cruises into the middle of our group.  His name is Priscilla - yes his name.  Supposedly there used to be a pair of these Humphead wrasse, Elvis (male) and Priscilla (female).  When Elvis died, Priscilla switched sexes.

On our second dive I set a new personal depth record at 27 meters.  We dropped down a bunch of reef faces which felt like cliffs as you looked over the edge.  I had bought a few disposable underwater cameras for the trip but most of the pictures didn't come out well.  The one you see here was taken by Flo with a professional underwater camera.  As you get deeper bright colors fade out (I won't bore you with the science) and all you are left with is blue and green.  Professional units have a white balance setting that will color correct shots taken at different depths.  The next time I go diving I'm going to get one.  I have wasted over $100 on disposable cameras over the past few years and I'm guessing a good one will run about $500.

Great pic minus the finger

As we wrapped up the afternoon a bunch of us went snorkeling one last time and I got a highlight of the trip.  A Hawksbill turtle glided past me so I started to follow it.  The others weren't close so I waved them to come over.  We followed him for about 10 minutes and he didn't mind a bit.  I dove underneath him and really wanted to grab onto his shell for a ride (though I didn't).  I got one of the guys to take a picture of me but he put his finger partly over the lens.  I would've taken another one had I known before they were developed - another reason to get a real camera.  The turtle finally turned out to sea and we let him go.  We got back in the boat and headed back to Airlie Beach for one more night at Magnum's.

The entire group all met out for drinks with the crew later that night.  I had done five total dives so they gave me a t-shirt and DVD with all of the pics from the weekend.  I really hit it off with Kat (something about the British accent gets me - even Minnie Driver from Good Will Hunting).  We said our goodbyes to everyone and caught the ferry back to Hamilton Island in the morning.  It dropped us off right at the airport and we were back to Sydney.

Summertime passengers and crew back on shore

All in all, this was absolutely the best vacation I've taken as an adult.  From the drive and the surfing up the coast to Surfers Paradise to Hamilton Island and everything that we did on the boat, I really encourage everyone to #1 go to Australia and #2 book at LEAST a sailing trip on the Great Barrier Reef, if not the entire trip that Brian and I completed. Now it's back to the real world where I have 3 weeks of work left before I say goodbye to everyone and go home.

Summertime - Day II

See Days I and III for the other parts of the sailing trip.

After breakfast the next morning the crew unloaded the kayaks from the roof of the boat and we got to paddle around the shallows of Hook Island.  Our main focus was in a mangrove forest because that’s where the juvenile sharks feed.  Brian and I quietly paddled through the trees and roots along with the rest of the group.  After a while we saw 3 or 4 black tipped reef sharks, maybe 3 feet in length, darting in and out of the shallows.  We also saw a sea turtle a little further out but we didn’t get too close.

We went back to the boat and coasted around the edge of Hook Island to our first dive spot.  I went diving once in Cairns back in April, but the last time before that was in 2004.  I had some difficulty with the provided masks that time, so I brought my own on this trip.  I recommend that you bring your own if you snorkel and/or scuba dive.  It's an extra thing to pack but it can prevent a ruined dive if your mask won't stop leaking.

There were only a few certified divers which was nice because it wasn't too crowded.  The water was crystal clear and the colors in the reef were indescribable.  I have never seen so many fish - you will just have to see it for yourself.  My only regret is that I didn't see any sharks or turtles (while diving).  We ended up doing two dives and though I was nervous at first, I started to get comfortable in the water.  One thing about diving - the faster and deeper you breathe, the faster you use your air.  You can extend your dive by up to 15 minutes or more just by taking calm, measured breaths.  Certification classes teach you to not hold your breath because of the damage it can do to your lungs when changing depth.  Also, the dive depth also determines the dive time.  So our first dive only lasted about half an hour because I was the first one to run low on air.  The second dive lasted 7 minutes longer, with dives the next day going even longer.

Brian and a few others interested in diving were allowed to go down in an 'Intro to Diving' type course.  The crew gave them the basic instructions and they went down to depths that were safe even if you shot straight back up to the top.  Brian had difficulty the first time, but after some one on one instruction he got it down and had a blast.  In between dives we could jump off the boat and go swimming or just lay on the deck to rest and catch some sun.

We docked near Hayman Island and after dinner Flo convinced me to go on a night dive.  Everyone else was relaxing on the boat after dinner and we started gearing up.  Some of the procedures are different since it's pitch black in the water and the only light came from our two flashlights.  We tied glow sticks to our tanks and took the outboard boat to a spot fairly close to shore.  Going into the water was so different compared to day dives.  When you go under water it is always quiet - all you have to hear is your own breathing and the bubbles from your regulator.  When the water is pitch black it takes on a whole new level of silence.

I never thought about it before, but I guess that fish retreat to the coral during the night to sleep.  Every now and then we would see a head peek out from the reef or catch a glimpse of a tail fin at the edge of the flashlight beam, but for the most part the ocean was empty.  Flo went to a spot he frequented where a big grouper or cod (I don't remember) hunted at night.  If you shined your flashlight on a small fish the big guy was supposed to dart in and eat it.  Unfortunately we couldn't find him so the dive was mostly disappointing when it came to wildlife.  We did see a crab and a big lobster, but that was it.  I still enjoyed seeing the reef in a different way.

When I got back to the boat it looked like one of the other boats anchored about a quarter mile away from us.  You could tell it was one of the party boats that I mentioned in the last post but I don't remember its name.  We ended up sitting up on the deck and looking at the stars - I have never seen so many, even in the Kentucky countryside.  Cap'n Pete pointed out some of the constellations, including the Southern Cross (also, Orion is upside down below the equator).  There was no way to take a picture without some serious hardware, so you'll just have to believe that I saw the entire Milky Way across the sky.  I found this picture online which gives you an idea, but imagine that it stretches from east to west, all of the way across the sky above you.

Sleeping was pretty easy that night from all of the activity during the day.  We had one more day to get a few more dives in before it was time to go home.