On the Bottom Half

Dived Out!

Shortly after I wrote the last post, I got a phone call from Deep Sea Divers Den about my vounteering position. I was under the impression that I was to come by on Monday to confirm that OceanQuest (OQ) was going to leave Tuesday morning; however, when they called, they wanted me at the shop in 30 mins ready to meet the boat and leave that afternoon! Not only were cyclonic winds still blowing a little, we were going to meet a boat and head out on the ocean the same day as a cat 5 storm made landfall 100 km south of Cairns!

Anyway, things went alright and the entire crew were hearded into a van and driven to the wharf. For big storms like Larry, boats are often driven up an estuary to avoid the biggest seas, and OceanQuest was no exception. The Trinity River flows beside Cairns out into the sea and there was an exodus of ships floating down the river back to the newly cycloned port. We loaded up, then got all our passengers, and bounced our way out to Saxon Reef, a 3 hour cruise away. Being the old salty I am, I was only mildly yicky from the crashing of the boat...

Normally, OQ stays out to sea for 4 months at a time. The dive company has two other boats it uses for day trips and for ferrying liveaboard passengers out to OQ everyday. OQ is kind of a floating hotel of sorts, but it has the musty scent of mildew and old age that comes with well used boats. Apparently a converted fishing trawler, the boat is captained by two sea salts, one of whom has a strong chest pounding manhood about being the only 'God' on board his ship - probably a fairly typical thing among skippers of boat. Bob and Noel are their names: Noel is quite a friendly chap and Bob is quite sweet and normally very friendly. However, on the first night, we were only at anchor and therefore the dive crew were put on watch to make sure we didn't drag. I was sharing the diving crew cabin space but volunteers are not dive crew... Anyway, one of the crew on watch got the depth sounder to display some menu that Bob was unable to easily clear and he flipped out at the whole watch crew, waking them all at 0500 hrs. He brought the whole gang up to the bridge (I was there too because I'm not silly enough to disobey an angry skipper and he did tell everyone in the dive cabins to get up there) and told them what happened, swore quite vehemently, then told the dive crew to acid wash the deck and get the boat back in order before breakfast.

Anyway, I found a groove and learned that when working in a kitchen on dishes, you can do the job well or do it fast, not both. I learned I was far too thorough with cleaning stuff ever to get done on time, so I gritted my teeth and left the corners and edges... What a learning experience that was. Anyway, I impressed the staff suitably enough that when the chef changed out with another two days ago, he said that 'we want to keep him' when asked about the volunteer! Ha! I was able to get everything done and do 4 dives a day - that totals 33 dives since the 10th of March! Hoo-wah... I wish I could do that to my flying logbook!

One dive story: there is a super cool fish called a Maori Wrasse. One in particular - Wally - lives at a dive site on Norman Reef. When I went for my dive there Wally was hanging around the back of the boat and would come to greet each diver that came down the mooring line. This fish is probably from the top of my head to my knees in length and swims gracefully up to you, checking you out. He lets you swim with him and pet him while you are swimming together. It's totally the coolest thing you can do with a fish!

Okay, another diving story: if you are ever diving at night at a place with lots of sharks, but more importantly ones that are too small to eat you, bring an empty plastic bottle down on the dive. When you find a suitable spot, hide the light from your flashlight ('torch' as they call it), fill the bottle with some air from your regulator, then roll & squeeze the bottle in your hands. The sound is surprisingly loud and boy do sharks love it! I was down with the chef and he did this trick and out of the inky darkness shot 7 sharks to check out the 'commotion'. They zoom in at full speed, then catch a glimpse of some rather odd looking fish, and zoom away in a flash. Too cool...

Update complete!

posted by Kyle @ 17:49