Diving on the Great Barrier Reef.

Ok Folks,

Here is the one you have all been waiting for. ;)

Diving.

On the great Barrier Reef.

When I put this one on my bucket list a few years back, I never would have thought it would be possible to do this so soon!
   It all started when dad said there was a chance we might get to go to Australia, of course, I immediately said "Can we Scuba if we go?" Now, I didn't know a thing about Scuba, how much it cost, what training you needed...
Not Anything.
After it was decided however, mom and I found a Dive Center. Initially, just myself and my bro were going to dive, but after experiencing what it was like in a "Demo" class, dad and my other bro joined in.
   Two weeks and a lot of training later.
We became Certified Open Water Divers. :)

Once in Australia, we spent a lot of time discussing where exactly we were going to dive. Turns out, The best Great Barrier Reef Locations are north. About 20 hours drive time from where we were. We finally decided as a family though, that since a plane ride was much cheaper from Surfer's Paradise to Cairns... Than from USA to Cairns.... We would go there. ;)
   Honestly, I would have been happy diving anywhere, but the fact we actually flew up to the reef... takes the cake.

The day of the dive had excellent weather. A little breeze, 75 degrees, and not a cloud in the sky. We rode out for about an hour on a dive charter we selected. It was TUSAdive. The staff were Excellent, boat very nice, and the equipment very nice. I had rented a camera the day before, and was allowed to use that instead of their more expensive ones on board.

We dove in two places, for a total of three dives. "Hasting's Reef", and then "The Fish Bowl". Each dive lasted about 20-30 minutes, depending on how much air we had left in our tank. I always had the most air left, and dad was always the first to run out. ;)

If you think God's Creation is cool on the surface... it is even moreso underwater. It amazed me to see the depth of design and intricacies in every piece of coral, fish, and shells. The colors, the textures, the size... all so vast and unique....
We truly have an awesome Creator.

I am guessing now you'd like to see some pics... I did take all of these, and it was fun to do so. :)

One of the first things we saw... Nemo! :)

Branch Coral

Lettuce Coral

Toadstool Coral

Brain Coral

A mix of corals.

Tree Coral

Great Star Coral (The Tan one) And Toadstool Coral on top of that. 

A Giant Clam, and a mix of Various corals.

Some Yellow Damselfish in Stag coral.

A Butterfly Fish

A fleeing Parrotfish

A photogenic Parrotfish. ;)

Another Butterfly fish.

Parrotfish and some Table Coral.

A Giant Clam. It was over 2 feet long.

A "Reefscape"

Clownfish.

More Clownfish...

And another... Clownfish! ;)

A Triggerfish.

My favorite Butterfly fish

A Miniature Grouper fish. Excellent Camo.

Coral and a Butterfly fish.

Another Reefscape.

A Sea Turtle. :)

Aaaaand, if the pictures weren't enough, here is a video I also made while diving:

Mom and Beth didn't miss out on the awesome views either. They got to snorkel on the top of the reef and saw a lot of the same thing we did.
They just had to fight waves and current... and were colder. ;)

Diving is an amazing experience. If you ever have a chance, definitely get certified and take a dive.

You won't regret it. :)