Since he was a kid, Brook has wanted to dive on the Great Barrier Reef. And so, for his birthday in the midst of this whole adventure, we decided to spend a few days diving.
First, it was two days in the classroom and pool while Erin did her dive training and Brook sat in as a refresher. Then onto the Pro Dive boat for three days. While Erin wrapped up her open water certification, Brook took an advanced course and did his first ever night dive, complete with several sharks - which are largely harmless on the GBR thanks to an abundance of fish. After the training, we had another 5 dives together (11 total for Brook, and 9 for Erin) in great conditions. For the divers out there, we had mild chop and light rain at times on the surface, but minimal current and 20-25 meters of visibility most dives. Great conditions and great dive sites combined for some spectacular wildlife encounters, including the aforementioned sharks (three species, including a rare woebegone), lots of turtles, buffalo parrotfish, and giant wrasse that like to play with divers. Plus lots of pretty coral, nudibranches, lionfish, giant clams and much more. We couldn't capture it all on our hired camera, plus we're still working on our underwater camera skills, but here are a few of the highlights: https://plus.google.com/photos/103829313469224560701/albums/6021015688754455025.
We hope you enjoy them as much as we did... Now it's off to Australia's west coast for some more diving - including a trip to find whale sharks and manta rays, if we're lucky...
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