It was awesome and so jam packed with diving I haven't had time to write... Not to mention cell/data service in the middle of the sea is not that great. I promise to write and show some photos soon.
If you haven't spent an extended period of time on a boat, it is a different way of living... especially on a dive boat. It is kind of like living in a continuous earthquake, where everywhere you go, and can go, is rocking back and forth, up and down, sometimes up to several feet at a time... that's why we spend so much time in the water... It doesn't move that much. It takes a few days to get your "sea legs" and now that I'm off, I'm trying to get my land legs back. We had some pretty strong winds and large waves so at times, we were a rockin'!! The First Mate told me that last night alone, we went a couple of hundred kilometers through 3-5 meter breaking waves. It was a hard nights sleep... luckily, I stopped drinking early (it was the last night party...).
On a liveaboard, you are on the boat for one primary reason... to maximize down time. If you're not familiar, a "Liveaboard" is where you set sail (well, get the motors running, we didn't actually have any sails) and don't touch shore again for a week... and all there is to do is dive!! Well, there was a pretty good chef on board (other than me) so we did eat pretty well too. So its basically a week of dive, eat, dive, eat, dive, eat dive, drink a little if you're up for it, & sleep... and that was just the first day. I averaged 4 hours in the water each day (4 dives) and I made a total of 24 dives; that was approximately 1/6 th of my time on the boat in the water.
This trip had few added bonuses... it was the season's last boat trip during the Minke Whale migration through Australia. Minke Whale season (look at my webpage for a picture one) only lasts for a few weeks. So on top of diving, we spent countless hours in search of Minke Whales. If we had an encounter (ie they decide to play with us-there are very strict rule about interacting with the whales so they have to initiate the contact/interaction) we would jump in the water to snorkel with them.
If you are like me, I didn't really know what they are until I got here. I was told we would be looking for them, but I had no idea how big a deal it is... This is a species of whale that was just identified and categorized as a separate species in the 1980's!! Which if you ask me, is pretty incredible that anything this big (5-11 meters/15-35 feet and weighing ~4-5 tons) hadn't been identified until just a mere 30 years ago. Australia is an interesting place... As part of the Minke Whale experience, we have one of the world's leading authorities on Minkes on board with us, Dr. Alistair Birtles. He gave us talks and presentations throughout the trip, sharing his knowledge of Minkes, and helping us to find and see them whenever we are in prime sighting areas. He also got in and spent numerous hours in the water interacting with them when they were in the area. Alistair is onboard as part of his ongoing Minke research project (www.minkewhaleproject.org), and when we had an encounter with a whale, we become part of his research too. We documented the encounter, detailed the whale behavior, and gave our impressions of our experience. It is really great that the dive industry here has such an active part in this type of work and supports Alistair and others like him.
I didn't realize how big a deal this is when I booked the trip, but having the opportunity to snorkel with a whale is pretty damn cool!! I did see a couple the other day, and it was incredible (no pics because I hadn't got my camera up and running yet, and never got a shot myself). They are an amazing creature. Not to mention, being in the water with something that big and having it come up to you to play or show off, is absolutely amazing!! I was only in the water for a few passes of the whales, but it was pretty damn cool.
Well, got to go for now... more reef action to come.
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Location:Great Barrier Reef, Australia
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