My next stop, Cairns, is about 3000 kilometres north of Melbourne and currently home to my friends Jon and Melissa. Jon and I used to be on the varsity rowing team together at Simon Fraser University. There’s nothing like showing up for 5:30 am practices, in spandex tights, 5 mornings a week and through all kinds of weather to cement lifelong friendships.
Jon moved to Australia several years ago to go to med. school and is now practising medicine at the hospital in Cairns. Melissa, who has been with Jon since those rowing days, is a teacher at a local school.
This week, Jon has mornings off, so we spend our days going on walks and hikes in the area. Melissa works during the day and has evenings off, so we eat dinner, drink wine, and contemplate the meaning of life together. I feel like this routine gives me a good balance. As for Jon and Melissa though, they basically don’t end up seeing each other when their schedules end up falling this way.
Beyond reconnecting with close friends, Cairns is exciting because it is also a gateway to the Great Barrier Reef.
On my very first day in Cairns, I head in to town to book a snorkelling trip for later in the week. There are so many boats that do the trip daily, I feel overwhelmed by the options. Walking around town with 30-some-odd flyers in my hand, I must look like a walking dollar sign to the many tour agents. Unsurprisingly, one of them jumps at the opportunity to go over the options. I think his name is Kyle. Let’s call him Kyle.
Kyle insists I consider also doing a scuba dive here- something that probably earns him even more commission. Initially, I reject the idea outright with the assertion that there is “no way” I would ever do that. But Kyle is persistent.
I get a bit a more curious and ask some questions. Fine, I ask a lot of questions. Kyle is also quite patient, a quality that speaks to his Canadian roots perhaps. He answers every single question I have about the introductory scuba dive: the maximum time is 30 minutes; the maximum depth is 10 feet; the maximum number of divers per instructor is four; and so on.
I remain hesitant. Deep down (no pun intended) I’m still scared that if my equipment malfunctions, I don’t have enough knowledge to make a fix and that could result in severe injury or death. I always thought dying under water would be one of the harshest ways to die (who thinks about this, I know) and having had a friend die somewhat recently this way, I remained especially apprehensive.
Kyle offers a fair solution. I could reserve a spot for the dive and if I decide I don’t want to do it once I’m on the boat, I don’t have to and my dive fee will be refunded. This seems like a perfect option in that it only delays my decision-making, which feels like a good decision, so that’s what I chose.
I spend the next day mostly doing three things:
-texting a scuba diver friend at home (“tell me everything I need to know”);
-asking Jon how many scuba-related hospital patients he had seen in Cairns; and
-Google researching to the nth degree.
I don’t know if any of this “research” actually helps, but it does get me a bit more comfortable with the idea of diving.
***
The day to go to the Great Barrier Reef has finally arrived. On the boat, there are about 18 of us doing a dive. There are 2 instructors, meaning only 8 people can go at a time, so we were randomly broken down in to groups of 8, 8, and 2. I was put in the group of 2, which seems perfect because it means that the instructor will only have to only deal with two of us if something “bad” happens.
We go through a safety briefing which covers the basics of our equipment and only the most essential of hand signals. Following that, we complete a true or false quiz, which seems to satisfy some superficial liability requirement as opposed to an attempt to test our actual dive knowledge. We are told that there will be a final “briefing” once we have our gear on and are ready to go for our dive.
After successfully completing the “test,” we are assigned our dive times for the day. My “group” is going third, which means I have time to go snorkelling first.
I time my snorkel perfectly and come back on board just as the second group is getting ready to go for their dive. One of the dive instructors see me get back on the boat and says “hey, good news, someone isn’t feeling well and you can join the second group and go out now.”
“Now?” I sheepishly respond, trying to force out some excitement at this “fortunate” circumstance.
I don’t know if I’m ready now. Later seemed good.
“Yeah,” the instructor replies, making up for the excitement I lacked, “go get your gear on.”
“But,” I say, searching for an out. “I was just snorkelling and missed the final briefing,” I cleverly respond, thinking it would necessarily delay my dive.
“Easy stuff,” he says, not in the least bit concerned with this situation. He then repeats a few things we had already learned from the morning and proclaimed me ready to go under water.
“Ok,” I think to myself. “I’m going to do this,” I silently yet assuredly tell myself. I strap on my weights, throw the oxygen tank on my back, and head to the back platform of the boat. Then, I take a giant step overboard and into the ocean. Splash.
The four of us who are in the same group with one instructor (Ada) are all in the water by the boat and doing some basic equipment testing before starting our dive. Suddenly, the guy right next to me starts freaking out. He says he isn’t feeling well and doesn’t think he can dive (seriously, another one?). The dive crew get him out of the water and it all seems a bit chaotic. Not exactly the best start to this dive, but at least Jon is currently on rotation in the Emergency Department in case anything happens.
I decided I needed to calm the F down and turn off all the thinking in my mind- especially the lawyer stuff about accidents and liability. Instead of thinking of the millions of possibilities of things that could go wrong, I decide to think about the millions of people who will never get to dive in their life because of a medical condition or a lack of money, or whatever. I’m one of the lucky ones who can get this undersea experience. People from all over come here to dive and that’s what I want to do now.
With that, Ada gets an “all good” signal from each of her students and we start descending.
The dive experience is thrilling, even if difficult to describe accurately. We see a lot of fish and coral; the highlight is a reef shark only a few meters away. More than just the sights, the underwater experience engages so many other senses as well.
The pressure of the water feels like a giant hug.
It’s not silent under the water, but it is peaceful. It is a calm no one can disturb too easily because, and I’m sure that librarians would love this fact, no one is able to talk. Everything has to be communicated by hand signals and mime- a humbling challenge- forcing us to only communicate the most important things.
The 30 minutes go by quite fast. I’m happy to have experienced it. Maybe this is only a “once in a lifetime” kind of experience, but I’m already looking forward to trying it again someday.
The day does not go off without a hitch though. On our way back to Cairns, one of the boat’s sails starts malfunctioning. So we get “stuck” at sea for a few additional hours. Really, it turns in to a free sunset cruise, with an open bar, and an impromptu sign along. In effect, the perfect way to end an amazing trip.
***
My last full day in Cairns features a drive out to the Daintree Rainforest. I feel like I’ve already written enough, so I’ll simply let you enjoy the pictures.
Impermanent Establishments 