Day 162 April 20th 2007, Navigation - Cairns - Great Barrier Reef, PADI Course Day 4

We completed a total of 4 dives on the reef today including one night dive. The first 2 dives of the day completed our PADI certification and we were then set loose to explore on our own for the 3rd dive.

Studying hard onboard

Shelley read me the riot act again with regard to navigation and I once again tried to explain how I would ensure that we didn't get lost. Our first dive together was great, a sense of freedom no longer having to follow an instructor round. We saw an impressive Maori Wrasse, some small Reef Sharks and a grazing Green Sea Turtle, not to mention the 1000's of reef fish. After about 40 minutes we realised that we had gone a little too far and didn't have enough air to get back to the boat underwater. Surfacing we snorkeled back to the boat where Shelley pointed out on the chart exactly where I had gone wrong ;-)

Sunset from the dive deck

The last dive of the day was a night dive, jumping into pitch black water with just a little hand torch was a bit daunting especially as one of the first things I caught a glimpse of was quite a large reef shark. We were back with our instructor again and through what I think must be instinct all 8 of us followed him round like sheep, bunched together and continually bumping into one another. We didn't really see that much probably because of the noise we all made, there was a large Green Sea Turtle that had returned from the open sea to rest of the night.

One of the night dives leaving the boat

People have said to us that diving at night is better but after our first night dive I'm not that convinced and wouldn't rush to do another one.

Highlights: Getting lost on the reef