Two dives done in my Advanced Open Water

Great to be back diving. Today we did a drift dive where you let the current rip you along and another dive in pretty good visibility along a ridge line ( Blizzard Ridge ). Saw a wobbygong shark, giant crayfish, olive sea snakes, nudibranchs and tons of other fish and plant life. I reasonably successfully navigated a straight line then a square and then led the group down the ridge and back. Not bad for me who's sense of direction is never that crash hot. As usual we saw whales and dolphins doing thier thing out in the sea.

Fishing, Snorkling, Coral and Big #@$%! Sharks

Went on down to Cape Range National Park straight after I finished the dive course on Sat night with my new snorkel gear and heaps of enthusiasm. Drove down there with two of my dive buddies from the course, Luke and Lisa a couple of fiz ed teachers from the UK. We camped at Tulki beach and me and Luke went fishing for dinner. Within 20 minutes I had bagged a big Emperor and I cooked that for dinner and it well fed the three of us.

Recepie:

• 1 Large Emperor ( Or Snapper )
• Score the flesh with a knife down each side of the fish.
• Rub Tarragon + Garlic Salt + Lemon Oil into the fish
• Stuff with red peppers and onion
• Wrap tightly in aluminium foil
• Cook in a hot pan for about 18 minutes
• Eat! Yum Yum Yum

However the luck afforded us on that night had no bearing on the following 3 nights as we caught nothing of consequence and sometimes just plain old nothing at all. However on my last night there I lost my rig twice when something struck the line, bent my rod down and then cut the line. Probably much too big for dinner I reasoned and went back to the camp for a can of Stag Chilli and rice.

The snorkeling in the Park is fantastic. Even though the coral is a little bleached due to the current El Nino the fish life is amazing. Everything from the super big to the exremely tiny is on offer as you paddle around. The best place is Turquoise Bay where you can drift with the current over the reef for a couple of hundred meters before exiting on a sandbank then running back to the start to do it all over again. For the less adventurous you can snorkel in the bay where the current is much less but the scenery still pretty good. There I got to swim with a couple of turtles. They are quite unconcered about humans in the water with them. I was able to dive down and swim with them and even touch one gently on the shell.

The biggest thrill was when I was snorkeling alone at a location called Lakeside. I had been in the water about 20 minutes, circling these big coral bombies ( stacks ) admiring all the fish when out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of something big. I froze. A large shark was cruising by from my left. I just kept very still and kept watching this amazing ( and lethal ) creature. However as soon as it noticed me there it looked panicked and flickign it's tail very powerfully bolted off like a torpedo into the milky beyond. Needless to say I slowy swam the 50 metres back to the shore always looking behind me. I need not have been worried as the sharks that patrol the inside of Ningaloo though sometimes looking scary are generally more terrified of humans than the other way round and just as I observed that tend to dissapear very quickly if contact is made. Still it was a major thrill to encounter such a beast in it's own territory.

Some of the wildlife however is less timid around humans. At the Tulki beach campsite there was this pesky Kangaroo we nicknamed Skippy for want of a better name. This little bugger would boldy wander into camp whenever your back was turned and start stealing and destroying whatever it could get it's little paws on. Our first encounter with him was while we were eating dinner. I saw Luke look over my shoulder and with a start pointed behind me. There was skippy helping himself to the remains of my dinner which I had placed on the ground just behind me. Later that night Lisa was woken up to find skippy sitting down at our camp table, no kidding, leafing through my New Scientist magazine and tearing out pages with his paws and teeth. Whether he admired the writing and interesting articles or just the culinary quality of the paper we were unable to determine. Another night I had finished eating dinner and was sitting reading in the car when he appeared and grabbed a loaf of bread off the table right before my eyes. I had to chase him with my fishing rod and give him a whack on his backside before he would drop his prize. Bad Bad Skippy!

Anyhow I am back in Exmouth and have signed up for another 3 days diving after which I will be an "Advanced Diver" I guess I can say I like diving :) Oh yeah and a plug to Exmouth Diving Centre. They are really professional and really love their work so if you wanna go diving in Exmouth go with these guys. My instructor was Merran and she was really cool.

Cheerio till next time.

I am now a certified Open Water Diver !

No that does not mean I am a crazy nut who requires medication before going in the water but it sure feels like you are on drugs ( good ones ) whilst floating around and looking at all the cool stuff there was on offer. Today we saw sea snakes, turtles, blue spotted sting rays and tons of colorfull fish. The visibility wasn't great, about five meters but we were all ecstatic and 3 of us, Luke, Lisa and I are probably going to come back next week and do our advanced course.

We also saw a pod of humpback whales cruising on by. One of them almost swam under the boat and was moving at a great pace. They are such majestic creatures and are so casual most of the time, swimming, breathing, swimming breathing but then you see thier great power when they breach and throw their whole bodies out of the water. Great stuff.



I've just bought a snorkel, mask and fins and am heading down to the Cape Range National Park to do some more aquatic sight seeing. Should be great

First open water dive. Wow.

A wobbygong shark appears out of the depths and moves silently through our group of five huddled 7.5 meters down on the reef. It ignores us almost just changing direction subtley to avoid the head of one of my fellow students.

I'm still buzzing after my first day diving in real water. We went down to 13 meters in 5 meter visibility water and drifted along the bottom carried by the current and led by our great teacher Merron. Flying, floating, weightless I've had it described by many people I've met in the past who tried to describe the feeling of diving but I don't think it is possible to describe it to the uninitiated except to say it feels like a dream and not quite real. Up and down are constructs that have meaning but can be subverted if you like. To view under a ledge, don't get down on your hands and knees as if on land but turn upside down with your head centimeters off the bottom, your feet pointing to the sky and then you will get the best view. Peek through the gap and there are dozen fish staring back at you with the obvious expression stapled on thier faces " I'm a fish! What the fuck are you? "

I can't wait to get back in the water tomorrow.

B

1st Day of PADI Dive Course, Excellent !

Started my PADI openwater dive course today. Breathed underwater for the 1st time. What a buzz. We did a bit of theorey in the video room then it was off to the pool where we donned two 3mm wetsuits one over the other in 35 degree heat then put on weight belts, buoyency control devices ( BCD's ) and air tanks. All in all you feel a bit like a Sherman tank without the firepower and one track broken. However the difference when in the water is astounding. With proper control you are just weightless ( or neutrally bouyant to be precise ). There is not much to see in the pool but being at the bottom of the deep end, turning upside down and watching your bubbles float to the surface from below as you relax completely is buzz enough for me. Can't wait to be out on the reef and see all the amazing creatures that are out there. We may even encouter a Manta ray which will be the biggest thrill and even some sharks but apparently even they are pretty friendly out there.

Cheers

B

Damn stupid Aussies

Forgot to mention how embarressed I am at how lame my fellow Australians are in voting back in Johnnie Howard. A prime minister who takes our country to war on a lie gets away with it and even gets more support for his efforts. I can't believe that people just don't care that this country's reputation is just going down the toilet and we are just considered to be a puppet state of the USA. Hopefully American citizens take offence to the lies they have been told and boot Johnnie's benefactor Bush out of office.

Bye Bye Broome, Off to Ningaloo

Passed my pre-dive medical this morning. Complete with pee tests, breath tests, ear tests, height and weight measurements I turn out to be pretty much ok apart from my annoying little arthritic condition, ankylosing spondilitis Still that should not stop me diving according to the doc.

It's a long way to Exmouth though and I may take a detour to Karajini National Park. Everyone raves about it but I am sort of keen to get to Exmouth as soon as possible and go surfing again. I've spent too long out of the water and it's beginning to annoy me. Broome was nice for being down the beach and there was some surf hear but it was rarely clean. Cable beach however is one most beautiful stretch of sand and I thouroughly recommend it to any sun worshippers.

Surf Again YEEHAH ... well yeehah

Yesterday went to the beach for my afternoon swim to see a bunch of waves coming in. I'll admit that on any normal day in a normal place where there is lots of surf I wouldn't bother going out but being out of the water for almost two months I was ecstatic. I don't think I have have taken my surfboard out of the car so quickly. The internals of the car were tossed around as I looked for bits and pieces that had moved to the bottom of the pile, wax, wax comb, surf helmut, rash vest, wetsuit. WETSUIT... Hah you can stay in the car I told the miserable piece of rubber skulking in a yellow plastic back in the depths of the car boot.

Surfing without a wetsuit is one of those pleasures that must be experienced. Warm water is just a joy. I can't say the rash on the inside of my leg where the board wax and my leg hair were violently coupling is anything fun but it was definately worth it. This morning I got up early and the swell had held up through the night but with an offshore wind now the water was turqoise glass and the small peaks were fun to play in.

Booked in for a medical test this Monday so I can do my PADI beginners dive course when I get to Ningaloo. Too many people have told me how cool diving is so I'm gonna give it a go. Will probably head outa Broome straight after the Medical. There is a concert in Broome this coming sunday to support the erection of a radio transmitter for JJJ. That should be a fun thing before I head off.

Way too hot today though.. After surfing I headed to the small mall and hung out in airconditioned comfort, eating icecreams and reading magazines, exiting the building only to call Evelyn in Austria who was all bleary eyed and sleepy given it was only six in the moring.

Oh well not much else to say. So adieu.

Brad

In Broome, Back at the beach at last.

Evelyn has now gone back to Austria. There were many tears and farewells at the airport. It will be hard travelling alone again. Well not too hard I hope as there are alway interesting people around to meet and chat to but I've found it is so much better to have somebody you really get on well with ( and sometimes not so ;) ) . Makes all the the silly adventures much more interesting. Hopefully when Evelyn eventually shows her Mum her wounded foot a tall muscley Austrian hitman ( Arnie S ) isn't sent after me for damaging her daughter. And Eve's Mum if you are reading this I always told her to jump off backwards but she never listened :)

Finally I am back at the beach, Darwin doesn't count as you cant swim there unless you are a nutter. Got in at about 3pm last night and headed straight for Cable beach. Dissapointment at the lack of surf gave way to joy as I felt the silken sand between my toes and the warm tropical water as I dived in.

Cable beach is amazing with huge tides. At low the beach seems to be about 100 meters wide and at high tide it is almost gone. The water is milky green the origin of I'm not sure. I think it has something to do with the sand which seems to have a large clay content in it but I may be wrong.

One of the most interesting things I did on my trek over from Darwin was a short stop I made just after Fitzroy crossing. I think that was the place though I'm not sure now.... Anyway I noticed a formation of very strange shapped rocks by the side of the road. I stopped the car and went to investigate. They were of limestone formation and very very sharp like glass. I looked closer and to my surprise I found coral, the same kind of coral you would find as if you looked at a reef by the seaside. However I was about 400 km inland and the sea had last been here thousands if not millions of years ago. Even more spectaclur I found a seashell just sitting in a crack in the rock. It is a beautiful little spiral shell, perfectly white and just sitting there for me to pick up. How extraordinary! Must find a geologist to ask about the area.

The Gibb River road turned out not to be a possiblity. The more reasonably people I spoke to told me of the very sharp rocks and the dodgy river crossing I would have to make. The girls at tourist info in Kununurra looked at me very severly when I suggested I may do it in a Magna. I thouroughly dissapointed as I had been looking forward to getting off the bitumen and onto the dirt. Still the road from Kununnara to Broome was hardly dissapointing. The mountain ranges were old and imposing, not high but their crumbling attire of red rubble and outcrops of restistent stone were very imposing. One day I'll have to come back to this area with a 4x4 and give it a thorough exploring.

Cheers B