Here Jaws
Miraculously woke up this morning at 6.15, a few minutes before my wake-up call. Why I tend to do this I don't know. Especially as, in theory, I should have slept until midday as a result of celebrating England's 2-0 win over the north Africans. I was picked up at 7am and taken to the dock to board the "Reef Quest", with about 30 other people. We did a couple of great dives on the Barrier Reef - though I kept on losing my left fin. I'd buddied up with a guy called Stewart from Durham. At one point I swan into a coral cave, then into a small opening which turned out to be an enclosed hole. From this I could see light out of the top. Also I found a small enclosed sinkhole, where we sat on the bottom and chilled with some rainbow trout. I can't describe the feeling of sitting on the bottom of the Great Barrier Reef, watching my air bubbles ascend to the surface, seeing them meet the sun there.
After this we trasferred to the live-aboard boat, the "Ocean Quest", and did another dive, then one at night in a group of 8 or so. This was a bit crowded, having to avoid everyone else's fins all the time. My last night dive was just me and Charlottle, which was much better, but we still saw some giant trevally and another reef shark. We got in and dried off, then I stepped back outside to find one of the crew with a fish tied to a rope, feeding the 5 or 6 reef sharks swimming around the stern! (Technically this is illegal in Queensland, I later found out). It was amazing, watching these awesome animals gliding around, being teased with food. I rushed down and got my camera, and took a couple of snaps. Then the guy "hooked" one of the smaller sharks and pulled it aboard the dive step! And what a time for my camera batteries to run out! It was incredible, watching this shark writhe, trying to get away. It did so in about 20 seconds. Then I noticed the bubbles at the stern - there were divers down! Six people had been watching from below. Lucky! They only do this every 2 months or so, so as not to make it habit-forming for the sharks, and for the crew as well!
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