Today was a travel day. We finished our business in Australia yesterday with a lovely drive up into the Atherton Tablelands (more later) and this morning (way early) we headed to the Cairns airport for our two flights to Bali (we did Cairns to Brisbane and then Brisbane to Bali.) So here I am in a truly delightful accommodation in the Ubud area of Bali and still trying to get caught up.
Without question, one of the special and most anticipated events of our grand adventure was the time we spent diving on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. If you dive, it's one of the "must do" dive sites in the world and I must say we were not disappointed. Since we were out there for the better part of three days and did eleven separate dives with me doing photography on most of them, it's not really practical to try to squeeze the whole thing down to one measly post. It just deserves more attention than that and if you non-diver types get bored with underwater pics, so be it.
Just so you know, because I'm sure you were dying to, the fish pictured above is a Titan Triggerfish -- it's also my new homepage image on the website, but more about him/her later.
The composition of the dive party was interesting and quite unexpected. As you can see from the pics below, it was a very young group. We were, with no close competition, the most chronologically mature, in the group -- by decades in most cases. Prodive's boats carry a maximum of 32 divers plus instructors and crew. The boat was full to that limit, but most of the divers were on board to get their diving certifications. As a result, the already certified divers (thirteen of the thirty-two) were left pretty much to ourselves and dove essentially unguided - a new experience for us.
The abundance of nubile young females in bikinis did nothing to detract from the enjoyment of the trip. And, we were the only Americans in the group. Most of the young people were Swedish, Danish or Finnish and there were also Spaniards, Italians, Canadians, Croats, Scots and one Brit -- and the crew, of course, were mostly Australian. A very international group to be sure. We noticed early in our Australian peregrinations the abundance and variety of languages we were hearing. The experience on the dive boat reinforced that in spades.
But this post is about diving and to international relations. This is a shot I got of one of the class groups down below us as we were descending.
They're novice divers and their air discipline is not all that good. But it does make for an interesting photo.
There's tons of stuff to see and pay attention to underwater, but one of the most interesting has to be the fish. On the GBR we found no shortage of them in all shapes, sizes and colors.
If I'm not mistaken, which I could well be, this is an Achilles Tang as it swims past a little clump of coral. I'm at least certain about the coral.
Here's a nice little trio that managed to line up for me as I swam past with the camera. I think the bottom one is a goat fish. Have no idea what the other two are except cute.
A Moorish Idol, one of my favs, and a Spotted Sweetlips. Ya gotta love the names and the fish are pretty fun too.
Here's a nice shot of a batfish. This one is unusual because they are usually swimming away from you, or from me at least.
Another fun one, even if it is swimming the other direction. A Clown Tang.
In addition to the fish, which were in plentiful supply and variety, we chanced on some giant clams. This one was probably about tree feet wide and very much alive. In person, the lips along the shell edges look like velvet.
And then there were the sea cucumbers. The reef floor was littered with the things in as much variety as the fishes.
Here's Miss Inquisitive checking out a Pineapple Sea Cucumber. Luckily, she put it back where she found it and didn't try to incorporate it into a salad or on any sandwiches.
That's round one of our dive pics. If it looks like fun, it is.
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