The whole reason I started looking into going to Australia was to dive the Great Barrier Reef. Seeing the Great Barrier Reef had always been on my bucket list but I never really thought it was doable. I figured it would be way too expensive, that it was just too far away and for a while I wasn’t even dive certified. In October of 2017, I became scuba certified in Costa Rica. I was one step closer to making my dream a reality.
Last summer I set my hopper app to notify me of flights to Australia. I did a little research and figured out that the end of March/beginning of April would be right on the cusp of the busy season, my ideal time to travel. Right after Thanksgiving, I received a notification from hopper, there were VERY cheap tickets to Australia from JFK in New York to Brisbane. I’m talking under $900 USD return! I couldn’t pass up the opportunity I already cleared 2 weeks with my boss as long as I was back before Easter I could take the time.
Over the next few months I started to do my research, where were the best places to go diving? What was the most economical way to do it? How much was this really going to cost me?
I’m not going to say it’s cheap, diving in Australia is usually around $100 USD per dive plus your equipment. The only places I had dived before this were in Central America where you’re looking at $40 USD per dive including your equipment. So at first I was a little taken a back, in my head I’m seeing thousands of dollars in order to fully experience the reef. I started looking into liveaboards, which sound expensive and super fancy but they can be really economical.
I wanted to make sure I got the most bang for my buck, staying on the boat meant all my food was covered as well as my housing. The liveaboards also go much farther out into the reef so you get to see some of the more untouched parts which is what I was looking for. After hours and hours of research I settled on a 3 day 3 night liveaboard with Mike Ball Dive Expeditions out of Cairns.
This was not the cheapest liveaboard that I had found but it included more of the things I wanted to see. The specific expedition that I choice was called 3 day fly dive cod hole. It included a flight over the Great Barrier Reef, up to 12 dives, all meals, and a shared room all for just over $1,000 USD. Not bad when a single dive costs about $100.
Day 1
We started the day off with a flight over the Great Barrier Reef, which was honestly magical. The Great Barrier Reef stretches over 134,634 square miles, it’s so large it can be seen from space. Of course we didn’t fly over the whole thing just a small section of the Ribbon Reefs, but that in itself was worth the thousand dollars.
These are views I will never forget. The bright blues and sea-foam greens stand out in my memory as if I was just flying above them yesterday.
Dive 1
We got on the boat about noon and arrived at our first dive location by 1. By 1:30 we were in the water. I was nervous this was my first dive in well over a year, what if I had forgotten how to dive? We went down as a group so the crew could check out the new people on board and assess their skills. I did terribly. I felt so out-of-place, I was constantly struggling to stay balanced. I get pretty stressed out when there are too many people near me when I’m diving so going in a large group was hard for me. I just know that I’m not good enough to move out-of-the-way quickly or adjust my depth immediately and I don’t want to run into someone else so I was just worried the whole time.
The dive was at Cod Hole which usually has a pod of very large and friendly Potato Cod, we however didn’t see a single potato cod there which was a little disappointing. We did however see a decent sized reef shark which was a first while diving for me!
Dive 2
I felt really discouraged after the first dive. My buoyancy was just a mess and I felt really out of sorts. I should have done at least a couple of dives last summer to practice but I just didn’t make the time for it. They added some more weight to my belt for the 2nd dive so I decided to push through, I just needed to practice. The 2nd dive was at Lighthouse Bommie, which said in an Australia accent is possible the cutest thing ever. This dive sight was great! So much to see, beautiful coral and tons of fish. We even saw a large turtle, which have become my favorite marine life since I started diving. We also saw some adorable little clown fish as well as parrot fish, a moray eel and a few speckled damsels. I felt a little better after this dive having fewer people around me definitely helped as well as the added weight.
Dive 3
This was the first night dive on the liveaboard, I had done one night dive before in Nicaragua but I had no idea what to expect on this one. It was at the same location as the afternoon dive, Lighthouse Bommie. According to the dive crew this was a popular spot for sleeping turtles so I had my hopes up pretty high for a turtle. We hit the turtle jackpot on the dive, we saw 6 turtles!
One of them was huge, at least 2 feet across. We also saw a lot of Giant Trevally out hunting. If you had your flashlight on a little fish for too long one of the Giant Trevally would swoop in and eat the little fish! I tried my best not to make any fish dinner. The Giant Trevally were kind of aggressive, they would swim up really close to us and sometimes right at us almost like they were charging us. I know in comparison to us they’re not that big but it’s still a little freaky when they’re swimming right for your face.
It was a busy first day! 3 dives in 7 hours is a lot to jump right into after not diving for over a year. I was exhausted and went to bed by 10. The next morning we had our first dive at 7 and I was hoping to catch the sunrise so I needed some rest.
Day 2
I woke up at 5 hoping to catch the sunrise over the open ocean. It was unfortunately a little cloudy out but there were some nice colors over the top of the clouds.
Dive 1
First dive was bright and early at 7 am. This dive was at Gotham City named for the large number of batfish seen here. To help my diving we decided that I shouldn’t wear the wetsuit. A wetsuit expands and contracts which affects your buoyancy, since I was struggling enough with my buoyancy I didn’t need anything else messing with me. This was the first dive without the wetsuit and I did drastically better! We even saw a turtle on the way down which helped to take my mind off my ears. There’s just so much that goes into diving it can be overwhelming and I tend to over think it so having a bit of a distraction like a turtle definitely helped!
Dive 2
Pixie Pinnacle was the next dive location and probably the best dive site of the trip in my opinion. There were beautifully colored corals with schools of small purple and orange fish. We saw a bunch of tiny little Nudie Branks, which more or less just look like very colorful little slugs with antenna. Most exciting we even saw an Octopus! Seeing the Octopus was a highlight for me, they’re fascinating creatures. This Octopus was darkly colored almost black but it was hanging out on a very brightly colored piece of coral. So incredible to see in the wild.
Dive 3
Same dive site, this time we did not see the Octopus but we did see a couple of large barracuda as well as some of the tiniest little crabs. I thought they were just spots on the coral at first but then Kristy, the dive instructor, put her finger close to them and they all scurried away it was so funny to see!
Dive 4
For the 4th and 5th dives of the day they were at Pixie Wall. At the beginning of the day, I wasn’t sure I could do 5 dives in a day but my skills were improving and I felt better in the water so I wanted to keep going. We didn’t see a whole lot on this dive, saw some angelfish and a large grey reef shark. We also saw a very large bright yellow Nudie which was pretty cool.
These last few dives I dove with Ethan. He was volunteering on the boat for a couple of weeks allowing him to dive for free. Pretty great deal! He was also from the US and around my age so we talked a lot. He had done a ton of traveling so he had a bunch of cool stories to share. Diving with someone is such an intimate experience at least I feel like it is. Your life is literally in this persons hands, especially being a new diver there’s a greater chance I’ll need help. He was super experienced and even a certified dive instructor but he was so patient and gave me a lot of great tips on how to improve my skills. He was a really fun dive buddy, since he was so comfortable underwater he was kind of goofy which helped me relax.
Dive 5
This was the 2nd and final night dive on the liveaboard. I kind of found the night dives here to be a little boring, there wasn’t that much plankton and overall not a ton of fish activity. The visibility also wasn’t great on this dive which kind of freaked me out.
After 5 dives I was exhausted! It’s not super physical I think it’s more just the stress of it that tired me out. There was very little time in between dives only about an hour to 2 hours which once you account for meals and the time it takes to get suited up and then undo everything you’re only looking at maybe a half hour of down time. Not exactly what I was expecting.
Day 3
Dive 1
Early wake up once again, we were in the water by 7:30. Not a terrible way to start the day! There were 4 possible dives today the first 2 were at Steve’s Bommie. This spot was covered with Stone Fish which were super cool to see. They blend in perfectly with their surroundings unless you have a good eye you could easily miss them! We also saw a mantis shrimp, butterfly fish and a sweet lips. The sweet lips was probably my favorite, mainly because of its name but it’s also a really cool fish to see. The colors and pattern are similar to a Cheetah but it has really large lips.
Dive 2
I was getting much better at diving and it was actually exciting now not just nerve wrecking. We couldn’t spot any of the stone fish this time but we did see a lot of clown fish. We also saw a large school of yellow striped fish as well as schools of little orange and purple fish. The schools of fish were fun to see, they were just so colorful.
Dive 3
This ended up being my last dive which was kind of sad. I had finally started to really enjoy diving and feel more in control and it was over. This dive was at Summer Bay which held the potential for seeing Cuttlefish! We did not see any cuttlefish unfortunately but we did see 1 really large puffer fish and a small grey puffer fish with bright yellow fins. The little guy was super cute. We also saw a large clam and tons of branchy coral.
There was the potential for 1 more dive at this site but there were only 2 pairs going on the last dive. They were all super experienced divers as in 150+ dives and they had come with their travel buddy so I would have felt out-of-place and like I was holding them back.
We had a little party that night to end the trip. I was nice to socialize with the crew and get to know everyone. Even the Captain and the Engineer came to hang out with us. There was a little photo contest which was super fun to see everyone’s photos from the trip. As usual there was so much food. The chef on board was fantastic and really great at accommodating to my dietary needs (vegan) as well as the other guests one of which was gluten-free.
We were passing through a storm, as the night went on the boat was rocking more and more. By 10 pm we were basically being thrown across the room whenever we got up. I unfortunately wasn’t feeling the best the motion of the ocean did not agree with me. It made for a very rough last night on the boat. Thankfully I did not get sick and managed to deal with the nausea until we docked the next morning.
Getting to dive the Great Barrier Reef was incredible. It is one of the most incredible natural wonders of the world and now I’ve been there. I was really nervous that I was going to be sad by what I saw, that the reef would be damaged beyond repair everywhere. Were there signs of bleaching, yes. And there was dead coral as well. Granted I have nothing to compare it to, I don’t know what the reef looked like 10 years ago but what I saw gives me hope. There was an abundance of fish a lots of healthy coral.
I don’t mean to say it’s a myth or a lie but I think there is still hope for the reef, I think we can bring it back. I hope in 10 years from now when I go back to the Great Barrier Reef that it is thriving.
I apologize for my lack of photos on this post. I had intended to take my underwater camera with me but I just wasn’t a good enough diver to add that into the mix. I knew I needed to focus on my diving not on getting the perfect shot.
