Under the sea 28th July 2007

The generator started at 5:30, which woke the whole boat. The three of us got up and went up on deck. Andy was preparing breakfast, we could smell the toast. We had cereal, fruit and toast for breakfast. Then everyone started to prepare themselves for their dive. The first was at 7am, which was the Belgium, then 4 French, 3 Canadians and then Hannah and Emma around 9am. Hannah was glad it was just her and Emma, as Emma was pooing her pants a little (Hannah a little too).
I went out snorkeling before the girls as they prepared themselves. Brent picked the girls up in the dingy and dropped them off near me for a bit of snorkeling before their dive. At first the girls didn't want to get in. Brent kept a check on us to make sure we were OK. Then in, we saw lots of different corals: marsh mellow, brain and fan, a blue spotted lagoon ray and lots of different coloured fish. No Nemo yet!
Brent came back to collect us after about 20 minutes. The girls put on their tanks and stuff and off they went after a few tests. They got off the dingy in shallow waters but Hannah said she didn't want to roll off backwards. She was told to breath slow and then back she went. Her mask came off. she swallowed loads of water, a bit of a bad start. They did some tests in the shallow water and she went under water and said she started to panic. They were on there knees with Dave and one of the tests was to take their regulators out of their mouths, fill their mouth with water and then put the regulators back in and blow the water out. While under water Emma went to the surface to get water out of her mask as she had let water fill it. Hannah surfaced as she was a little scared. They were both having a few problem with the breathing through a regulator. Dave was really good and talked the m through what they had to do. He talked to them about what to do if they had problems and off they went for a scuba-snorkel. He held their hands as he took them, they saw lots of coral and fish. When it was time to surface Hannah didn't want to as she was having too much fun. Brent through them a line then had to hold as he dragged them back to the boat, the girls swallowed yet more sea.
The girls said it was good to be back on the boat and said they would stick to snorkeling, as they preferred that. But they did say they had a fantastic time and with a little more time would try it again.
After some cake and a cup of tea we sailed out to the Outer Reef, our land mark "Bait Reef". It was a beautiful day, the sun was out and the sea was still. After lunch we were all talking and Hannah saw a whale. She shouted out as Brent had told us to if we saw one, but when everyone looked it had gone. Then two hump back whales swam right in front of the boat ( about 15meters away). You could see them really well, but by the time we all had cameras out the photo didn't do it justice. We saw loads of whales during the day, we arrived at the reef and got ready for a snorkel. As we were just about to jump in the water, Albert a great tully fish swam around the back of the boat. It was about 1 meter long, blue with big blue eyes. Andy told us to stroke it as he liked it, but the girls were too scared. The girls got in to the water and held hands as they swam, I joined them, we saw a trumpet fish, like the one in Finding Nemo. I saw a turtle. We all got back to the boat and Hannah and I went out again in the dingy. Brent dropped us off and we let the current take us back to the boat. We saw some really bright big fish, a blue sea star, huge clams about a meter wide and lots of different coral. The most amazing bit was listening to the whales talking under the water. As we got back to the boat we could see Albert swimming around the boat. Hannah said she saw a shark and Brent told her it was a "white tip" not a shark, but there was two of them.
We chilled out and had beer, with spag bol and garlic bread for dinner. After dinner we watched the sun set over the water. As the sun was on the horizon, two whales were splashing around and swam just in front of the sunset (beautiful) Brent said it looked like mum and baby. It was amazing to watch as they swam along the rim of the reef in front of us. That night we watched more photos of the day. Then we saw a boat pull up in the darkness. Brent went over to investigate in the dingy and it looked like they were fishing. This is not allowed in this area of the reef. Brent said he was going to keep a check on them all night and report them if it carried on. We sat and had a few beers, talked about the stars, had a chat with Andy and Brent, then went to bed for an early start tomorrow.