Mike T.
- Mike T.'s trip Australia 2024
Jill 130. I used 12 lbs and was fine. Jill has 16, but probably needed 14. Mediocre first dive. 2 new divers ran out of air very quickly and stirred up tons of sand. They left with Curtis the dive master and Jill, Joras, and I started down with Janette for a nice long dive. Jill's weight was unbalanced and she nearly had a panic attack, but I was able to rebalance her and then it went fine. Vis was not great. Boat was mediocre sailboat, no cup holders so lots of drink spills. Only had 4lb weights. I thought we would have AC and our own bathroom, but we had neither. Double bunk was not big enough for me. But crew was nice and I appreciated how relaxed they were with no big rush to get ready. Only 12 people and 3 crew and only 5 certified divers. Also the water pipe broke overnight so we had very little fresh water day 2. Entry and exit were difficult with high platform and not enough hand rails. Was 3 hour ride to first dive site. 1 American family, 1 couple from Noway, 2 guys from Switzerland who were maybe a gay couple. The one of them was Syrian so talked to him briefly about the situation there. The other certified diver was Joras (or Juras?) who is from Lithuania and is CEO of sizable Eastern European sporting goods stores. Competitor to a chain called XL that the Norwegians knew of. He used to be a concert promoter and booked Metallica in Lithuania. Nice people.
2024-12-26 - The Whale, Milln Reef, Cairns, Australia
15.9m - 55 min - Dived with Janette
Jill 131. 12lbs. Was about 20 minute ride to the next reef. The 2 new divers did much better. This dive was much better. Beautiful reef. Saw a ray and lots of fish.
2024-12-26 - The Whale, Milln Reef, Cairns, Australia
14.9m - 47 min - Dived with Janette
Jill skipped the night dive. I generally don't like night dives, but this was amazing! So much action. Fast swimming white tip reef sharks, a couple were quite large. Giant and regular Trevally zooming around. A couple of parrot fish in their bubbles under the coral. An eel out hunting. Awesome. Enough to make me a fan of night dives now. This dive probably made the whole trip with it. Maybe a top 5 or 10 for me. Only Joras, Uusama, and I did this dive with Curtis.
2024-12-27 - The Three Sisters, Milln Reef, Australia
19.3m - 59 min - Dived with Janette
Jill 131. 12lbs. Very pretty set of 3 pinnacles. Good vis, lots of life. Janette said this was her favorite spot. Saw a shark and a couple stingrays and Janette pointed out some cool nudibranchs.
Jill 132. 12lbs. Final dive. Shallow relaxing show drift. Our only entry from the tender. Another couple of stingrays, gorgeous blue coral. Nice chill dive. Easy motor back to Cairns arriving at 4pm.
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