So my discover scuba diving experience course was spread over two days. On the first it was theory and training in the pool. Having only ever done basic snorkeling before I was a little scared about what I was getting myself into, especially when I had to sign a waiver to say that I understood there was a risk of death. Brilliant. But once I got into the pool, all of that went out my head and I realised just how much fun it was. Surprisingly, I found most of it pretty easy and by the end of half an hour I was happily taking my respirator out and doing mask clearances underwater. However, my nemesis was then to be revealed to me....fins. Now I know walking about in fins is usually pretty tough and most people look pretty stupid waddling about on land wearing them, but usually once you are in the water with them it is ok. For me, this really isnt the case. My gracefullness whilst wearing scuba gear is non-existent. I provided endless entertainment to Oliver and my instructor just trying to move around the training pool. At one point the instructor had to literally grab my ankles and pull my feet down for me because they kept floating up above my head. Not a good look.
Anyway, all in all training went pretty well and I was really excited to go and do the dive the next day. We went out to some sunken concrete blocks just off Glenelg beach to check out the little marine habitat that has been created there. Now, according to the instructor, it was a quiet day. But surprisingly, I thought it was AMAZING!! My excitement could easily be gauged by the volume and frequency of squeaks that could be heard emitting from my scuba mask. There were lots of fishies, crabs, starfish, sponges, shrimpy things and loads of plant life. I think my favourite was a black and white stripey fish which I think was called a magpie perch.Definitely caught the scuba bug now and really want to do another dive. Well, I'm here for three months so fingers crossed....
So the next marine mission I undertook was to go out on a catamaran called 'Temptation' to go swimming with wild bottlenose dolphins. This wasn't quite the relaxing experience I had hoped though as the morning was conducted more like a military operation. After sailing for 45 mins or so we found a pod of 12-15 dolphins. All of a sudden the guys on the boat just started shouting instructions at us, as we all had to get into the water as quickly as possible before we lost the pod. With shouts of "Get in now", "Quick, move", "All swimmers in the water now" and jumping into really cold water while the boat was still moving, I felt like a marine. Anyway, after all that the first drop was a disaster. With all the commotion going on, I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing and forgot to put my snorkel mask on and put my head in the water so completely missed the dolphins swimming underneath me, much to the entertainment of my sister who was still on the boat and pissing herself laughing at me. Undeterred, I now knew exactly what I was supposed to be doing and so the next time the dolphin spotting was awesome! Basically, you jump off the boat and hold onto one of two ropes that they run from the back of the boat. You then float in the water and wait for the dolphins to swim past you. Even if they arent close enough for you to see them underwater, you can still see them coming to the surface and arching over the waves. We were out on the boat for about three hours and we saw four separate pods of dolphins. To be lying on the surface of the water and see three wild dolphins swimming directly underneath you is indescribable. At one point there was a dolphin swimming so close beside me that it was almost within touching distance! It was an incredible experience. We even manged to see some fairy penguins bobbing about on the water on the way back to the marina.
So with all that excitement over the last few days, tonight is a bit more relaxed. I'm going to Scarlett's childcare christmas party. The kids are going to all sing carols and christmas songs to us before a visit from Santa. But of course there is the Aussie twist of a sausage sizzle afterwards. Well why wouldn't you be having a BBQ at a christmas party......
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