Scuba Diving

• Off I go (Bernd) to try out this scuba diving thing! Wayne of Wayne’s World Diving picked up four of us from Casuarina for an intro lesson and dive. We went to a beach, in front of the Prime Minister’s office, where we sat on benches under a tree listening to Waynes’ intro talk. Throughout Wayne was waving to all the passers by, it seemed he knew everyone on the island.
• With scuba gear on, we walked into the ocean till we were neck deep. There Wayne took us through our practicum of clearing our mask, equalising pressure and general breathing (famous words, always breathe when diving). With tests successfully completed we slowly paddled out. It was amazing to feel reasonably comfortable breathing under water! Looking up a watched the water surface recede as we went further out. I had problems staying down; somehow I kept floating up. Hidden on the ocean floor, Wayne had some extra weights that he added to my vest (I now sunk like a rock). Wayne pointed out life on the bottom, poking a hidden crab, flushing out a hidden fish, having us hold a ball of suckers (sea urchin?) that walked along our hand.
• Wayne had brought along a bag of hamburger buns. Giving each of us one, hundreds of fish engulfed the bun forming a massive, feeding frenzy cloud. In such a frenzy, the fish would also mistake my hand for the bun and I obtained (with pride) a couple of small fish bites (they tickle).
• We swam on a short distance to an underwater wreck (wooden boat hull) which had sea life all over its surface that we touched and played with. Swimming on, there was a second wreck that we were able to swim through by means of an opening in the side. Standing on the hull (open top), Wayne swam out another opening for a moment. When he came back he had a fish stuck in his mouth with its tail flapping! He had used a piece of hotdog to lure a fish into his mouth!
• Now our air was low (and I was tired, not used to the exercise of swimming), we rose slowly to the surface. It took me a minute, while struggling to stay above water, to realise I could simple fill my vest with air to stay afloat. Looking around I saw we were a long distance from the shore. Now I’m dead tired and the shore looks a long way away but to my surprise I found with my vest inflated it was easy to float on our back and we leisurely paddled to the shore.

For dinner,
we went to Blakey’s in the Gap and were really pleased with the food and service. Bernd had a seafood dish and I had pepperpot – both really delicious. We were sorry that we hadn’t discovered this restaurant earlier. We thought perhaps the best places to eat might be the smaller, owner operated restaurants.