Feb 21, 2010

Went skydiving again today! Vinny made friends with the manager of Skydive Mission Beach (Ray), the other skydive company in the area, and he drunkenly told Vinny and I that we can both have free skydives. We took him up on the offer and made a call to SDMB and they had no idea but called Ray and he said it was all good to go. We were scheduled to go on Friday but the weather turned into complete shit so it was rescheduled for Saturday, which turned out to be complete shit as well. Anyway, I sort of gave up and then was woken up at 10am to Claudia waking us up telling us that we need to be at the resort in 45 minutes. So, we got some tea and toast and started walking down to the resort… about a 5 minute walk. We get there, sign our lives away, and wait around for our jump. Jaime was going through the different prices for camera work and mentioned the prices for an outside jumper. I didn’t think we’d be able to get that, with a free jump and all, but she said that we could!!! I had really wanted an outside jumper with the first jump but I wasn’t given the option so I was so stoked that I could for this one. We waited around for a good 20-30 minutes and then got all strapped up and jumped in the bus to head for the airport. It was really nice to have another person to be excited with as well. Last time I was alone so I wasn’t able to get properly excited so with Vinny around we could talk about how nervous we were and what we were feeling. I felt pretty much the same as I did the first time… trying not to think too hard about it. We got in the plane and the same thing, not too nervous. I jumped with Adam. He was really cool, pretty young and made jokes to make me feel better about my nervousness. Not sure how they would help people normally, but it worked for me. He’d say that he forgot something or that something was broken. Or, when he was doing his check he was like, this is okay, this is okay, this is at about 50/50. I just laughed and was like, good odds haha. We chatted on the way up and he pointed out the rivers and the hostel and all of that from the plane. We were to be the third out of the plane and we were RIGHT at the door. When the door opened I wasn’t as nervous as I was the first time. I enjoyed watching everyone jump out. When it was our turn, we got to the edge of the door and I didn’t panic like I did the first time. The outside jumped hung on the outside of the door while he took a few pics. I just sat at the edge waiting for this short part to be over because this was the worst part the first time around. This time it wasn’t so quick but I wasn’t scared, so it wasn’t too bad. The first time jumping, the initial leap was where my stomach dropped, which I hate, but this time I didn’t feel it at all. I was sort of waiting for it, but didn’t notice it if it happened. Anyway, my mouth still got really dry the whole way down, probably shouldn’t have screamed or held it open in awe the whole way down. I was able to enjoy the view much more as well. We had talked about it before the jump and I really wanted to go through clouds! The idea of being IN a cloud is surreal to me, so I was hoping that it would happen and we were over a lot of small clouds so my odds were looking pretty good. said that only when there are clouds to you realize how fast you’re actually falling because it’s something to reference. Like, you see it, hit it, then are through it so fast that you’re like, holy shit, I’m falling fast. Anyway, as we were coming close to one, I was like, here it goes, here it goes… and then Adam pulled the chute! I didn’t pay much attention to the outside jumper until we got close to hitting clouds. As soon as I pulled back and started floating slowly, I saw the outside jumper whiz right past me and shoot through the cloud. There’s a pic of me with a shocked look on my face and the next is of clouds. I think that look is of me being in shock at how fast he was falling/how fast I WAS falling! Adam let me steer the chute for a little bit (didn’t get to do that with Dez) but I really just wanted to get into the clouds so Adam helped me get in there. We swung the chute around a few times and then straight into a cloud! We curved around in the cloud for a good 5-10 seconds, then out of it and toward the beach. It was sooo amazing! I was IN a cloud. I was breathing and chillin in the air, in a cloud! Wow! Then, cruising around he pointed out another diver, who was Vinny’s guide, so I was like, “Vinny?” and it was so we saw each other and waved, then kept heading down. When we got close he took the handles to steer, but he didn’t grab in the holes, so when I pulled my hands out he let go and started “panicking” that he lost them. I figured he was probably joking, but I sort of freaked out for a second or two. The landing was better than the first because it wasn’t in the water (even though I loved the water landing last time) but I landed on my butt and the last time I landing standing. We stood up and I was just glowing. There are pics of me right as I landed, me just smiling away. What an awesome job to have, right? You just take people on a crazy adventure and have them in an amazing mood afterward. I ran over to Vinny once I was unhooked and gave him a huge hug. He was so happy and loved it! He had been dying to go since he first arrived in MB so it was about damn time he got to go. We went back to the resort and waited around for about an hour while we waited for the DVDs. Once we got those, we headed back in a wonderful mood. Wonderful day! I wish I got to really thank Adam for the jump but it was all so rushed afterward. I’m pretty sure I thanked him, but not a GOOD thank you like he deserved. I’m thinking about going again in NZ.

Feb 14, 2010

I had been trying to get on a dive with the local dive place for weeks. Every week we email them, but they are booked up or not going out on the Sunday I’m asking for. Anyway, one of the managers and I were going to switch days because he had a class on Sunday. So I was going to work Sunday and have Monday off. Plan for Monday was to go to Paronella Park and the Croc farm in Innisfail with Boyd, Sam, and Ricky. I’d been trying to get Vinny to take me for ages but he wouldn’t do it, so I asked other people. Anyway, that was pretty much planned and good to go and then we got word that I could get on the dive for Sunday. I figured I wouldn’t be able to go because I had to work, but Nadine said that she’d be able to handle the desk alone for the day and I could go diving! I was so a little disappointed that the Monday trip would now be cancelled, but I was pretty excited that I FINALLY got to scuba dive and go out to the Great Barrier Reef! I woke up all excited, looked out the window praying for sun and no storms (wonderfully clear skies thank goodness), pick up was at 8:30am and we went out to Dunk Island to meet the big charter boat. The little boat we took out there was pretty killer. It was called sea legs. It looked like a little boat but had wheels that pulled up and down. I’m sure I’ve seen them before, but not really around here, so it was so nice. Instead of having to slowly drift up to shore we got to drive right up onto it! It saved a lot of time, really cool. Anyway, we were pretty early so me and another girl from the hostel, Elsa, took a little wander around the island. I’d been to this part of Dunk a few times before, so I showed her a few pretty views and we went up to the jetty and waited for the boat. Besides the two of us, there were two other girls from hostels, and then about sixteen older folks going out, about twenty people on the boat plus crew. The boat was fairly big. It had two small bathrooms, a few tables, and a big open deck upstairs. We got a little briefing about boat safety and all of that, and then they separated the divers from the snorkelers, then the certified from the non-certified divers. I went with the certified divers, but warned them that I hadn’t been in about five years. They said that it wouldn’t be a problem, so the two girls from the other hostel and I were the only certified divers. Small group going out, so very awesome! I think there were three other people diving in the other “non-certified” group and the rest snorkeling. The dive guide, Nicole, gave me a quick refresher. I remembered most of the important stuff, and the important signals, but she walked me through the gear again and even showed me how to assemble it even though it was all set for me. I was happy to have the refresher. I wasn’t that nervous before the dive, but the few minutes before I started getting nervous. I was sure I’d be okay, and it’s pretty basic: breathe, equalize, okay symbol, but still nervous. Anyway, the boat ride out there was a little over an hour, but with the paperwork and refresher I only sat around for maybe ten to fifteen minutes. As we approached the reef, we could instantly tell. The water got lighter and brighter and I could see the dark reefy spots. Everyone whipped out the cameras and clicked away. When we finally got adjusted and stopped we got all dressed and jumped in. Got down to the bottom smoothly. I think the deepest we went on both dives was 10 meters. Each dive was a little less than an hour (maybe, wasn’t keeping tabs). Almost instantly when we got down there we saw a reef shark! Nicole (as with most divers) have signs for different fish so as soon as she said to “look” and “shark”, I was impressed. Very cool. Just a little one, maybe four feet long and just a little reef shark. It was just chillin on the bottom so we watched it for a minute then kept going. It was a killer way to start my scuba dive, eh? When we got to coral I was so thrilled. Everything was so so cool. Imagine all of the cool different coral in Nemo, imagine it as a dirty tan color with tints of color, and that’s what I saw, ALL OVER! Not saying that it wasn’t beautiful because of the tan color, it absolutely was! There were fish swimming all over the place and the little bursts of color we did see were incredible. I kept remembering my favorite part of Nemo in the beginning when Nemo is going off to school, with the billions of fish and coral, and just amazingness… I was in that! Colors not as bright, but same stuff, same fish. We saw a clownfish and a bunch of others that looked familiar. I hate that I’m comparing my scuba diving to a movie by the way. Anyway, we saw a jumbo clam thing. It was massive, like four feet long and two feet tall. We got to pet it and when we did, it clamped its mouth shut and kept opening it a little, then closing it again! I would have thought that it could take off my arm if its insides that we were petting weren’t so soft! We got to pet right along the ridge of his mouth! We got to pet an anemone full of fish. The little tentacles stuck to us but the bottom was so soft. There was also a sting ray! An octopus too, but it didn’t really move so we didn’t get to see his legs. There were these little jellyfish things that were in the sand that we got to play with. I’m not sure what they were… they had little jellyfish like tops but the bottoms were like little webs. They were weightless, just really soft and bounced around a little. Most of this dive I was a little nervous and just trying to make sure I kept equalizing and that I wasn’t kicking up any sand from the bottom. I was more just as nervous as I was enjoying myself. Sort of sucked, but still an amazing site! Other than the big finds (sharks) we just saw heaps of coral and fish. My favorite thing about diving is that things can be above you, below you, just all around. It’s very multi dimensional. I’d just swim above the reef and look below me and see heaps of fish swimming around. Then I’d look up and notice a school of huge fish swimming above me! I’d look around and there would be different mounds of reef or a huge wall of reef where I’m just seeing the stuff below me! After the first dive, we had about an hour to have lunch, sit around for a few, do a bit of snorkeling (I had four photos left on my underwater camera from rafting so I used those up), and then we went back out for the second dive. This time I was much more confident and enjoyed the dive much more. I think it was a better dive anyway, much more to see, but I was more comfortable so I drifted away from the group a little more. I enjoyed being at the end of the line so I could stay back and glide around. When we got to a big open spot I started doing little spins in the water, little flips and stuff; couldn’t have done that if anyone was watching. Every once in awhile Nicole would pull out her slate and write us a message. She’d tell us that there was a certain kind of fish hiding in some coral and where to look. She told us that there was a lionfish in a coral, and “do not touch”. There was also a cray fish in a little cave thing. I didn’t really get to see it, as I was the last one to look (down side to being the last one in line). On the second dive we saw another shark. For some reason this one creeped me out a little more. I know reef sharks are harmless, but this one swam off a little, but I thought for sure he was watching me, and then he started swimming toward me a little… like a tiny bit and I got a little cautious. I wasn’t scared, I knew he was harmless, and small, but still… you hear shark, you get scared. For this dive, we went out from the boat deep, then when our tanks got to about half we turned around and went back a little more shallow. We basically swam along a huge coral wall, so there was stuff everywhere! There were little cliffs and plateaus as well as coral all along the ocean floor so there was constantly something to see. Since we were basically along a wall I could drift away or go up or down a little more than the group was and see my own stuff. I felt more comfortable getting closer than I was on the first as well. After the second dive I dried off and wandered around the boat to take photos and met up with an older couple from Baltimore. They had to be at least 60. I ended up talking to the lady for the entire ride back to shore. She had been in New Zealand and the outback so she was giving advice and telling her stories of her trips there, getting me all excited for my trips there. She had been in Oz since January so she had been in the states for Christmas and had witnessed the snow, so we chatted about that as well. I was interrupted when I had to pay but that was right at the end of the trip, so I had a wonderful time with her, I loved her a lot. She’s leaving back for the states tomorrow or the day after. Sounds like she had a great trip and that she’s been all around, so hopeful for getting old and traveling. We dropped everyone off at Dunk then sat around for a bit before heading back to the mainland. Left Mission at 8:30am and got back at about 5pm. The weather was amazing! The visibility wasn’t amazing, but it was pretty damn good, and I saw so many things. The only thing I didn’t see that I wanted to see was a turtle, but I swam with one last time I was on Dunk, so I was okay with it. Actually, I would have died if I saw a seahorse (fav animal and all) but I don’t know if those are around much so I wasn’t expecting it. Amazing experience, I’m thrilled I got to do it and I hope I get to do it again! Got home, showered really quick, had to use extra makeup to cover the bright red of my face, then off to The Shrub for Sunday Session with my fav potato wedges and garlic aioli, mmmm. Wonderful day.

Feb 9, 2010

Nothing new has been happening. Still trying to get out scuba diving. I've basically just been being lazy at work. I booked a flight to New Zealand for the end of the month. I finish work and leave here Feb 26th. I'll be there until March 17th then I think back to Mission Beach for a few days until I figure out where to go after that. I'm hoping to have the next job sorted before NZ but I don't know yet. I'll probably stop back in MB anyway because it's like home right now, but I don't know yet, still early. I'll be doing the entire country in 19 days so it'll be a new city every night except for two, busy. I have to look up things to see still. I'll be going with Vera, who was working here, her friend Carolin, and some stranger that they met. I'm excited to finally get some actual vacation in. This will be three weeks of fun and no work. Not that my work now is strenuous, but still.

Other than that, I have some pics up from random walks and nights out, but nothing too thrilling. Sorry for the lame update!