Fitzroy Island

OnTuesday July 23rd Dave had to go to Fitzroy Island for his instructor class. Jill was invited along to play the role of student. The island is about a 45 minute ferry ride from Cairns and has a resort, along with day tripper amenities. We arrived in the morning, set up our dive gear, and got rolling. The little bits of reef are right off of the beach in relatively shallow water. After going through skills and training, we went on a short dive over a few coral heads, which proved to be a spectacular lil dive. Literally in 5 minutes we saw a lion fish, a sea turtle, a clown fish, and a purple starfish, all in about 12 feet of water. Wonderful! After our short dive, we had lunch, then the guys went back at it. They had more training to do, so Jill snorkeled around, then relaxed on the beach. We caught the ferry back in the late afternoon and concluded our trip. It was a really nice day trip and we would love to go back to the island for an overnight.

Open Water Jill and Dive Master Dave

Over the past 2 1/2 weeks Dave has been working on his Dive Master certification. Lots of classroom time and 2 trips out to the reef for 3 days at a time has gotten Dave 1 more step up the ladder. Jill spent 2 days in the classroom and 3 days at the reef to get her Open Water certification. It's been something on her mind for the past few years, but a bit of fear and procrastination has stood in the way. Since Dave was learning to teach, why not jump in and learn to dive with him helping out. Basically Dave was an assistant to the dive instructor, practicing some teaching techniques and demonstrating skills. He has also been building on the Rescue Diver skills by practicing more search and recovery techniques, along with onboard operation skills. We left on the boat on Wednesday July 10th to head out to the reef. The weather was crap, with winds blowing around 25 knots, which made for a rough ride out. Most of the 32 passengers spent the trip vomiting, while the other few stayed put holding on, as not to be thrown across the boat. Once we got to the reef, the boat didn't rock quite as much, since we were somewhat protected, but the wind was still howling. Jill did 2 training dives on the first day, while Dave did 4 dives. The second day Jill did 2 training dives, which then meant officially certified. In the afternoon we dove together for a fun dive. That evening Jill could have done the night dive, but didn't have any interest. On the third day, we had 3 more dives. Dave had to finsih up a few skills, then dove with Jill. All three days, while windy and choppy, were great dives. On the second day, we saw a huge green turtle about 4 feet long sitting on the bottom. Jill sat right down next to him on the sandy bottom for several minutes. We also saw a stingray and a lionfish, along with tons of other marine life. The abundance of fish is mind blowing. It is awesome. The visibility wasn't that great, only about 35 feet, but once you got close to something it was amazing. Of course a clearer sky and more settled waters would be better, but I guess that gives me something to look forward to for the next time. We really had a great trip together and met lots of people from all different places. The next step for Dave is Dive Instructor, which is underway now.

Back in Black Three Kings 2013