Just Keep Swimming

I've been trying to write this post for the last day and every time I try and start to write, I feel a sense of inadequacy given that there's no way I can put words to my experiences in Cairns. It was too indescribable, too surreal, too dream-like. Because in fact, it was a dream. It's on the Bucket List even before the "going to Australia" one. (My sophomoric self obviously didn't consider the "killing two birds with one stone" concept when I was writing it out.) And now, "Scuba dive in the Great Barrier Reef" earned its rightful, red cross-out and date mark on that Bucket List.

We landed in Cairns around 5pm Thursday and were bussed to our hostel, Gilligan's. We settled in and checked out the free dinner at the bar. It was an interesting meal that was called sausage and mashed potatoes but I don't know if I would call it that myself. I'm just going to tell myself that their sausage tastes really different than the meat I'm used to at home. Blah. Anyways, we told ourselves that since we had a huge day on Friday we wouldn't go out. That quickly changed when we realized just how fun our hostel was. Gilligan's is pretty much the staple party scene in Cairns and we wanted to savor every moment we could dancing away there and meeting the plenty other international and domestic people. Even if there were a couple crazies such as: the bald, 70ish year-old man dancing; middle-aged men that didn't belong and guys with eyes tattooed on their butt. I have no shame in the fact that I never changed out of my comfy, airport clothes and just stayed in them all night as others were dressed up cute. Totally fine with it.

Friday was the day I had waited for since I was little. A 6:45am wake-up call wasn't going to bother this night owl the slightest bit. We walked to the marina, checked in with our tour company and all 33 of us were en route to the Reef. I do like to praise myself for now deciding on Australia, and not Semester at Sea for studying abroad because my motion sickness doesn't play around when I'm on a boat for a long time. Sorry, body. After about an hour and half of boating and an introduction to diving lesson later, we arrived at our first diving spot. I really wasn't nervous up until the point where I was sitting on the edge of the boat with my feet dangling in the sea, respirator in and air tank buckled in, mask on, 45lb. weight strapped on me and one of the instructors saying, "Good luck down there."

We had to show them that we were able to clear the water out of our masks and the water out of our respirator if water happened to get in it when we were down there. My heart and stomach sunk to depths like never before when I was holding onto the bar proving to the instructor that I was able. It was scary, I won't lie and say that it was one of those moments when I was just ready to go. I second guessed myself and probably could have cried if it wasn't going to affect my mask getting all foggy. But, before I knew it, I was linked arms with three of my friends and our instructor and we were off into one of the seven natural wonders of the World.

Despite the pain I was in because of the pressure on my ears by not being able to really equalize them, those twenty minutes of scuba diving 35ft below in the Great Barrier Reef made everything in my life make sense. I thought of the lyrics in a song by Darius Rucker, "All the doors that I had to close. All the things I knew but I didn't know. Thank God for all I missed 'cause it led me here to this." Every thing in my life finally made sense. Like all the mistakes and accomplishments, thoughts and dreams I've ever had led me to the Great Barrier Reef, scuba diving. I flipped around, maintaining perfect breathing pattern, and gazed at the most beautiful things I'd ever seen.

A clam. If you put your hand in it, it will close. I didn't do it though!  

I give credit to my friend Jack on the pictures. He's a certified scuba diving instructor and can multi-task (like taking pictures, breathing, trying to take it all in, and still look graceful) down there. I haven't mastered that. Partly because my lack of equalizing on the ears distracted me and partly because I was just so enamored by the fish swimming along side of me and the coral just so intrinsically there. It was only after we came up that I found out Katie was doing the same thing I was: trying to get my attention at some point to do one of those "holy [bleep], we're in the Great Barrier Reef together" signals. Although we failed to meet each other's gaze at the same time, scuba diving down there with her made the experience that much more quintessential.

The pictures have a filter on them that allow for the color to come through. When we are down that deep, some colors just don't show up to the naked eye. I could see the colors of the fish down there but it was only after looking at Jack's pictures that I could really see them for all of their beauty.

We had only paid for one introductory dive and were given the option of paying for a second. I was just so satisfied with my first one, that I didn't need to do another one. Plus, you got to snorkel around as long as you wanted with no pressure on the ears! Snorkeling was just as cool because I got to really dissect into the coral, not touching it of course, and watch all the different schools of fish feeding on plenty of things. And I was swimming along with a barracuda. Whenever I would get a little scared I thought of my girl Eleanor Roosevelt and her quote, "Do one thing every day that scares you" that's featured in Kurt Vonnegut's commencement address at MIT in 1997. It calmed me.

We wrapped up the day with one of the crew members singing. I'm sure they have it down to a science because of their fitting, reflective song selections; I was so content with life in those sing-a-longs that I literally think I transcended reality into the clouds. Don't worry, be happy. Be well.

Saturday we enjoyed the pool at the hostel and then set off for another Bucket List item: white water rafting! We were brought to Barron Falls to a grade 3 experience; although I don't think it was much past a grade 2, I'm ignorant in that subject though. I was nervous for this too but more like the excited nervous, rather than the feeling-like-you're-going-to-die nervous. It was a scenic route that made me feel like I was in the Land Before Time movie or something. The mountains and rocks and sounds of the river brought me to simplistic mentality and to appreciating the slightest thing such as fish just randomly jumping in and out of the water, or the birds trying to catch those fish.

I was able to stay in the raft despite three of my friends being flown from it after experiencing some "surfing" in the undertow. We were able to float down the river out of the raft and I really think I enjoyed that more than the rafting. We slid through one of the rushing parts and I was spit right out at the other end, allowing the current to just drag me and float on by. "And we'll all float on okay."

You just can't not laugh at this. 

Given that this was the weekend before Halloween, Gilligan's had a Halloween bash planned for Saturday night and we weren't about to miss it. Although none of us brought costumes, we flaunted our everyday-ness and had the time of our lives dancing, singing, laughing, and making even more Australian friends. It was the perfect end to the best weekend of our lives. Hands down.

I hope the pictures posted here are able to justify just how amazing this experience was because I still feel as though my words have failed me, once again (or maybe you could just go watch Finding Nemo). I wish all of you could have the permanent images that are engrained in my mind of this place. I wish all of you the happiness and love I have of life right now.

Aerial view of some of the Reef.