SHARKS ALIVE! - GREAT BARRIER REEF 2012 - PART 4

GREAT BARRIER REEF 2012 - Part 4 – Sharks Alive!

“A shark just chased me out of the water!  I’m thinking there was no genuine threat, but a grey reef shark dropped its pectoral fins, waggled its tail and swam at me at full speed!

I expected it to veer at the last minute, but it didn’t and kept coming until it ran into my strobe arm.

I left the water quite quickly.”

 

 – my notes after diving at ‘Amazing’, Holmes Reef.

GREAT BARRIER REEF 2012 - PART 3

Okay, here it is – the long-awaited third instalment of my Great Barrier Reef trip report.

 

In case you missed Parts 1 & 2:

 

GREAT BARRIER REEF 2012 - PART 1

 

GREAT BARRIER REEF 2012 - PART 2

 

 

GREAT BARRIER REEF 2012 - PART 3

 

We sailed from Cairns on the Thursday afternoon and headed east for Holmes Reef.  Spoilsport rode comfortably through the night with only an unfortunate few succumbing to mal de mer.

Friday morning opened fine and clear [nautical terminology that; it means it was a nice day].  Our first dive was at Nonkie Bombie.  Like the first dive of most trips, the crew were checking out the divers to see who needed hand-holding and who was safe to roam.

THE BENDS - MY STORY

THE BENDS - MY STORY

Last week I gained membership to a club I didn’t want to join. 

I got bent.

As a diver, decompression illness, or ‘the bends’, is something that happens to someone else and if you do everything right you don’t have to worry about it.  Right?  Wrong!  Even if a diver does all the right things, follows all the guidelines and adds extra conservancy, it’s still possible to get bent.  I knew all this, so when it happened to me, I accepted what it was and sought treatment.  I’m one of the lucky ones.  There should be no permanent problem, but it’s an experience I’m happy not to repeat.