This morning it was up nice and early so i could go on a full day tour on the boat to do some diving and snorkelling with the Manta Rays.
Mind you I haven’t actual done any diving for 20 yrs. I am pretty lucky I thought to bring my diving license from way back with me as the only dive shop in town Ningaloo Reef Dive offers PADI refresher courses. So after spending about an hr with one of the instructors and getting reminders about safety and what to do and not do etc, I passed, so it was onto the bus to get transported to the jetty.
One of the downfalls of being out on the boat for a good 8 hrs, if you don’t have a waterproof camera or a GoPro you wont get many pictures. I wasn’t willing to lose my phone or camera overboard so they pretty much stayed locked away from the water. The day was pretty jam-packed from start to finish, so there was not much time in between things to even take pictures.
First there was the organising of the equipment, getting kitted up and comfortable in all our diving gear and hoping my mask wont steam up underwater. I can’t say I am a fan of that as it isn’t exactly fun getting having to let water in your mask to wash it out, then expelling the air out of the mask through your nose.
The tour included 2 dives, one in the morning at the inside reef which was followed by a quick break then it was off to look for the Mana Rays. This was a bit of fun seeing who spotted one first. Once it was spotted it was almost a rush to get into the water to catch up with it as I can tell you now from experience they swim bloody fast.
So after spending what seemed like a lifetime to my legs trying to snorkel and keep up with these thing it was back on the boat to have some lunch. After a quick bite to eat it was time to head to the outside reef for our final dive. This dive involved heading into what is called the Shark Cleaning Station. It is situated between 2 huge coral formations which the shark swim through and all the scavenger fish latch on and get to work cleaning them. It was a bit of a breath-taking and slightly terrifying moment being surround by sharks.
After a long day out at sea we headed back to shore, by the time I got back to the caravan park my left foot had started to swell a bit as i think when i came out of the water from one of the dives I twisted my ankle slightly so up it went with an ice pack to rest so I could continue my adventures tomorrow.
The Lonely Girls Handbook 