Snorkelling

Our new instructer arrived just in time to take us out snorkelling, as well as Bairdy tagging along as well. We had two sessions, the first to get us used to snorkelling, and the second when we are a bit more confident, and able to snorkel more effectively.

Monday 4th May 2009

This was our first snorkelling lesson, and it took place at Hardwicke Bay. The reason it was here, because in the morning we participated in some community service in the local community, as well as the hosting a beautiful reef.

We arrived at the beach, and had to walk along some jaggered rocking, on bare feet, just to reach the place where we were set to start out snorkel. We had a small talk from Luke, and began to prepare to snorkel. He tought us to spit on our face mask before wearing them to reduce the fog that occurs while snorkelling. Also, he tought us to role the sole of the fins up before putting them on, so it doesn't wreck the fins. We also learnt that we had to have partners so that if something happened there would always be someone there to help.

After we had learnt a few things, we set out onto the reef and started to have a look at the beautiful scenery of the reef. After we had looked around for a bit, we were taken away from the reef and tought how to duck dive properly when snorkelling.

We then had a little longer time to look around the reef, and we saw a massive blue crab that luke tried to catch, but instead just played around with it for a bit. But soon after everyone started to get cold, and then we headed into shore.

It was a fun day, in which we learned a lot of tips about snorkelling, and got some beautiful views of the reef as well.

Wednesday 6th May 2009

As not much people really enjoyed the first snorkel, we went to a new spot. This time we went to Magazine Bay at Pt. Turton. We didn't take as long to get organized this time because we already knew what to do from Monday's session.

We once again partnered up, with everyone pretty much choosing the same partners, and Turns and I once again being partners.

This time, instead of swimming over a reef, we were on the side of a cliff and instead of looking over a reef and coral, we were looking into the side of a cliff as well as around cliffs. The swim itself was much more enjoyable than the first time, because there was rocks and cliffs to dodge and swim through as well as a few ditches to go under, rather than just swimming along the top... But the views, in my opinion, weren't as good, as there wasn't a massive, beautiful reef to look at.

In our time there we saw some massive fish, that probably sized up to half a metre long. While we also saw a two metre skate that didn't move as we approached it, so it was good for everyone to get up close and look at it. But we had to make sure we floated along the surface, instead of letting our legs drop and sturring of the sand so we couldn't see it anymore, but luckily that didn't happen until everyone started to leave the sight. We also saw a massive star fish, that ugly!

Overall, it was a way better day than the first day, because we manged to stay at least a little warm, before we got out, rather than on the first day when we concentrated on being cold rather than looking properly at what is surrounding us. It was also alot more fun swimming around all the rocks and everything, rather than just simply floating around and looking, and although the sights weren't as good, they were still sufficiently good sights, and was much more enjoyable than the reef, where we only saw one crab. Turns and I had a great time together and would snorkel any time if it was warm enough.