Ridiculously early, we arrived at Cairns airport. What a very nice town and nice weather as well!!! We spent all day getting ourselves organized for our 5-day diving experience. The next morning we were picked up at 8.30 to go to the training pool and dive school. We got some nice PADI books and spent a morning learning all sorts of theory. Lots of things you do not realize or do not know. The afternoon we spent at the doctor's to get ourselves medically approved for diving, and then our first dive in confined water = swimming pool. Really strange to be breathing under water but cool as well. Day 2 consisted of more pool training and more theory including our exam: we both passed :) At night we took a reef teach session, in which we learned a little bit about what we were going to see on our 3 days at the reef: what kind of animals, plants, corals, etc. Cool stuff and some really nice stories!

And then: heading out by boat for 3 days of practically non-stop diving. Dive 1 and 2 in open water = sea. We kind of were all over the place but the views of the reef were already amazing. Not bad to take a look at all these beautiful fish and corals. The next day ,we first had still 2 more training dives to do and by lunchtime were certified Open Water Divers. Jeeehaaaa!!!!!

After this, the real fun began. Exploring the reef, determining course, compass reading, and of
course: a million fish, corals, sharks, turtles, etc. We saw 2 types of reef sharks, 2 types of turtles, a moray eel, blue spotted rays, anemone fish (all sorts of relatives of Nemo :) ), sea stars, hard and soft corals, and millions of other fish! Diving is really cool and it opens a whole new world to explore :)

One problem: it is highly addictive! You just want to go again and again!

And with this last episodeDown Under, our 5 monthson the southern hemisphere are over! No more southern Cross at night in the sky and no longer hanging upside down. Back on our feet again , hahahah :)