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Had I heard right? In my sleep had I heard a knock at the door? "Ed, your ride is here". Sh*t! I've slept in!
I'd set my alarm to have me ready an hour AFTER my actual scheduled pick-up time of 7:30. I guess I had wanted more to believe an 8:30 ride to the second day of my birthday/Christmas gift of a 5 Day PADI Open Water scuba course with Pro Dive.
Fifteen minutes later, with guilt disguised as cheer, I greeted my class mates assembled in the van already collected from various accommodation spots around Cairns on instructor Jamie's return (rather than the outward journey as my pick-up was originally supposed to be).
It was not yet 8 o'clock when we piled into a classroom seeking shelter from the rising heat that had marked the last few days in Cairns as scorchers. Friday was shaping up to be no different.
Blinking away too little sleep and an all too recent hurried waking, I slouched deep in my chair as people with their freshly made teas and coffees took their seats and settled around a circle of tables to listen to some 'guest' advice about choosing masks, snorkels and fins. It would have segued into the PADI course a little easier had it not seemed so much like an add-on sales presentation. Still, we got to put the talk to the test and play with some of the equipment in the pool as part of our second and final training session in the pool.
The wet suits were hardly necessary. Even though it was under shade cloth, the pool had been heated to a very warm ambient temperature in a summer where the mercury doesn't drop below 22C/72F at night.
Divided into two groups of 3 pairs/buddies, Taka, the other instructor for our pool component showed us how to control our buoyancy in the water with our breathing (in combination with our weight belts and BCD) in the 4m/13ft section of the pool. While waiting for others in the group to run through their supervised exercises I lay on my back on the bottom of the pool and watched the plume of bubbles I exhaled shimmer to the surface. It was every bit as relaxing/meditative as it was in my dreams.
Minus our scuba gear we were taught how to skin dive, in other words, how to get below the surface (and back) using only mask, snorkel and fins. Another exercise was a submarine egg-and-spoon race with golf balls substituted for eggs for obvious reasons (we were trusted with real spoons though). After the six of us had swum the length of the pool at the surface the other group was up from the bottom and we had ourselves a relay race. As with the fines imposed on us for diving misdemeanors (like leaving a tank standing on its end unattended or taking off your mask and resting it on your forehead while at the surface (a sign of a distressed diver)) the reward to the winning team was chocolate. As luck (and practice) would have it, I was on the winning team.
Time for lunch, just a short van ride away at the Food Court in Cairns on The Esplanade. It was not a comfortable place to eat a meal with little air circulation while surrounded by counters of heated food. Once my lunch had disappeared from the plate in front of me I had to step out for some fresh air. While I was engaged in conversation with a fellow dive student we gravitated towards a counter at the Food Court entrance that sold temptingly refreshing New Zealand smoothies and ice-cream. The American I was talking to said that he'd observed on his recent trip that these outfits were all over the place in New Zealand. It was another reminder that it's been two years since I was there last and over four since I lived in my native country.
Lunch was followed by the class being led around the corner into Pro Dive's central city shop where things rubbery, shiny and expensive-looking were on display beckoning play.
Tomorrow the class would be taking their live-aboard portion of the course. As I'm working on reception at Inn the Tropics four days a week in an attempt at scraping Aus$ together I'll put to sea for three days of diving on my next 'weekend'. All I could do was watch tinged in green as the class went to Pro Dive's store room to assemble their personal gear into individual crates in preparation for their early departure to the Great Barrier Reef tomorrow.
It was now time to return to the training centre for the last modules of the course and... the final exam.
Watching other people shopping saps my energy and after a meal in warm conditions compounded with a sleep deficit, back in the class room my eyelids were blinking very long and very deep as the next section of the training video played. A rare cup of tea perked me up enough to stay attentive for the exam but I missed one question of the fifty (a question on bad air in tanks) - but only if I had missed on more than 12 questions would my PADI certification be in jeopardy.
One more ride in the van to town and the class was dropped off in front of Reef Teach as the final 'classroom' component to the course. Set up to (re)educate people about the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem and some of the animals people are likely to encounter on a visit, the two hour presentation has been made lively and informative with the ebullient Paddy, presenter, dive master, marine biologist and founder of Reef Teach. You can learn to identify families of fish such as wrasse, surgeons, angels and damsels. In addition, you can learn which fish change colour before your eyes and which animal breathes through its butt. An anti-disinformation (Hollywood shark myths, etc) and education programme, Reef Teach does help a lot in better understanding the reef system. It's also another example of how shockingly little local/state/federal government protection/information is made readily available. Private enterprise takes up some of the slack.
After a complimentary VIP (staff) dinner at the infamous Wool Shed, I walked back to Inn the Tropics (and narrowly missed getting wee-ed on by a fruit bat in a mango tree as I crossed a park).
Sure I'll stay up and watch a DVD with the rest of the staff in the lounge area of ITT (even though my eyes are burning to stay closed). Tomorrow I start my week of 9 hour shifts on reception from 2pm instead of going diving. What a tough life.