Swimming With Sharks
13th January, Cairns.
Tried out something new today - I went scuba diving in the Cairns Aquarium's sharks' enclosure. I decided to join Ian as I knew I'd kick myself later if I didn't give it a try. I felt fine about diving here as the fish are domesticated, making this a 'safe' environment. The water was warm and no currents meant that I could move around more comfortably.
We'd arrived early and had time to take a look at the other fish in the aquarium. We saw the obligatory Nemo fish playing hide-and-seek in the anemone. The aquarium is relatively small and we were soon at the area where we were about to dive in. Our dive instructor, Paul, was already in there with a young lad. On a few occasions the lad would accidentally stand on a shark. These sharks were cool and just swam away. I remember asking Ian to name all the types of fish he could see in this tank. He started to list them, but I found myself not concentrating and focussing on my nerves. The fish looked mighty big in there!
At 4.30pm, we were all kitted up in our diving gear. I was surprised at how heavy this stuff weighed. Once in the water with my jacket inflated, the kit felt a whole lot lighter and I was able to move around with the guidance of Paul. Breathing through a regulator is a strange experience - as soon as I got used to hearing my own breathing, I was fine.
Swimming With the Big Fish
When I first saw the big fish, my heart skipped a few beats, but because I was so pre-occupied with the technicalities of the dive gear, this was soon put to the back of my mind. With breathing and manoeuvres sorted out, I was then able to enjoy the scenery.
Manda and the Maori Wrasse.
We swam with leopard sharks, white tip reef sharks, shovelnose rays, manta rays, sting rays, maori wrasse, potato cod, trevellies and bat fish. One of the leopard sharks is called Linda and she is approximately 2.7m long. Her son, Lawrence, was swimming around with her. King George, the maori wrasse, is about fifty years old and looks old and full of wisdom. I think naming the fish is definitely a good idea - especially to shark novices such as myself. Well, you remember UK Big Brother? Once they named the chicken, Margerie, she was part of the family. Or UK Castaways, no one could bring themselves to eat the pig once they had named it, could they? Or not at first, anyway. Not that I was contemplating eating the big, oh-so juicy potato cod with a nice plate of chips! Mmmm.
Potato cod.
Paul picked up a starfish and handed it to me. It looked lovely. He led me around the tank, pointing out all the fish until I felt comfortable enough to explore by myself. Paul really helped me enjoy my first try dive and what a great place to experience this.
A stingray stays still for his close-up.
Manda, Ian and another unexpected guest - watch out, it's a shark!
We spent half an hour in the tank but time just went by so quickly. I was sad to leave the fish behind - almost felt like we'd bonded and I was one of them! Especially when I spotted some Korean tourists taking photos of us on the other side. Doug, the shovelnose ray, did some serious posing for the photos, let me tell you! When we were back in dry clothes, Ian and I went back to watch them from the front. They were moving around gracefully and freely - no dumb-struck divers to avoid!
Ian checking out the big fish from outside.
