G’day mate,
This week our crew traveled back to Cairns once again to explore the wonderful world of SCUBA diving and snorkeling. Tommy Boy, Loose, Molls, JJ, Georgie, Randy, Caro and Aisil woke at the crack of dawn to get ready for their first day of SCUBA school!!! They spent the day watching videos with their instructor Rob as well as blowing their first bubbles underwater!! While they were in school Dougie Fresh, Nilsy, Nora Bean and Livwigs adventured to the Botanic Gardens to walk around, talk, learn about plants, read and take a short nap. The next day the students headed back to class with Rob to participate in two dives in a pool. George loved doing back flips underwater! JJ and Tom found it to be quite fun to wear wetsuits while everyone else dove in bathing suits. Kate, Pierce, Doug, Nils, Nora and Olivia started the day with a two hour boat ride out to the outer Great Barrier Reef!! We anchored at 5 ways and Pierce snorkeled around and the rest of us explored deeper below the surface. Sadly, a lot of the coral at the reef was sick or bleached, but there was still a lot of fish! The next day the Open Water students did their first ocean dive!! Miranda was very excited about the Barracuda while Molly preferred the lionfish! The group who already had their dive certifications went back out to the outer reef. The afternoon dive was very eventful! Nora played with some sea cucumbers and Nils looked for Nemos! Some other afternoon highlights include seeing a 50+ year old female green sea turtle, a sting ray hiding in the sand, and an eel poking out of coral! Olivia’s mind was blown when they stumbled upon a 6 foot white tip reef shark!!! (Olivia communicated her excitement through an underwater dance for Doug!) The Carpe crew met back up at Fitzroy Island that afternoon. At night we went on a glass bottom boat ride to explore the ocean after dark! Kate was most excited for when a turtle swam under the boat! However, Aisil jumped for joy when a small squid was spotted! After we went to a fancy dinner where Caroline sported one of her beautiful new rompers! The next day we all went to the outer barrier reef! (Yay togetherness!) We did 2 dives which means that all of the SCUBA students are certified!!! Lucy was very proud of her diving abilities and wants to dive again soon! We returned to Cairns and settled back into our hostel. We love and miss everyone so much! We can’t wait to see you all soon!
Ta ta for now!
-Aisil and Livwigs
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