In 2022, I took a five-day open water diving course in Cairns, Australia, aka the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef. It was one of the most unique and memorable experiences of my life to date. While I was researching these courses, I struggled to find a day-by-day account of what it was really like: here’s mine.
It started with two days of classroom learning and pool diving. First, we were shown a safety video that could have easily been titled ‘1000 Ways to Die While Scuba Diving’ followed by a series of videos telling us how to actually not to die while scuba diving. The main takeaway: DO NOT hold your breath or else your lungs will explode. I would be lying if I said I didn’t question dropping the course altogether after that introduction, but ultimately, I couldn’t let my fears stop me from this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We spent the morning learning all about the basics of diving, followed by various quizzes to make sure we were actually paying attention.
In the afternoon, we finally got to gear up and jump in… to a ten-foot-deep swimming pool. We essentially did all of the work of scuba diving without getting to see any coral reefs or brightly colored fish. Once again, I was questioning why I had signed up for this. However, learning the basics of diving in a controlled environment allowed me to feel far more comfortable in it so that by the time I got into the ocean, I could focus on the beauty surrounding me rather than be overly concerned about keeping myself alive. Day Two was similar to Day One, except we spent the morning in the pool and then took our final exam in the afternoon.
Day Three is where things got exciting; we packed up our belongings, hopped on a speedboat, and rode out into the middle of the Great Barrier Reef. This was easily the roughest boat ride that many of us had ever been on and a lot of people (myself included) felt seasick. The crew provided ginger tablets for nausea but I highly recommend packing Dramamine or something similar. After a few bumpy hours, we made it to our liveaboard ship where we would spend the next two nights and three days.
We finally got to dive in the ocean and suddenly two days of sitting in class and practicing safety drills in a pool was all worth it. The first few dives were focused on safety drills and then on the morning of day four, after completing nine total dives (five in the pool and four in the ocean), we became certified open water divers! After this, we had two days to dive with partners and in self-guided small groups around our section of the Great Barrier Reef, and the opportunity to go night diving.
In a nutshell, it was like Finding Nemo in real life: a small glimpse into the rich and complex ecosystem of the Great Barrier Reef. Schools of thousands of fish weaved their way through forests of coral reefs and there was nothing but blue for as far as the eye could see. Intermittent sunrays shone through, allowing the marine life to sparkle. Besides fish, we saw turtles, sting rays, and one of my classmates even claimed to have seen a shark. As a beginning diver, we were only supposed to dive up to 50 feet deep, but some people bent the rules slightly and made it to 60.
The liveaboard itself was an amazing experience. The ship housed around twenty of us and we were served surprisingly good food, buffet style. The cabins were small but clean and of course, every single one had an ocean view. There wasn’t a cellphone tower for miles, so we were completely off the grid for about 48 hours. When we weren’t underwater, we spent our time out on the sundeck socializing, playing cards, and trying to identify the different fish we saw during our previous dives. There was no light pollution, so the moon and the stars shone extra bright at night.
One caveat: I do not recommend scuba diving to anyone who is claustrophobic or is generally afraid of the ocean. Stick to something less intense like snorkeling or free diving. If you start to freak out once you’re underwater, you can’t just come back up right away or else you risk getting nitrogen poisoning, which is very serious (and expensive to treat).
With that aside, this was a truly an incredible experience and was worth every penny, especially to be able to see the reef while it’s still around. The company I went with was Divers Den and I thought they did a great job of teaching us how to dive and organizing the liveaboard experience. They also provided all of the necessary gear. I am not being paid to promote them but would absolutely recommend them for your first diving course.
Beautiful pictures! & great information