I was on the fence about even going and was just going to let Will go by himself and I was going to take the 3 kids on the Crocodile Safari. It is the Great Barrier Reef!! What was I thinking!!! Kids or no kids, we are SCUBA diving that reef! So kids came along and truthfully I am so glad that I took them. This is an experience that should not be passed up. Granted, they had no idea what they were doing but we got some pretty cool pictures to share with them later in life and we are definitely going back to Australia and diving other parts of the reef off Cairns.
Will is a Dive Master and I am just Open Water certified (taking the course for Advanced and Adventure certification). Both of us dove quite a bit in Cuba and then stopped for a while. Starting a family and life just seemed to get in the way. I had forgotten how much fun diving was!!!!
Before I get ahead of myself, lets start from the beginning. Our cruise ship was tendered in the middle of the Coral Sea and the Charter out to the reef docked alongside and we all got on. There was about 200 of us and we were not the only ones who brought little-ish kids :-) It was 2 hours on the boat out to Knuckle Reef and this was the part I was most worried about. 2 hours on a bout with kids.... bringing the Kindles!!!! They were great! It was a rough ride and several people got sea sick. Thankfully my kids were troopers.
I thought Mike was going to toss his cookies - he stated to turn white and seemed very calm. He was just tired. Nothing as getting through CJ and his Iron Gut!! Motion in the Ocean didn't seem to bother the Princess
After the 2 hour ride we docked alongside a Pontoon that is permanently out at Knuckle Reef. A small crew live on it as well. It was really cool actually. No bathrooms for guests to use so we had to use our boat for that. But everything was provided for us. SCUBA gear, sting suits, masks, snorkles, fins... You name it, they had it.
Our Pontoon with another boat pulling up and two happy kids thrilled at what they just did!!!
Will and I dove in different groups - there were about 8 of us who were certified to dive. Will went in the first group and I went second. It was not that big a deal to me that we could not go together. It's not like we could have talked under there :-) However.... His group saw the massive Bumphead Parrotfish and our didn't. Plus I had the GoPro with me so we didn't have a picture of it :-(
While he dove, I stayed on the pontoon with the kids and we went into the water. My dive was at 1130am so I was watching my time closely. It did take a good while to get the kids in to their sting suits (Irukandji Jellyfish can be a problem in Australian waters). Nothing like stuffing two slightly over sized boys into a second skin suit!!! HAHA it was not easy feat but it was accomplished and they looked amazing!
Next was the life jacket, mask, and fins. None of the kids actually snorkeled but they wanted to look cool like everyone else.
Love my little "SCUBA Steve's"
These next pictures were taken with our GoPro Hero 4. This little thing takes great pictures!!!
He looks absolutely ridiculous but oh so fantastic at the same time - He's quite happy about it too!
Words can not even express how excited Ash was to swim with fins! All Smiles All Day
Ash and Mike wanted the added protection of a pool noodle - Mike was determined he was going to sink and that the sharks were going to eat him. I told him Nemo was down there and that he was safe. He was convinced the little clownfish would keep him safe because Nemo's father outran Bruce the Shark in Finding Nemo. Love how his logic is movie related.
I stuck CJ on a boogie board so he could float and he was so happy! Ash took to the water like a natural! She immediately put the noodle under her arms and started fluttering her legs. She LOVED the fins!!! She was really enjoying herself and just swimming around like everyone else. Mike was a bit more cautious did not leave my side.
Lets talk about this ridiculous cage the kids and I were put in shall we? I was NOT happy. So apparently people get overwhelmed and start freaking out when they see a mom, by herself, with three kids. Seriously.. I am not the first person to take my kids in the water without my other half.... But whatever. Ash was swimming just fine, Mike was fine, CJ was fine but the people who were in charge wanted me out of the water even though there were 200 other people around me if I needed help. So we got put in this foot and half foot deep caged pool to make everyone happy.
Funny part is that when Will took the same three kids in the water by himself, sans boogie board and noodles, not a single person said anything to him. It was all fine that they were swimming about. Apparently they thought I could not handle my kids even though I added the extra safety features that Will did not :-)
Mike was not happy about the stupid cage either :-)
This lasted all of 10 minutes until they started screaming. They went from happy and content in the Sea to mad and miserable in a cage. Way to go crew... Then they asked "oh whats wrong? They were so happy a few minutes ago?" - DUH!
It was my turn to dive anyway so I saw no point in making a case that I was fine in the water with everyone else :-)
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