Maggie Island Diving

This past weekend I took 4 days to complete my open water diving certification of Magnetic Island, just a ferry ride away from Townsville. I can now scuba dive up to 18 meters below the surface of any body of water. During my certification instructors only took us down to a depth of about 6 meters, but it was still amazing. The feeling of being able to breath underwater is unlike any other. You have about 50 pounds of equipment on and as soon as you put on your flippers and deflate your BC its like you passed through the threshold into another world.

We started off our certification by watching several somewhat dull but essential videos and completing a written exam (which was the first test I have aced in years). Some of the information was drilled into my head so I think I’ll remember it FOREVER! Then, we put on our wet suits and air tank and practiced various skills in the pool, which we eventually duplicated in the ocean on one of our four dives. Other than the skills that every basic diver has to know we got a tour of the reef that is just off the coast of Maggie Island. Granted it wasn’t the Great Barrier Reef, but feeding the fishies and seeing stingray and coral was incredible. There is so much to see right below the water’s surface. Needless to say, scuba diving is one of my new favorite activities and I hope that I’ll do a lot more of it here and throughout my lifetime. (Marsh family, when is your next trip to the Virgin Islands?)

Other than my beautiful adventure under the sea (hah) I stayed in my first hostel type accommodation. I do not think I met one person from Australia that was staying in the entire site. I don’t even think I met a fellow American citizen. I did however meet plenty of Europeans from the UK, Germany, Denmark, and Estonia. I was amazed to see how many people were not working or going to school and simply traveling around Australia for a few months! In fact, even the diving instructors (who were the only people working, but loved what they did so much it wasn’t really work) were not born and raised in Australia.

My friend Allison, who completed the course with me, and I were placed in the same hostel as a group of English boys of around the age of 19. They were extremely friendly; they chatted us up as soon as we walked in, and a couple hours later we were sharing drinks at the pub/club attached to the hostel. Unfortunately, I never got their information so I’m not sure I’ll ever see them again.

The next night we went back to the pub/club and talked with a ton of locals who come to the hostel just to have a “night on the town.” I had some interesting conversations and developed a sense of interest in the Australian version of racism. There is a lot of stereotyping and a somewhat skewed view of the place of aborigines in Australian society. Locals seem to think that there is only a proper aborigine and a bum on the street who collects government money because of his heritage. I find this interesting because I had such an awesome time learning all that I did from a somewhat integrated aborigine, Uncle Rusty. Regardless, I just listened to what they had to say about it and retired to bed early for an early day of diving.
Luckily, Allison and I befriended a couple in our scuba diving certification class that actually liked to do the touristy stuff. After our first two real dives in the ocean we went out on a hike through the rain forest. But don’t get caught up in your typical thoughts of what a typical rainforest is. This doesn’t look like the rain forests you find in Africa or South America. No monkeys or gorillas just little animals like lizards and snakes and the occasional koala! Unfortunately, we weren’t lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a wild koala on our excursion. Despite our lack of wild koalas, I did get to know Leanne and Gary (our UK friends), and although they were slightly older (24) I felt like I was on a somewhat even playing field with them in the world. It was a strange feeling because although I thought I should feel as though they were more mature, I did not feel as though they were. Anyways, I didn't forget to get their information so maybe I'll be able to meet up with them sometime in the future.

Aside from my weekend in the water, I am just trying to get ahead on my studies before I travel around for lecture recess (aka spring break). I’ll be going to Whitsundays during Easter weekend and then to Melbourne and Tasmania less than a week later. From the looks of it, April is going to be an exciting month!