A frozen pizza, 1.5 lame Aussie sitcoms and a nap ago, I got in from one of the most totally awesome weekends of my life. I went to a diving/campout/birthday party organized by Grace, a member of the N.U.D.E.S. (Newcastle Underwater Diving & Exploration Society) who turned 21 on Friday. Good on ya, Grace! I got to ride up in Gary's 3.0 litre turbo diesel Toyota Hi-Max 4wd crewcab pickup. I told him how much I admired it. He showed off by letting the clutch out, standing still, in third gear and pulling away nicely. The girls in the car were not impressed.
Right, diving. The dive was incredible. The water was the same bright blue you see in the Carribean and crystal clear. Even on the long snorkel trip out to the rocks, I was spell bound by tiny, colorful fish darting in and out of rocks and seaweed beds. The constant low-volume clicking of fish gnawing on coral reminded me of Hawaii, and probably would have brought back visions of snuba-ing on St. Thomas, if I had retained any memories of that whatsoever. I seriously may have amnesia. Once under the water we saw three kinds of sharks; Port Jacksons, 2-3 foot long sharks with bullish heads, a massive, 7-foot-long Wobbegone, which lays on the bottom and has goofy-looking fringy things around it's mouth, and 4-5 Grey Nurse sharks, which were around 6 foot long and look much like sharks that would enjoy eating people, but are harmless. I had heard this going in, but didn't know how to tell the nurse shark from, say a bull shark, which loves to bite humans. We saw them congregating in open water a few feet from the reef, looking like they were planning something devious, and the dive group huddled behind a rock and began pointing excitedly. Numerous questions ran through my mind: are my fellow divers hiding for safety, or to prolong the viewing experience? Are they pointing excitedly in joy or crippling fear? Will I have both of my legs at the end of today? How likely would it be for Christain to pee his wetsuit right now? Fortunately, they were indeed nurse sharks and I continue to have all my wonderful legs. We also saw two big stingrays and a few 1.5 foot seaturtles. And I didn't touch them this time. Promise. So it was approximately the coolest first dive in the world.
Back at camp, Grace's and her boyfriend Tim's parents brought out some gourmet food (spring rolls, potato salad, garlic bread) and the drinking commenced. I, being the token yank, brought out a fifth of Jim Beam and with lots of help, finished it. I also retained my membership in the club after Grace threatened to kick me out if I didn't take a shot of Sour Monkey with her. It was as gross as it sounds, and I didn't find water the next day until around 12:30. It was a tough morning, but a good weekend.
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