great barrier reef v1.2

up in time with the sun to do our last three dives on our last day. by now lydia's cold had begun to clear up, our confidence was high, and we were more comfortable in the water than ever before. we pushed our depth the first two dives (gordon's mooring again and ski slope) on flynn reef. it is amazing how you begin to not feel the pressure and the equipment. for our first dive we had a max depth of 18m and i went to 17.6m just by following an interesting fish. there is so much to see that i do not think you would ever tire of it.

for our last dive we decided to take it easy. the site - ski slope - is shallow, with a sandy bottom that cuts through the coral like a narrow highway. lyds and i followed the highway, occasionally picking this off ramp or that. the "off ramps" were passages through the coral we could follow to little pools. in some of these we would just sit and watch the fish swim by, or we would skim the surface and look at the coral horrizon under the sun. i basked upside down on the bottom with my hands under my head, swaying gently in the current as i watched my bubbles mix with the fish and sun. i realized that i was humming the bends by radiohead. both of us didn't want to ascend, knowing it was the end of our scuba diving in australia. there was still a sense of wonder, and there were still things i wanted to see.

going down is a way of life.