My intrigue for the underwater world that we have on this planet started when I was taken around aquariums when I was young, always being fascinated by the creatures that live out there in the ocean and the spectacular habitats that they reside in however, at the time I wasn’t really interested in seeing it all out in the wild. As I grew up though and became more adventurous as well as being a user of Instagram and Facebook, it was only inevitable that I was going to come across pictures of the underwater world in it’s natural way and suddenly, I was interested in going down below.
Only once before had the thought of taking up scuba diving crossed my mind but I was very quickly put off during a try dive due to not being able to equalise my ears and the pressure on them giving me a lot of pain and bringing the end to that experience. It was this painful experience that put me off the sport and made me think that I couldn’t do it, even if check ups at the doctors said otherwise and I thought my dream was over.
The next time I revisited the idea was when I headed out to Australia for a 3 week trip (don’t worry, I plan to cover this in the travel section of the blog in the future!) and knew that I was going to Cairns, which is renowned for its excursions to the world famous Great Barrier Reef. This was one trip that I couldn’t miss out on but there was one issue… my ears. I was getting flashbacks to my last time and was getting pretty worried.
Nonetheless, I went ahead and booked my trip, making sure that I picked a trip that was both affordable and gave me the opportunity to conduct a try dive before committing financially to everything, in case I came to find out that I would have to turn round and head to the surface if my ears weren’t going to be playing ball. The company in question? Compass Cruises. Thus this blog will both review the experience with Compass Cruises and my thoughts on scuba diving.
How the Day Ran
The day was well organised and smooth. During an early start down at the jetty for us, it was very easy to find out which wharf we were going from due to the handy map at the entrance of the marina and we were met by a member of the boat crew that would be taking us out that day.
As you boarded the boat, there was a member of staff to greet you and give you the chance to get a photo in front of it with a buoy in hand before you removed your footwear and clambered aboard. The organisation on board was followed the same theme, with someone there to take all your details down, what you wish to do and if you were in the situation that I was, travelling alone, they paired you off with others to get the conversation moving.
Once everyone had boarded, there was a full introduction and safety brief and then we were split down into the groups of snorkelers and divers to get fully introductory lectures for the beginners and those requiring a refresh so that they knew what kit they were using, how to use it and a bunch of techniques in case you ran into any issues such as water in their mask, water in their mouth piece or unequalised ears. One of the main things that I learnt at this stage was that the sport of scuba diving was actually very simple once you knew the principles and if you knew your drills, you could get yourself out of any situation.
And now the time had come, the first dive! As the instructor called us through, we donned our stinger suits (a very flattering outfit; one I’m glad I didn’t take a photo in…), grabbed ourselves a mask and snorkel, got a weight belt chosen for us and handed a set of flippers before being directed to the aft of the boat. It was here that we were sat down, got our equipment on and were given our BCD and cylinder. Of course, a photo was taken of us, we got ourselves ready and then one by one, rolled into the sea…
As instructed, we grabbed hold of the bars that were submerged and conducted all of the exercises required to prove we were able to safely dive. It was during these that I was noticed and was already amazed by the marine life that were around us in the water and how close they were getting. This was followed by an excited look down and taking in the coral from a distance, wanting to get down there and explore.
Once the instructor was happy, he set our BCDs to the right level for us to be able to have neutral buoyancy (this is a state in water where you can stay completely still and control moving up and down in the water column using just with your breath, giving the feeling of weightlessness) before we all linked up and started to swim down. As we were swimming down, once we showed that we were comfortable in the water, one by one we were released by the instructor and just had to follow him along the reef, taking in the spectacular sights that were down there.
What limited our time under the water? That would be the amount of air that we had between us and with unqualified divers only being allowed to go to the deepest depth of 12m, with the amount of time that we had down there meant that decompression wasn’t needed.
It was back on the boat to reflect on the first dive, review any pictures and videos and refuel with some lunch, and what a lunch it was. There was a incredible amount of food, all fresh and great tasting along with plenty of variety to cover all tastes and diets. Diving is hungry work so I piled the plate high along with everyone else and there was still plenty available for seconds for everyone to go for.
Food eaten and it was time for round two of diving, with this time taking a lot less time to get kitted up and back under the water. There were no drills to practice, using up air on the surface, which gave us longer underwater which matters greatly when you’re having such great fun!
In the end, the two dives lasted about 25 and 35 minutes respectively, giving us about an hour under the water. It was one of the best hours I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing! This was for some reason surprisingly longer than I expected but unfortunately for my group, I was a bit of a hoover and used my air up quickly…
On the way back to land, it was time to try something that you don’t do on any other boat (so we were told) and that’s “boom netting”. I feel that the only way to describe this was to quote exactly how it was described to us:“Essentially, it’s semi drowning!”. No, I’m joking, it’s not that bad at all and was really good fun! (Well, I found it to be anyway…). How this goes down is they attach a large net to the back of the boat, send out a safety boat (just in case) and then get you to hold on for dear life. Then they turn up the engines and off you go and you hold on for as long as you can. As crazy as it sounds, it was a lot of fun and certainly something I would recommend you try out!
What It Was Like
Even though I was fearful for my ears once I was under the water, when I followed all the techniques shown to me by the instructors, they gave me no issues and once I was allowed to detach from the instructor, the feeling of having neutral buoyancy and being able to move completely freely within the water was amazing! The feeling on complete weightlessness is phenomenal! I didn’t feel like I had to get used to the breathing through just my mouth but that is something that people are apprehensive about and find a little weird.
As for what is down there? This was the best part! The many species of colourful fish made it a sight to behold and treasure, with me being fortunate to have a GoPro that I could take down there and capture some of the brilliant shots that you can see in the this blog post. It wasn’t only the fish that amazed me but the geography of the reef, with areas you could swim through and large areas of coral that stuck out from the rest of the coral reef.
Pricing
With Compass Cruises, you paid $115 (AUD) for the initial cruise and then your diving was paid for on top of that. For the $115 you get the cruise, unlimited snorkelling, unlimited tea and coffee and a full buffet lunch. Your dives are priced on top of that at $55 per dive for a beginner and a slight discount for those who are qualified. When I was shopping around, this seemed to be the cheapest of the scuba diving tours and I feel I got excellent value for money. Compass Cruises offer a variety of other tours, which can be found here along with their respective prices.
Recommended?
I loved my first experience of scuba diving and it was this experience that made me get into the sport and start my qualifications. I found the whole experience from start to finish with Compass Cruises was brilliant, ran smoothly and all the staff were helpful, friendly and good fun. The facilities that they had on board were comfortable and there was plenty of food for everyone with a lot of leftovers after the first sitting so for the big eaters (like me), they’ve got you covered. Then finally, the activities were spot on, the instructors were knowledgeable, very understanding, a calming influence and got you to good sites that had plenty of marine life and cool features that you got to see. All of this for a very reasonable price!
So would I recommend scuba diving? Hell yes! Would I recommend Compass Cruises? 110%! You’ll have a terrific day out with them!