Magnetic Island

After leaving Airlie Beach we made our to Townsville to then jump on the Ferry to Magnetic Island. This is a small Island and doesn't host very much except for some hostels, a few supermarkets and little stores, and some nature walks. It is a nice place to just hang around. This so far has been the one place where we have stayed the longest. The reason for this was because we took a scuba diving course and became certified. I had already taken my PADI course but hadn't done my open water dives to become certified (which Katie and I had tried to do in the Dominican Republic). It turned out that it was cheaper for me to do the package deal 4 nights accommodation, the dive course, and two extra fun dives rather than just my open water dives and my accommodation. So being broke I went with the cheaper deal and am now certified with SSI instead of PADI, which is good enough for me.

We had to do a medical before we could take the course and this is due to Queensland being the strictest state in Australia in regards to diving. It was an easy task but for some reason I found it quite humourous. We did an eye test, hearing test, weight, lung test etc. Then at one point the doctor checked our reflexes and our stomach muscles. During this part I burst out laughing and said "hahah...that tickles!" The doctor was a little taken aback by my outburst and seemed to laugh at my reaction a little. Straight after this he made us stand heel to toe, cross our arms across our chest and close our eyes to check our balance. During this I was still thinking about how awkward it was that I had burst out in laughter and how always in those moments where you shouldn't laugh...it is hard to hold it in. I suddenly burst into the giggles as well and tried to control myself but couldn't. When I opened my eyes the doctor looked at me and asked "what is funny?" I just replied "I have never had a medical like this I guess." He just laughed...

After the medical we began our dive class and it went very smoothly and quickly. A lot faster than my PADI course but it was fine for me since this was like a refresher course anyway. When we finally went out to perform our skills, there wasn't much to see out there in Magnetic Island. This was due to a beach entry, so we were close to land, and that Magnetic Island has a lot of silt around it. The things that were cool to see though were the little blue dotted sting rays. At one point during our skills test while kneeling on the sea bed, i felt something graze my legs, I looked down and saw a sting ray swimming between them and freaked out a little, tapped Phil and made an "AHHH" sound through my regulator. My first thought was "Crikey...Steve Irwin" but then later my instructor assured me that if stung (rather stabbed) by these rays it will just hurt but they aren't deadly. PHEW!

I was fairly disappointed with what we were seeing and knew I had to see the Great Barrier Reef. I canceled my trip with Phil for Cape tribulation (near Cairns) and booked a full dive day with a company called Calyspso, the place that Matt and Katie recommended to me. Phil wasn't so keen on the idea of me switching but after a while we decided that we had different interests. I wanted to dive, dive, dive and Phil wanted to see the rain forest etc and dive. So we planned to do different thing when we arrived in Cairns.

We spent much of our time diving and when we didn't we hung out at the main bar at the hostel. This was a cool hostel right on the beach and there was most likely a party every night. I just hung out with Ruvini and chilled and refused to let the bartender coax me into drinking each night. A few times I caved because the drinks were free but I never wanted to drink, so I didn't. There have been too many people on this trip making fools of themselves...and I refuse to drink GOON...the cheap version of wine that comes in a silver bag and in a box that has fish oil as one of the ingredients. I prefer real wine thank you.

After six days we were headed off again to Cairns...