Great Barrier Reef Liveaboard and Snorkeling

Our next big vacation was a trip halfway around the world to Australia in November 2010. The Great Barrier Reef was definitely a priority and what better way to see it than to live on the reef for a few days. We booked a 3 day liveaboard open water certification course with Reef Encounter and it turned out to be one of the best things we ever did. Accommodations (with en-suite rooms) were good , food was good, people (both staff and fellow divers) were great, and the diving was superb!

Their operation was pretty efficient. Divers and snorkelers boarded a smaller vessel in Cairns, which transported everyone to the reef where the larger livaboard vessel stayed. After some time on the reef, the smaller vessel returned to Cairns with the day-trippers and those who've finished their liveaboard tour.

Maggie and I transferred over to the liveaboard vessel and called it home for the next 3 days. The open water course was spread across the 3 days with a total of 8 dives. Our class consisted of our instructor, Jed, and 2 other guys from Florida, Mike and Tom.

The Camera(s)

We already had a Canon SD810 IS, so it was just a matter of picking up an underwater housing for it. I can't remember what (if any) research I did, but we got the Canon WP-DC17 waterproof case. I knew nothing about underwater photography and only cared that I could take pictures under water.

Mike and Tom had rented a camera with marine housing from a shop in Cairns. It was a later iteration of our camera - a Canon IXUS 130 (known in North America as the SD1400 IS), which according to the comparison here, is a bit of an improvement. They also had the Canon branded housing.

First Encounters

When the small vessel met up with the livaboard, we were given time to snorkel as well. The site was great because it really wasn't deep at all and I was able free dive close enough to snap some decent pictures.

Canon SD870 IS - cookie goes to the first person who can tell me what fish these are. 

Canon SD870 IS - don't know what fish this is either, but colouful enough to warrant a picture

We saw giant clams everywhere at the GBR. It wasn't until a future dive trip when someone asked us about the giant clams that we realized how spoiled we were. We saw so many of them that they took a back seat to all the other "cool" stuff we tried to look for.

Canon SD870 IS - as far as the clam can close its mouth

To give some perspective on size, here's me putting my hand in one. This was actually taken at the end of our tour, after Jed had us try this on one of our dives. Apparently, the muscles in the clam's walls grow to be so thick that it can no longer shut its mouth tight, which is what it's trying to do here.

Canon SD870 IS - giving the clam a mouth massage