My creative juices, along with my adrenaline, have been running a bit low as of late. Even though I ended exams last Saturday, I've been going pretty consistently since, packing, planning my next moves in Australia, planning my travels and my internship for when I get back to the States and trying to spend time with everyone before they head off in separate directions. A few days ago, I even began an Advanced Open Water SCUBA course on Magnetic Island.
Magnetic Island is a small island just off of Townsville, a quick 20 minute ferry ride away. Most of the island is a national park, protected from fishing and other exploitative activities. It being a national park makes for some really exceptional snorkeling and diving with good visibility, especially considering it's an island, and heaps of tropical fish to marvel at.
To get Advanced SCUBA certified there are 5 required dives-a deep water dive, a boat dive, a navigation dive, a naturalist dive and a wreck dive-the last 3 of these I did off of Magnetic Island. The first 2 (navigation and naturalist) were relatively uneventful, aside from the fact that I somehow managed to properly and successfully use a compass underwater for the first time in my life. The third dive, however, exceeded my expectations by a long shot. We dove on the wreck of the Moltke, a German ship brought over for the purpose of creating a break-water in the bay. However, it was sunk prematurely when the captain and deckhand, being rather intoxicated, set off the booms before the ship was in its proper place. Afterwards, the wreck was used for target practice by the military until nowadays it lies peacefully in the bay only minimally disturbed by passing boats and inquisitive divers. The nooks and crannies make ideal homes for fish and inverts. Huge schools of juvenile barracuda, wrasse, grunts and parrotfish can frequently be seen swimming in between the sunken masts. Large angelfish and sweetlips, along with one humongous Humphead Wrasse also hang around the wreck and make it an amazing experience. After my disappointing experience with the Great Barrier Reef, I was more than happy to see sprawling, unbleached coral colonies and fish as diverse as those found in Disney films and I can't wait to finish my certification and see what my next two dives have for me.
To find out more about studying abroad in Australia visit the website http://www.studyinaustralia.gov.au/northamerica.
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