I found Nemo!

After a no shower boat trip with some fab people, a golden gaytime, an 8 hour drive in the rain, near seasickness and 13 years of dreaming about it I finally dove on the Great Barrier Reef (and get to do it again tomorrow)!

We did 3 dives today and I really think they were the most amazing dives of my life. The Caribbean just doesn't compare. The coral is fresh and brilliant colors even on a cloudy day (which today was). We did find Nemo and his cousins and aunties and parents and grandparents all chillin in the "anenenenome." We saw reef sharks, little stingrays, and HUGE clams (like bigger than me) that open and close when you wave your hand over them. We heard parrot fish eating off the coral, like actually biting and chewing! We found a little turtle and I fed it a piece of algae right from my fingers. We saw an eel, coral that changes from maroon to lavender when you touch it, tiny fish, huge fish, beautiful fish. It was fantastic.

My only complaint was the german dude who pushed me. When you dive it's kind of like driving. You need to know where you are and where everyone else is at all times. Mostly it's to protect the coral. One wrong swipe of a flipper and you destroy thousands, or even millions of years of growth. It's also, however, to be courteous to other divers. Nothing sucks more than a flipper to the face mask or regulator when you're 60ft under water. New divers (just like new drivers) need some time to get used to this and occasionally even the best divers drift into one and other.

BUT today this german dude repeatedly swam into me. I'd say he did it 10 to 15 times over the 3 dives. Evan says he swam into him as well. Lucky for me this dude just kept swimming under me and got kicked quite a few times. When you rear-end another driver, your bad. When you swim into another diver from behind or below, your bad. The last time he swam into me his reaction was to SHOVE me to the side...purposely. I have never, ever, ever shoved another diver. I glided to the side and in my effort to avoid the coral I ended up getting kicked and thwacked with an arm of a couple other divers. I recovered but let me tell you that I had glorious visions of pushing him back and entering an all out brawl with that nazi asshole. Oh, and did I mention he had wanky eyes?

Anyway, despite my reef rage encounter...amazing day. I so wish I could take my camera phone down with me tomorrow to show you all. Sorry peeps.