Rum Runners Days (Au 18)

Day 124 Mon 08/13/2012

Different Case of the Mondays

            Mondays stink when you work 9-5 Monday through Friday.  Well they still stink.  We would rather be on the ocean than stuck inland hung over.  With one night a week to go out we go hard.  This day was most likely spent at Pie Face with Sarah & Alice stuffing our faces with pies then lounging at the lagoon being worthless.

Day 125 Tue 08/14/2012

NYC Chix

            Thank goodness for another trip to the reef.  We had three American girls on the boat this trip from New York City, Danielle, Jes, and Bronwyn.  They are terrified of sharks, so I had to mess with them and draw a shark scene on our white board with them snorkeling.

            There was this one gal on the boat, Bettina from Switzerland, who really stood out.  When it came time for the night dive no one wanted to go they just wanted to party.  Bettina was the only diver who I could get to go.  She volunteered actually.  Just the two of us jumped into the darkness.  Talk about scary.  I usually have people following me, so I feel like the person in the back is in the scary position.

            We saw the epaulette shark and another stingray.  Back on the boat many of the divers were extremely envious she had seen an epaulette.  They are not common in other parts of the world.  Tough luck for them.  They had the chance to go, and they blew it.  Way to stick in the Bettina!

Day 126 Wed 08/15/2012

Shark!

Jes, Bronwyn, & Danielle from NYC, USA

            Guess what?  This morning the same divers that had missed the shark the night before were too hungover to dive the morning.  So Bettina and I jumped in again together.  I think one of the girls came with as well, but I can’t remember if it was Sarah or Alice.  We definitely saw another shark.  This time it was a whitetip shark.  If my dive log is correct this is the first white tip shark I saw out here on the reef.  It was chilling on the ocean floor along with another stingray.  I’ll have to keep my mouth shut about this otherwise the USA girls aren’t getting near the water.

Day 127 Thur 08/16/2012

Team Europe vs. Team Asia

            We had a cute German couple just married in Vegas out on the boat this trip, Erich and Julia.  I was starting to go on many dives now that Mike has left the boat.  Either Sarah or Alice would be hostie every trip when Richie was skipper which left me and the other girl to lead all the dives while one was on lookout.  Every now and then we could get Richie to be the lookout if we asked him very nicely.  He would complain, but you could tell he really liked the fact that we wanted to be in the water with the divers as much as possible.

            Over at Nolan’s Wall I managed to miss the gap to get to the backside of the reef where all the action is.  We ended up swimming a long way and popping up a pretty fair distance.  Antti from Finland was having gear issues for the second time today.  I had given him two different setups both had ended up with minor leaks.  I ended up swapping gear with him and taken the leaky stuff.  I am already getting better with my air consumption and having some leaky gear doesn’t shorten my dives any.

Erich, Julia & I

            I named my group Team Europe even though Heinrich was from South Africa.  Alice was leading the other group call sign Team Asia.  Sarah must have been hostie this trip.  Alice had done me a favor by taking Team Asia.  It is said Asians sometimes make terrible swimmers.  Yes, I know this sounds racist or very hypocritical, but this is what I have been told.  Well her group was pretty scary under water.  Out of four divers only two spoke any English, and only one of them could really understand the language.  She had her hands full with them.  However there were no issues with them.  They were all smiles.

The Newlyweds Erich & Julia from Germany

Erich and Julia were very excited about their new life together, and we enjoyed hearing about their trip to Vegas.  They had decided to run off and get married to eliminate the headache with wedding planning and the whole traditional process.  I really got along well with Erich.

As we are eating dinner tonight I am getting crap from the rest of the crew about how slow I eat.  We all try and chip in to help the hostie with meals if there is time.  Usually for dinner after tanks are filled we report downstairs to help out if need.  Once the food is ready the guests fill their plates before the crew gets in line.  We try and start washing up immediately because the night dive doesn’t take place until all dishes are clean and all food is put away.  I am never one to skip out on work and leave it for a friend to do.  However, if I eat at my normal pace the girls have cleaned up almost everything by the time I am done eating.  I get called out.

“When Masa returns he is going to tell you that you have to eat faster,” Alice tells me.  Masa is the boat instructor for the past six or eight years.  He lives in cairns, but is from Japan.  The girls both agree that Masa is going to get onto me about the pace I eat.  From here on I began to just hoard food away.  The girls would even make me a bowl of food to store away for later so I could help clean.  I did pick up my eating pace a little bit, but eating fast is something I don’t like doing.  There are some things in life you have to slow down for, and eating is one of them.  I am curious to see how I get along with Masa, because he sounds bossy from the way the girls have described him.

            I have not missed a night dive on the boat since my first trip as a passenger.  The girls do not like the night dive.  Well they like it I think, but they don’t like the cold factor.  They have no issue with me running every night dive.  They tell me Mike H also ran every night dive.  This was fine by me.

            The water was pretty choppy tonight for our dive.  The bioluminescent microorganisms were very visible tonight as we activated them in the water by waving our hands back a forth very violently.  None of the Asians wanted to go on the night dive with me, so it was just Team Europe again plus Heinrich.

Day 128 Fri 08/17/2012

Sarah & Alice + Whales

            We saw another white tip shark today.  This was another successful trip under my belt working on the Rum Runner.  I am closer and closer with every dive to becoming a dive master.

“I was so tired when we left the reef on the 2^nd day of our Thur-Fri Trip that I took a nap on the deck.  So the girls (Sarah & Alice) took a permanent marker, well 2 markers, & wrote their names on the bottom of my feet.  Those turds!  They treat me like a younger brother.  Pester the hell out of me 100% of the time.  You gotta love them though.”

            I must have been very tired if someone writing on my feet didn’t wake me since I am very ticklish on the bottom of my feet.  My feet are also rough a sandpaper on the bottom now after not wearing shoes for weeks now (unless we are inland).  I now have Sarah in green on my left foot and Alice in red on my right foot.

I am a few years older than both of these ladies, but they team up on me every chance they get.  They are the goofiest gals I have met in Australia so far.  They take very little seriously.  They are very fun to work with, even though I still haven’t felt like any of this was work.

Random Fact about Sarah – When she does the safety briefing and talks about toilets I swear she says COMDONS instead of CONDOMS when telling people what not to flush down the toilets.  Every time I hear her say it I think I must be hearing it wrong.  I’ll think of something silly about Alice later.

Alice has spotted a WHALE!

On the way back from the reef we saw humpback whales!  They were so amazing to watch.  We are not allowed to get with 1,000 meters or something like this, so once Richie spotted them he just killed the engine so we could sit and watch them.  He says if you are lucky they will want to come check the boat out and everyone gets a very up close look.  The best thing to do is to stop and hope they come closer.  You don’t have to keep your distance if they come to you basically.  I cannot imagine being in the water with a whale.  I would love to!

"COMDONS!"

Day 130 Sun 08/19/2012

Gear Swap

            Today I paired up with Richie for a training session where we had to fully swap our diving equipment while on the ocean floor all the time while sharing one regulator.  This means taking everything off, mask, fins, BCD, tank, regs, weight belts, and then swapping.  This was very exciting for me.  You have to take a breath off of the regulator (we used Richie’s) and pass it to your buddy while you remove gear.  I almost said while holding your breath, but in diving you are never suppose to hold your breath.  You take a big sip of air from the reg and slowly exhale from your lips.  I try and make a fart noise underwater and this seems to work well.  You want to keep air in your lungs until you get the regulator back so you just slowly seep bubbles from your lips.

            I passed the test even though Richie had a hell of a time with my mask.  He didn’t like it.  I thought his mask was pretty wonky as well though with its one tinted lens and one non-tented.  If he failed me it was because we had issues with fin swapping.  I had boots on so his fins wouldn’t work for me at all.  This was very good practice though.  Learning how to be comfortable with the regulator out of reach momentarily is a crucial skill to have when diving.  I have had my regulator kicked out by other divers before.  I have also had to take my gear off to fix something leaking or loose and it is much easier to do this knowing if the reg pulls out of your mouth you are not going to die.

            Another time I had changed mouth pieces on my regulator for a dive.  Half way through the dive the mouth piece came off completely.  I felt like I had the reg in my mouth still because I could feel the mouth piece.  As I took in a breath it was 100% salt water.  That is never good.  I had to hold the reg to my mouth to finish leading the dive.

Milkshakes!

            We made milkshakes tonight on the boat while in the marina.  I used the tub to make one big shake for the three of us to share.  It was so delicious.  Have I mentioned here in Australia they sell vanilla ice cream for something like $2.00 for a half gallon?  One can also buy Neapolitan ice cream for $2.00 a half gallon tub.  However to buy chocolate you have to fork over the money.  To buy a half gallon of chocolate you will spend three times the money.  Correct me if I am wrong Leah, but there was a reason I always bought the Neapolitan ice cream and not just straight up chocolate.  I could make a choc milkshake maybe twice then I had choices.  The girls didn’t mind strawberry or vanilla.  They were not picky if I was serving anyways.  Tonight I just used all flavors to make a crazy shake.  It was so yummy.



Sarah in her cold water gear



Day 132 Tue 08/21/2012



Alice seeking refuge from the rain



Rain on the Reef

We got rained on this trip for the first time.  Cairns will get rain all the time since it is tucked right in here surrounded by the rainforests and the Atherton Tableland.  It hardly ever rains out on the reef this time of year.



Day 134 Thur 08/23/2012

Rain on the Reef

This is Ritchie’s trip.  All I can tell you is there was a hot Dutchie, a French family, and a Canadian family on the boat.  Either I didn’t take any pictures of I cannot find the pictures to help jog the memory.  I would hate to think we had a hot Dutch girl on the boat and I didn’t harass her for a picture with me.

GO FIND PICS

Day 135 Fri 08/24/2012

Black Marlin

C-R-E-W

Tommy asked me today “Why don’t you guys have a tip jar?”  I had not even thought about this.  I took one of our empty yogurt tubs and cut a slot into the top like it was a piggy bank.  Then I drew a nice little boat scene on it to make ourselves a beer fund.  It made $100 this trip!  I couldn’t believe it.  All we did was put it in sight at the end of the trip when I took up money for extra dives and the drink tab.  The tub did all the work.  Hahaha.  Having the two families on the boat were huge.  There is no way we can expect tips like this from our usual backpacker crowd.  Thanks for the TIP Tommy.

“Caught a black marlin on the way back from the reef.  Heck yea.  The Rummy usually goes out to the portion of the Great Barrier Reef called Thetford Reef.  The End!  Oh, tonight back in the marina I watched Commando with Arnold Schwarzenegger.  This movie really made me miss Daniel.”



Wait, this is the closest we got this marlin before he broke the line



            We have a hand line we can pull behind the boat on the way to and from the reef to catch fish.  There is basically a line wrapped around a spool so you can let line out behind the boat and when it get far enough out you are able to just tie it off.  There is a bungee cord rigged onto the end so if you do hook something there is a little give in the line.  Also if the bungee is pull taut you know you have a fish on.  It is very basic but today I caught a black marlin with this wonky setup.  We are using a large minnow looking lure as bait.

Typical :)

            I laughed so hard watching Commando thinking of Daniel.  God this movie is so ridiculous.  It made me really miss him.  He will be living somewhere else by the time I get back to Tennessee.  I don’t like the idea of not being roommates with him.

The girls must have gone out tonight because I had the boat to myself, until they stormed in later.  I will offer no more details here.  Rowdy asses!

 

Day 136 Sat 08/25/2012

Gift from America

“Balls (my friend back home Ryan Ball) has been harassing me via text about giving him a mailing address.  I had no clue what he could have sent me, but I had a call from Joe over at the Asylum Backpackers saying I had a package.  Sarah, Alice & I walked over there together & what a surprise.  He sent me a USA Flag Jersey / rashee(rash guard).  It is AWESOME.  LegenDAIRY Balls!”

Thanks Ballz!  I love the new rashee

            This USA jersey will become my new dive rashee for sure.  I have been using the rash guard from Foxy’s on Jost Van Dyke, but this new rashee is twenty times louder.  Actually, I cannot cover this up under my wetsuit.  I am going to wear this one on the outside of the wetsuit and the Foxy’s Bar guard under my wettie.  Yes, this looks completely typical for an American here.  I’m wearing something intentionally obnoxious.  I figured I would get so much shit from people.  No!  I think everyone loved it.  I was glad, because under water it looks badass.  Well I think so at least.  I am sure people still said, “What a dick this American is wearing that.”

Thanks so much, Balls.  I was very excited to get a package from the States and it was something I could wear.  I love it!

Jase riggin the line

after the marlin getaway

last trip

            This is the trip Jasmina get towed by her student by the way.  Whoops on the dates.  Also the crew got to go for a fun dive today.  Sarah, Alice and I all donned hats, sunnies (sunglasses), and tubes of yogurt.  We have created a classification of diver called the Super Diver.  There is a long and completely absurd checklist to become Super Diver Certified.  We will be able to check off a few boxes if this dive is successful.

            Diving in hats… Check.  Diving in sunnies… Check.  Eating underwater… Check.  Representing your country… Check for me because I am displaying my USA rashee.  I think Alice also had an Aussie flag too.  She may be English, but she has an Australian passport too.  I think that’s right.  I hope.

Fernando looking patriotic

            I loved the one group we had diving over at Hurricane bay.  The team consisted of Luiz (Fernando BRA), Poliana (Polly BRA), Eva (FRA), Sebastian (FRA), and Flo (GER).  We had multiple cameras with us and they were all very good divers.  Fernando also had a Brazilian soccer jersey with him.  When he saw me sporting my USA jersey over my wettie he had to represent Brazil’s team by wearing his São Paulo Futbol Club jersey over his suit for a dive.  Nicely done Fernando!



Fernando on deck



 

Day 137 Sun 08/26/2012

Jase on Music



The string is to keep people out of his way in the gallery



            This morning Jase told me to go wake everyone up and put on some music to get the day started.  When he is on the trip he is the hostie, meaning he cooks while we are on our first morning dive.  So I get up and start to wake up the people who want to get into the water.  I grab my phone to hook it into the stereo for the boat.  The head unit is in the lounge area, and there are speakers rigged in a few choice places on the boat.  There is only one speaker down in the gallery (kitchen) and then two more up in the cockpit area.  That’s it.  No deck speakers or speakers in any of the cabins.

            Morning music would be what?  I choose Guns N Roses.  The boat is full of a bunch of rowdies anyways this trip so what the hell.  Welcome to the Jungle.  Jase comes down wondering what the hell I am doing.  “McNehhh ya can’t play that ya dickhead, it’s too early,” he explains as he grabs my phone and plugs his in.  He puts on some Counting Crows.  OK I agree this was much more chill for the morning hours.  He told me after 9AM I could play whatever I wanted.  It is before  7AM.  Counting Crows repeated Round Here 100 times I swear.  At 9AM Slash was going to shred.

Jase at the helm kicked back

            Tonight we all went out into town for the usual Pier Bar cheap drinks, over to Woolshed for dinner, then to PJ’s, and ended the night back at the Woolshed.  Tommy was with us in rowdy mode.  Natalie came and joined us as well for a bit.  The girls showed me how they always get free drinks tonight.

Sarah, Alice & I at Pier Bar

            Mine Sweeping – the act of taking someone else’s drink.  Yes, basically stealing other people’s drinks.  If someone sets a drink down and looks the other way the one of the girls will grab it and sneak away.  Before the person knows his or her drink is missing they have already tag teamed the drink and it is gone.  I always wondered why the girls would come up to me with free drinks.  I drank many beers thinking, “How nice of Sarah and Alice to think of me when buying drinks.”  They were stolen drinks!

Jazzy Staches!

            There were many variations of mine sweeping.  Once I saw Sarah approach an unexpected victim with a newly purchased drink.  Sarah gave him a hug and maybe a kiss.  While the male was distracted by this random act of kindness Alice swoops in and with a straw in hand sucks the guys drink down.  Hahahahaha, this is for real!

            Another less exciting form of mine sweeping is just taking the half drank beers off of table sand drinking those.  If someone set down half a beer and left then that half a beer is fair game.  When beer is $8-$12 a pint this mine sweeping doesn’t really seem like a bad idea.  The girls could get caught and no one really cared.  Thanks for many mine swept drinks girls.