Day 6!!!

K.. day 6.. I DONT WANNA GO HOME!!! Eeeeee

.. actually its more 50/50.. I wouldnt wanna be stuck on this boat forever.. and I’ve got stuff to do : P.. ok today.. usual 6:00 rise and yummy breakfast.. burnt the stupid raisin toast.. AGAIN *pouts* grr but had some fruit salad on top (not on toast just as well) then we went for the morning snorkel.. a 20m line sweep in a northerly direction from the site of the anchor chain pile.. didn’t visually find anything but I saw a really cool clam.. it was BLUE well the algae in its membranes that photosynthesise for it were blue.. I liked it… I also found two puffer fish.. I was trying to get one to blow up but it was just raising its spikes at me : P well it was in a tiny hole with another puffer fish.. I think if it did blow up its friend wouldn’t be too impressed.. hehe I also saw a nudibrank (no idea how to spell that!!) but it’s a slug pretty thing.. ?? google it : P hehe

after coming back we had lunch.. Mexican.. yum yum soft tortilla.. actually should say now Tristan our cook is the awesomenest.. anyways.. me and megan didn’t go on the afternoon snorkel.. sweeping either the east or west of the chain (I cant remember) and instead fixed our blogs, annoyed people and generally wet ourselves laughing for hours over minute childish matters : P

I spent my afternoon drawing on a T-shirt of Tristan’s while Megan and Bre folded napkins.. looks like a opera house or a hot poker flower : P was pretty sweet.. we then had a restaurant dinner and discussed blogging which leads me to the following..

Ed was upset that his only mention being that he sat and listened.. he submitted a formal complaint and now were recognizing his full magnificence… : )

Today we found 5 canister shots and 1 pistol shot (musket ball) anyways we has a wreck ONE MERMAID!!!!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and in megans distaste OMFG!!!!!! YAYNESS!!!!!!!! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! We have some footage of the anchor with hand movements : P our beautiful models.. you know who you are!!!! Lol which should be on win news YEW WE FOUND OUR WRECK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CHEYER!!!

TO THE MERMAID!

Alice

 

Day 5

Day 5

I don’t know its kinda weird the days at certain points seem to slow down or speed up.. today was one of those days.. started late.. got up at 7 (naughty.. sleep in) had a yummy breakfast and went for a morning snorkel tagging all the previous found objects.. well after we had the huge argument about whether we were ‘tagging’ or ‘flagging’ seeing we were tagging the objects but using flagging tape : P so after our snorkel and me pinching some tape and tying on my toe lol we had lunch PIZZA!!! Except it was so drenched in cheese so I didn’t : ( *hangs head* ive just realised that with all the snorkelling it has made my sinuses even more pooey and sensitive to dairy… *shakes fist* its not fair : ( eeeeeeee anyways I had muffins and soup yum yum and then we wandered Spoilsport and helped out, watched Yes Men and finalised yesterdays blogging.. I was really happy when I downloaded my photos and got 4 clear ones!!! Which is a new experience for me haha

So basically the day has come and go with a nice asian style dinner, more napkin folding and Bre interrupting my blogging with napkin throwing, tickling and finally a biting competition.. but I’m back now : P OH WE FOUND THE ANCHOR!!!!!! Yayness!!! We found it we found it!!!! YAY!! So yer now we just have to most defiantly prove it’s the mermaid but otherwise we’ve defiantly got a shipwreck which is defiantly looking alot like the Mermaid!! And if it is IT WILL BE SWEET.. hopefully they will let us go snorkel out over it but otherwise we have some awesome as pics thanks to Xanthe.. wonder woman with that camera : P

just 2 more days on the vessel.. its all past in a blur.. I dunno I’m just going to look back on this and be like WOW that was an experience of a life time…

Alice

P.s sorry blogs have been getting shorter.. I guess its due to lack of time/organisation/availability of laptop/battery in laptop being charged/urge to do it/major events commencing in my day…. lol I dunno hmmm..

AND FINALLY GOT MY OWN ACCOUNT WORKING YAY!!!!!!!

 

Day 4!!!

Coral

Day 4…

 

 

 

Today could have started better.. bad night sleep and woke up early.. feeling crap (I ate too much sea water) urgh!! So yer my tummy and digestive system is doing back flips.. we went snorkelling did a sweep of another section marked with buoys.. we battled the current and basically found zilch.. hmm saw a shark though SWEET AS!!!.. random minor epiphany between me and Megan.. we is sad lil children.. lmao (laughing my ass off) we basically only talk to the staff.. and their PAID to keep us entertained *hangs head* nah I think they like us.. I hope they like us lol… their so awesome WE LOVE YOU GUYS!!! (Nah we do talk to everyone else as well)

 Hehe lol back to relevant issues… after our morning snorkel I went for a sleep because of my unhappy tummy.. and was woken up by Ms Lynch telling me to get ready because I was going snorkelling in 10.. AH!! So didn’t bother with wetsuit and went out to a place where we think we it’s the mermaid but is most defiantly a shipwreck.. we found a few different bits and pieces.. we found a 2 staples, copper nails, a barrel ring which could actually be a mask ring though.. another ring off a compass and a pile of chain cemented to the reef floor..

 Unfortunately the weather worsened and we headed back to Spoilsport and blogged away into the night. We watched a few presentations- on other shipwrecks such as Pandora and the pictures that Xanthe had taken during the day.

 

Alice

 

p.s 2 interesting things.. 1) learning to walk in a straight line on a rocking boat (aka not look drunk) and 2) photography underwater when you float and the current is constantly moving you and your camera is gay.. alot of the coral colours are 100X brighter then what turns up on the camera : (

p.p.s one of my photos aka so crap compared to Xanthe’s

 

Day 2- Alice

Ok so 2^nd day.. I’m up early 7:00 NSW time.. 6:00 here.. either way early : P to do my blog cause I’m naughty and didn’t do it last night oops.. Kieran said it was ok.. so I was up at 7 yesterday with a very hearty breakfast : P

 

Ok so yesterday WOW!!! Omg (oh my god) just wow we were on top of the reef in 2 metre deep water.. it was the BARREN bit.. not to me. I spotted numerous bright blue starfish which looked they were made out of velveteen, sea cucumbers- big black knobbly ones and skinnier grey ones.. I even caught one taking a stroll : D.. I also spotted an eel hiding in a hole.. hehe it was so cute and shy nawwwwwww and the coral wow.. all the bright little polyps that suck in and out and the tessellating patterns of the hard corals are just amazing and even though the crew claims that they were not the best coral and the nice ones were few and far between. I thought it was absolutely breath taking to dive down into a world yet to be known by my eyes and discover all this beauty. THE FISH! So many little fish.. and so many different types.. parrot fish, nemo’s (he was only about a cm long).. big ones small ones (some as big as your head-not really its just a song.. I’ve got a lovely bunch of coconuts..) but so many colours.. clouds of grey slivers with blue lightening breaking the storm.. magnificent..

 

Enough about the landscape.. hehe we found 3 pieces of metal.. a veiwing thingy.. hehe u look into the compass with it- 10 cm in diameter : P at first we though it belonged to the Mermaid but soon discovered a small rubber seal between the metal and the glass : ( dang it.. the other pieces we found were a compass holder thingy : P a rim of a compass.. it would support and swivel the compass and again we fear it is not from the Mermaid. It seems there is another wreck on this reef from a slightly later date. Which might not make it as easy… the third thing we found was a pump.. bilge pump.. yer um it “gets rid of all the water in the bottom of the boat” (information source = megan : P)

Today were surveying the fringe of the reef where all the pretties are (coral and fish that is) and basically all were doing (same as yesterday) is ‘mowing the lawn’ where u swim in lanes scanning the bottom looking for objects that seem out of place… so unnatural shapes and colours caused by rust- so copper green, iron red etc.. so we set off 7-7:30 for our morning dive and I’ll be taking the underwater camera OOOOOOO! But now I’m missing out on breakfast.. ah! Bye Alice

 

First Day- Alice!

Day 1..

 

Ok start from the start and lets go through this logically or knowing me it wont be chronological or make sense hehe

 

The day started at 4:30 for me with my sleep deprived brain jumping into hyper-mode.. After farewelling a drowsy dog and a magpie wondering why I was up at this hour I was on my way. After mum having a sickie for me on the way we arrived at the Merimbula airport for a 6:00 flight and departed while the last hungover teenagers dragged themselves from the New Year’s party on the main beach. My new years ended quiet shortly with the 4:30 rise and my dads 10:00 work shift.. This did not stop me from losing my phone and MP4 merely 6 hours before departure…

 

So back to matters we took off from Merimbula and pit stopped at Moruya with Ms Cozens feeling the sickness. (seems all the adults who have told me so far I’m going to be sick have been sick themselves.. and even at this point of time I have survived the two flights today and am currently on a boat speeding to our reef destination my system completely rid of travel calm : P I’m proud.) The flight we took was in a 25 seater plane and although it was bit bumpy to land and takeoff (the time period when most flight errors/plane crashes occur) we survived.. To be taken into the drag of a 5 hr wait in the terminal.. Yay ß sarcasm!!

 

So we wandered the terminal memorising every nook and cranny in hope of discovering something that could waste more of our time. Then Alice smartly discovered OH YES!!! Every book and puzzle I had put into my bag- that had spent all day giving me a sore back oops.. I’m very proud of myself as of finishing 2 books and starting a 3^rd.. By the Karl what’s-his-name.. Founder of questicon.. Anyways, had a very interesting piece on airplane crashes

 

After a gruelling 5 hrs we jumped aboard our jet and took off.. We watched a weird movie about cocky socialites in a war period.. : S then I slept (haha Megan- she couldn’t.. and she only had 2 hrs sleep that night.. therefore I WIN!) and arrived in cairns 3 hrs later with my joints sore in a balmy 30 degree heat yummy.. Especially when you were jeans.. Grr curse you denim.. As well we each carried a camera and a laptop and people LAPTOPS ARE NOT LIGHT!!!!

 

We found more mermaid project people and we got into a hire car, drove to the diving boat place thingy AND!!!! DUMPED OUR LUGGAGE!!!! YES!!!!!!!! I still carried one of my bags.. Wallet phone etc etc and we set off with dinner in sight hmm.. Dinner.. Well we emerged from a Woolworths with shampoo, razors, 2 bottles of water, a pomegranate, a pre-made salad  and some delicious cracker things.. Of which I ate most.

 

We then realised we had til 6:00 and went treasure hunting aka gift shopping.. Hey u got to do it.. So found something for mum and something for little brother jack (he’ll think its pretty sweet) and if need be dad can have the extremely oversized shirt/dress I got : P love you dad. OK so we got food.. Kinda and decided to find the boat.. *pouts* stupid map.. We barely found it and arrived sweaty and rather pissed off at the fact we basically went round one stupid block 5 times GRRR!!! But in the end we did find it and got on YAY! We were debriefed and introduced to all the crew.. Oh and given shirts.. I choose a big one hehe.. Yer dad I’m wearing it at the moment.. Still want it?? Haha

 

The boat basically has three levels.. Below deck are our small cabins of which I am sharing with Megan.. It was so funny.. We have already managed 2 freak out on of the crew members.. We ate our dinner in our cabin and part of the salad was comprised of parmesan cheese hehe one guy walked in to just generally talk to us and left wondering why 2 16 yr olds were sitting in a room smelling of cheese with one of them completely absorbed in consuming a pomegranate : P

 

Ok back to the boat- the main deck is like a living room/kitchen/dining area.. WITH GINORMOUS FLAT SCREEN TVS!!!!!!!!! Yew! Haha and upstairs is a viewing deck- I got a very blurry dark video of us leaving cairns.. Stupid camera!

 

Tomorrow we start at 6:00 well breakfast at 7 but I like a bit of time to myself in the morning and I think I might get some pics of a sunrise?? Could be good! Anyways till tomorrow night then ay?

 

Alice!