Ryan's Journal

"My life amounts to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean. Yet what is any ocean, but a multitude of drops?" — David Mitchell

Catching Up

Posted from Monterey, California at 8:12 pm, September 8th, 2025

It’s been a few days since the last journal entry ended with me annoying a very large bull elk during a hike through the fog in Point Reyes. The day after that adventure I met up with Ma & Pa Holliday in Bodega Bay where we enjoyed some crab, took a nice hike on Bodega Head, and then headed inland fifteen miles to an Airbnb in the tiny town of Freestone. I’ve developed a liking for weird lodging, and this one fit the bill: a 100 year old redwood cabin decorated in a Bohemian style, including a ten foot tall stone urn from the 1923 World’s Fair that watched over us from the pond behind the cabin. The cabin was also a short walk from the amazing Wildflour Bakery, and much delicious bread was consumed during our stay.

Day two with Ma & Pa took us back to Point Reyes to visit the scenic lighthouse and find some elk for my dad to photograph; luckily the elk were obliging and the Skipper returned home with a treasure trove of photos and videos. Once back my mom was strangely excited by the ping pong table at the cabin, so the Hollidays made an embarrassing demonstration of their lack of coordination to close out the day.

The following morning we took my dad to do his favorite thing: eat. After that I’d stumbled upon mentions of “junk art” along Florence Ave in the nearby town of Sebastopol. The artist’s name is Patrick Amiot, and he has made hundreds of humorous statues out of random discarded metal items that are displayed in his neighbor’s yards and throughout town. My mom was tickled pink as she went from house to house taking photos of metal witches and six foot tall cats. After bidding farewell to the parents I was off to San Jose to pick up Audrey, where I met her at the airport holding a “Welcome back Audrey!!! Congrats on your parole!!!” sign, much to her bemusement. A short drive later and we settled in for three nights in Monterey.

Today we renewed our membership at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and spent the morning with the fishies, then we headed over to the surprisingly-deserted Fisherman’s Wharf; apparently it’s much less crowded on weekdays after Labor Day. The highlight was watching a paddle boarder have seals repeatedly leap onto the back of her board to relax, although we did also get to see everything from a massive bull sea lion to rays to jellyfish to seagulls who were so used to people that they just stared at us while we passed by six inches away from them. Dinner was chowder and cookies, because grownups get to eat whatever they want, and tomorrow is likely to be filled with sea otters and possibly another visit with the fishies at the aquarium.

Sea Otter, Monterey Bay

The plan for tomorrow is to search for sea otters in Elkhorn Slough, but this guy swam by while we were at Fisherman’s Wharf and ended up as my favorite photo of the day.

Fog and Tomales

Posted from Point Reyes National Seashore, California at 7:41 pm, September 4th, 2025

Point Reyes was a foggy place with limited visibility at 7am, but the birds and rabbits were all waiting for me when I got to the Abbott’s Lagoon trail, and the short out-and-back to the ocean was a good appetizer for the rest of the day. Quail were all over, sparrows were hopping at my feet, and the least-afraid/least-annoyed great blue heron I’ve ever met posed for pictures on a bridge for at least five minutes.

The main hike for the day was the nine-mile round trip to Tomales Point at the park’s northernmost end. I started off in the fog with tule elk bugling all around me, and enjoyed a druid-esque walk through the landscape with just deer and the elk as companions. The scenery on this trail is supposed to be extraordinary, but with visibility limited I was excited to have an elk or deer pop up fifty feet from me every few minutes. On the way back the fog lifted somewhat, and while the scenery was great, the animals remained the stars of the show, including a massive bull elk who was grazing ten feet off the trail on a portion that bordered a cliff, and who was none-too-pleased when I timidly walked by, all the while calmly telling him not to mind me and to continue eating.

Dinner tonight was at the Hog Island Oyster Cafe, and while they didn’t quite top the oysters in Tasmania, barbecued oysters and homemade sourdough bread while sitting at a picnic table next to the ocean wasn’t a bad way to wrap up the day.

Great Blue Heron, Point Reyes

The world’s least afraid great blue heron, with the most impressive neck feathers, in Point Reyes.

Song Sparrow, Point Reyes

We all see sparrows every day, but I liked the plant this guy was perched on.

Schmerg

Posted from Olema, California at 8:17 pm, September 3rd, 2025

Days three, four and five of this trip are now in the books. For unexplainable reasons I woke up at 4:30am on Labor Day, and needing to arrive in Truckee by 11:30 decided to get on the road. Scenic Mono Lake unfortunately passed by in the dark, but eventually the sunrise lit up the Sierras, and three-and-a-half hours later I pulled into my brother’s driveway. Delicious meals, a few hikes, some last minute fantasy football magic, a plunge into Donner Lake, and an utterly massive slice of apple pie at Donner Ski Ranch were but a few of the adventures during our two days together.

This morning I bid adieu to the younger Holliday and headed to the coast. After clicking the “avoid freeways” button in Google Maps, the route led past Folsom Lake and along remote mountain roads. Eventually Lake Berryessa appeared, a giant reservoir that is most famous for the unique spillway at its dam. The Lake Berryessa Morning Glory Spillway is a 72 foot diameter circular opening that normally juts above the water’s surface like an enormous bath tub drain, but when the reservoir is full it creates a mind-blowing circular waterfall. It wasn’t overflowing today, and I couldn’t do justice trying to describe what it looks like anyhow, but there’s a YouTube video that’s definitely worth a watch.

After geeking out over engineering I headed towards Muir Woods, since it would be crazy to visit this part of the state and not take a walk in perhaps the world’s most beautiful redwood grove. For anyone who hasn’t visited Muir Woods, it can be infuriatingly crowded on summer weekends, but on a random Wednesday in September there were parking spots available and a relatively small number of visitors, so I actually got to enjoy the silence under the giant, thousand year old trees. In addition to the boardwalk trail I headed up the Fern Creek trail, and learned that not only were the granite foundations at the top of the trail part of the now-burned-down Muir Woods Inn, but that there also used to be a railroad that brought early visitors to the grove.

This evening I’m spending the first of two nights at the romantic Olema House near Point Reyes; I have a long history of making solo visits to romantic bed and breakfasts, much to Audrey’s chagrin. Dinner was fish tacos and a plate of local oysters that were mighty tasty, although Get Shucked in Tasmania still easily retains its crown as my favorite oyster stop. Tomorrow I’m going to do some hiking in Point Reyes, then Ma & Pa Holliday will be meeting me in Sebastopol for a couple of days of eating crab and exploring the very pretty Northern California coast.

Muir Woods

Looking up, at Muir Woods.

Vacation 2025

Posted from Mammoth, California at 10:00 pm, August 31st, 2025

It’s been nearly fifteen months since the end of the Great Australia / New Zealand Adventure, which is far too long to go between vacations. This year’s escape is shorter and less ambitious than trips in the past, with a few stops planned in California over a two week period.

The trip started yesterday with a drive up Highway 395 through the Eastern Sierra. It’s one of my favorite routes in the state, but not one I’ve done many times in summer months. Temperatures were in the high 90s on the way up, but this surprisingly made it easy to find the elusive herds of Tule elk that inhabit the area. Harking back to the days when our parents set up sprinklers during hot weather so that we could cool off, the elk had similar ideas and had apparently found every farm field with irrigation, and were clustered under the spraying water. After spotting one herd, it was almost a certain thing that there would be another a few miles up the road at the next irrigated field.

Today’s adventure was hiking in Devils Postpile National Monument. Despite living in California for nearly thirty years, this monument has eluded my attempts to visit it due to its short open season; with the park road reaching up to 9,000 feet elevation it’s covered in snow most of the year and may only be accessible from late July until early October. Entry for me was by shuttle bus, but the park is in the heart of the Pacific Crest and John Muir trails, so I encountered a fair share of people in the midst of multi-week or multi-month hikes; it’s a humbling experience to feel like a badass for hiking ten miles through the High Sierra only to then meet a half dozen people who are on day 120 of a 200 day journey.

Humble pie aside, the park is a great place to hike. The Devils Postpile is an intriguing series of basalt columns that forms a cliff next to a river, while further downstream the impressive Rainbow Falls tumbles a hundred feet straight down over similar volcanic rocks. I also made a visit to Sotcher Lake, and any time spent at a high mountain lake surrounded by granite domes is time well spent. The day wrapped up with a hamburger at Reds Meadow, an old camp in the mountains used by through-hikers to resupply. I’m told the taste of the burgers improves dramatically depending on how long you’ve been hiking, so while I thoroughly enjoyed mine I can only imagine what the folks who had been trekking for months must have thought.

Rainbow Falls, Devils Postpile National Monument

Rainbow Falls, Devils Postpile National Monument.

California in Winter

Posted from Culver City, California at 8:48 am, December 29th, 2024

While obviously not as exciting as the great 2024 sabbatical, there have been a few small adventures this month that merit a journal entry. Early in the month we celebrated Audrey’s birthday with a weekend in Palos Verdes, and over Christmas I took a few extra days to roam around California on the round-trip to the Bay Area to see the family.

Palos Verdes Seacliffs

Palos Verdes Seacliffs. Like many places in the Los Angeles area, Palos Verdes isn’t far from us as the crow flies, but it’s a bit of a slog as the car drives, so we don’t visit often.

Banana Slug, Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park

How awesome are banana slugs?!?!? There were about twenty of the big fellas sliming about, as well as a few nice trees, while roaming the Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park near Santa Cruz.

Snow Geese, Merced National Wildlife Refuge

During the winter the Merced National Wildlife Refuge is one of my absolute favorite places in the world for seeing thousands upon thousands of geese, cranes, hawks, and other birds.

Sweet Home California

Posted from Culver City, California at 4:45 pm, June 12th, 2024

Yesterday our 13-hour (alternate unit of measure: 4.5 movies) flight from Sydney to Los Angeles departed at 9:30am, and through the magic of the international date line we completed the journey across the Pacific and landed in Los Angeles three hours before our departure time at 6:30am. Since then it’s been weird being home again after three months away – I had to figure out where I’d packed my house keys, remember how to work the microwave, attempt to not kill anyone driving on the right side of the road, and re-learn a few other habits that I’ve never had to think about before.

On a positive note, I didn’t realize how nice it would feel to no longer be living out of a backpack; I unpacked things and put them into drawers with tons of available space, and did laundry without having to wonder whether the clothes would be dry before I needed to re-pack them. Similarly, for the first time since March I don’t need to figure out how to ration my two plug adapters when multiple things need to be plugged in, and I don’t have to remember to flip a switch to turn on the outlet when I need power (seriously, why do they make you do that overseas?). It’s rather surreal to be home again – even more so because I’m fighting through jet lag and hugely sleep deprived – but it’s nice to sleep in a familiar bed and sit out in the garden, even if I am going to miss the adventures that took place 7500 miles away.

Below are a few pictures that didn’t make it into past journal entries. I may post a few more as I go through trip photos and find others that didn’t make the cut originally, but otherwise this entry likely marks the last journal for the sabbatical. It’s been fun, if at times challenging, to keep a daily record of events, and it will be nice to have a written account to re-live the trip in the future. I appreciate everyone who has mentioned that they’re following along, as experiences really are more meaningful when they can be shared.

Fairywren, Tasman National Park

A fairywren in Tasman National Park. These fearless and pretty little birds visited us in several places throughout Australia.

Crater Lake, Cradle Mountain National Park

Crater Lake in Cradle Mountain National Park. I’ve not got much cartilage left in my knees, but on this particularly day I decided the views were far too good not to clamber over the rough trail and sacrifice what little soft tissue remains.

Black Currawong, Cradle Mountain National Park

Black Currawong in Cradle Mountain National Park. Audrey LOVED these birds. They’re similar in appearance and behavior to crows, and won’t shut up, making loud, cat-like calls incessantly that echo around the forest.

A Night at the Opera

Posted from Sydney, New South Wales at 2:21 pm, June 9th, 2024

During our hour-long tour of the opera house today there was a rehearsal in the main hall with an orchestra and a 1000-person choir made up of singers from across Australia. Our karma continues to be excellent on this trip, and after sitting quietly and listening to the music for ten minutes I no longer felt like we had missed out on seeing a performance at this amazing venue.

We started the day roaming the narrow streets of the Rocks district over by the harbour bridge and browsing all of the stalls of their Sunday market, then made our way back to the opera house for an afternoon tour. The tour was only an hour, but they packed in a lot, and getting to hear even a short rehearsal from such a huge choir in that iconic building was an experience to remember. The opera house really is an architectural marvel, and like the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona or the Eiffel Tower in Paris, it’s a place that I won’t soon forget. We finished the day with drinks and dinner on the harbour, watching all of the lights of the Vivid Sydney festival brighten the surroundings after sunset.

Tomorrow we’ll likely jump on a ferry to enjoy the harbour views, then spend the day doing some hiking at Manly Beach to close out the trip. From Christchurch to Tasmania to Sydney, and a million places in between, it’s been a great experience finally getting to see this part of the world, and hopefully we’ll be back again someday to see even more of it.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

The Sydney Harbour Bridge. As Audrey always reminds me, be sure to include the clouds in the photo.

Sydney Opera House

The Sydney Opera House at sunset. We planted ourselves at a bar across the harbour and spent two hours watching the light change.

Cockatoos and Opera Houses

Posted from Sydney, New South Wales at 2:36 pm, June 8th, 2024

Today started with sweeping vistas of the Blue Mountains and ended with the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge lit by LED projections. My life might be pretty good.

I got up this morning and went roaming around Katoomba looking for the sulphur-crested cockatoos that the town is famous for. These birds are pretty, loud, and (to use the Australian term) cheeky – one anecdote noted how a resident of Katoomba installed anti-bird spikes to ward off the noisy ruffians, only to have a cockatoo patiently spend a day removing them one-by-one rather than give up a favorite roosting spot (video). I found about fifty of them in the Woolworth’s parking lot this morning making a racket, but we also encountered them later in the day at the local bakery stealing whatever was left on tables, and surrounding a street musician; we think they might have been enjoying the guitar, but we’re not entirely sure.

Following our adventures with the cockatoos we did a short walk along the Blue Mountain overlooks, and despite my inability to capture the landscape in photos, it was even prettier than I expected. After leaving Katoomba I wanted to take the less-traveled route back to Sydney, so we made a loop onto the Bells Line of Road (that’s the actual name), which had almost no cars and considerably more pie shops than the route we’d taken into the mountains; the apple and cherry pie was truly delightful.

Our home for the last three nights of the trip will be Sydney, which is currently hosting Vivid Sydney, an event where buildings and the harbour are lit up every evening with LED lights and projections. We took a walk down to the opera house tonight, and it would be one of the most impressive buildings I’ve ever seen on its own, but the dramatic lights and projections on its roof took things to another level. Tomorrow we’ll do a tour of the building’s interior, which I’m looking forward to since it’s one of those places that’s so famous and iconic that it makes you want to pinch yourself when you’re actually standing next to it. I’m not ready for this adventure to be over, but luckily there are a few more days left to enjoy before we head back across the Pacific.

Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo, Katoomba

Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo, Katoomba. America has them in exotic pet stores, Australia has them in the Woolworth’s parking lot.

The Elusive Lorikeet

Posted from Katoomba, New South Wales at 1:09 pm, June 7th, 2024

Yesterday was a travel day so I didn’t post a journal entry, but we said goodbye to everyone from the dive trip, and since the crew only had a few hours to prepare for the next group they fed us and had us off the boat by 8am. From there we spent several hours in the airport – pro tip: the $4 massage chairs in the Australian airports are one of the greatest things ever – then had three hours flying through the air in chairs like ancient Greek gods, and finally landed in Sydney. After landing it was a two-hour refresher course in driving in rain, darkness, and massive traffic as we white-knuckled our way through Australia’s largest city.

This morning, after we both woke up feeling like we were still rocking on a boat, we headed off for a day that Audrey has been looking forward to for months. When I asked her what she most wanted to do in Australia, the answer was immediate and consistent: see a Sydney funnel-web spider. For those (like me) who know nothing about spiders, Sydney funnel-web spiders are one of the only spiders that is both deadly and aggressive, rearing up when confronted, and with a bite that can kill you if not treated quickly. Obviously I was super excited when I first heard that I needed to find somewhere in Australia that was infested with killer attack spiders, but thankfully she was OK with seeing them at the Australian Reptile Park, which has a large collection of spiders that is used to produce antivenom. Luckily we arrived while one of the staff was milking spiders, and Audrey spent about an hour watching multiple Oreo-sized spiders ferociously assaulting the tongs used by the staff to keep them at bay while venom was collected.

The reptile park was also a favorite hangout spot for a large flock of very colorful wild lorikeets, so while my arachnid-loving partner was getting her spider fix I was chasing colorful birds outside. We also took advantage of the park’s “three bags of kangaroo food for $5” special, with predictable results; Audrey didn’t stop smiling for most of the morning after being mobbed by wallabies.

Tonight we’re in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. The weather has been rainy and foggy all afternoon, so we haven’t actually seen the aforementioned mountains, but the forecast says the sun will return in the morning. The plan for tomorrow is to see the views and do a bit of hiking before the tour buses from the city arrive with their hordes of visitors, after which we’ll meander back to Sydney via some (hopefully) less-traveled rural roads just to the north.

Lorikeets, New South Wales

Today’s lorikeet photos required all of my stealth and cunning. Photo credit: Audrey.

Lorikeets, New South Wales

The lorikeets were doing some serious posing today.

Lorikeets, New South Wales

Rainbow lorikeets are fairly common in Australia, but I feel like even the Australians who see them every day still appreciate what a pretty bird they are.

Tiger Sharks and Sexy Shrimp

Posted from Holmes Reef, Coral Sea at 4:00 am, June 5th, 2024

Two tiger sharks decided to pay a visit on our first dive of the day. We were diving with Pedro, one of the staff, and as the first shark appeared Pedro went absolutely nuts, pumping his fist and chasing after it – apparently it was his first ever tiger shark and he was a wee bit excited. For me, his reaction was almost more fun than seeing the sharks. And before my mom gets too worried, what I’ve been told from divemasters elsewhere is that you don’t really want to be on the surface when a tiger shark is in the water, but they’ll ignore scuba divers once they are under the surface. These were big sharks, and both crew and passengers were fired up to get to see them.

Our next two dives were at a spot named “Amazing Caves”, and I’ll leave it to the reader to guess what the attraction there was. Underwater spelunking isn’t generally my first choice of things to do while diving – I don’t like having to maneuver in narrow spaces while trying not to bump my regulator – but at least one of the caves was a big one and ended up being a fun swim through. We wrapped up the trip with a visit to Nonkies Bommie. I’ve got no clue what a “Nonkie” is, but as I’ve learned on this trip, a “bommie” is a giant underwater rock, and this one was a fun spot to do a few laps around to admire the fish and beautiful coral fans. One of the other passengers saw a sexy shrimp at this site – we initially thought she said “sixty shrimp”, but as it turns out there is indeed a species of shrimp that is commonly known as the sexy shrimp, and while I’m no expert on small crustaceans, having pulled up a photo on the internet, it is indeed a fine looking shrimp that I’m a little bit bummed to have missed out on.

Tomorrow we wake up early, say goodbye to everyone on the boat, then we’re off to Sydney (and yes, we’re following the PADI guidelines of waiting 18 hours after diving before flying). Somehow this three month adventure is down to its final week. When it started back on March 17th I had a little bit of trepidation about leaving my familiar routine for such a long period, but as it’s coming to an end I honestly don’t remember exactly what the old routine was anymore, and would gladly continue these adventures longer if it was an option. I’m lucky to have had this opportunity, and hopefully this sabbatical won’t be the last time that I pack a bag, walk out the door, and don’t return for a very long time.

Sea Fan, Holmes Reef, Coral Sea

Sea fan on Holmes Reef. The coral has been very healthy on our dives.

The Coral Sea

Posted from Bouganville Reef, Coral Sea at 1:58 am, June 4th, 2024

Today was four dives at Bouganville Reef in the Coral Sea, but not just any four dives – two of the dives were at a site called Middle Earth, and one was at Dungeons & Dragons. I’m not sure who gets to name the dive sites, but my hope is that a bunch of geeks were the first ones to dive Bouganville Reef and thus earned naming rights, and while I don’t know the names of the other sites at the reef, I’ll just assume that there’s a “Gandalf’s Beard”, “Hobbit Hole” and “Balrog Bommie” somewhere out there.

Like Osprey Reef (which we dove yesterday), Bouganville Reef is an extinct volcano that is totally isolated out in the middle of the ocean east of the Great Barrier Reef. When I looked out of the window this morning, the only indicators that we weren’t in open ocean were a few breaking waves way off in the distance, and the remnants of a ship that wrecked here more than fifty years ago visible on the near horizon. We jumped in at 7am today with clear, beautiful purple water dropping 800m into the depths below us, then dove along the very steep reef wall before ending in the shallows. Despite all of the coral bleaching and other reef issues going on around the world, these remote sites seem to be completely healthy, with all manner of colorful corals covering the terrain. Since we are out in open ocean it’s also a good spot for big oceanic visitors, and while I haven’t seen any visiting fish besides tuna, another group had a manta ray appear out of the blue during their dive yesterday.

Despite really choppy seas while we’ve been motoring overnight between reefs (there have been plenty of empty seats at dinner), we’ve apparently been lucky with the weather – the captain says he usually only gets one winter trip each year that’s able to visit all three of their Coral Sea destinations – Osprey Reef, Bouganville Reef and Holmes Reef (tomorrow’s destination) – so after our three days on the Great Barrier Reef we’re also getting to see all of the highlights of the Coral Sea. Four dives a day is a LOT, but it’s also really neat to get so much time underwater in a completely alien world with fish that seem curious about the awkward bald thing floating by them.

Clownfish, Coral Sea

Clownfish posing in the Coral Sea.

Sharknado

Posted from Osprey Reef, Coral Sea at 12:27 am, June 3rd, 2024

Day five of our liveaboard trip took us out into the Coral Sea to a remote volcanic pinnacle named Osprey Reef. The dropoffs at the edge of the reef go down 1000 meters, so this is a good spot for oceanic critters and sharks. LOTS of sharks.

Our first dive of the day was the first drift dive on this liveaboard; for the non-divers, a drift dive is where you get dropped off in one spot, drift with the current, and get picked up elsewhere. The Blue Marlin Wall dive site is so named because it’s a steep wall (that’s the obvious bit), and we’re not sure about the “Marlin” part since they never mentioned anything about possibly seeing one. With dropoffs below us extending thousands of feet we floated along, alternately observing the reef wall and then checking out the deep blue background as tuna and sharks materialized into view, swam past, then disappeared again into the background.

The second dive of the day was called “Sharknado”, so named because they do a “shark attraction” that involves tuna heads in a cage being lowered into the dive site, resulting in all of the local sharks coming in to check it out. My favorite bit of this dive was actually the entry, where we jumped into a school of maybe twenty sharks and slowly descended towards the reef. The sharks obviously didn’t care about the divers in their midst, and it was my first time swimming through a school of sharks, so it was almost certainly my favorite descent to a dive site of all time.

I skipped the day’s third dive to recover a bit (have I mentioned that they dive a LOT on this boat?), then did the fourth dive later in the day in super clear water where swimming over deep chasms in the reef felt exactly like flying through the air – I may or may not have Superman’d over a few spots. We’ve got two more days of diving, after which twenty-five percent of the (approximately) one hundred dives I’ve done in my lifetime will have been on this one boat.

Grey Reef Sharks, Osprey Reef, Coral Sea

I think this was the best start to any dive that I’ve ever done.

Safety Stops with Batfish

Posted from Ribbon Reef, Great Barrier Reef at 5:37 am, June 2nd, 2024

Today is the day where everyone doing the three day trip departs and those doing the four day trip embark, so after a 6:30 wakeup and a walk on Lizard Island we only had three dives on the schedule. Under any other circumstances three dives in one day would seem like a lot, but compared to the past two days (and the next three), today felt downright leisurely. Also – and it hurts my soul to write this – I was extremely glad for a bit of downtime to catch my breath.

All but three other passengers left at Lizard Island and a new group joined, but we’ve gone from 24 people on the boat to just 12, so there’s more room at meals and the dive deck has gone from crowded to feeling like we’ve got our own private dressing rooms. Our first two dives today were good ones, with minimal current, tons of pretty coral, and lots of neat marine life ranging from large groupers to big barracuda to teeny pipefish. We spent a ton of time in the shallows on the second dive, with amazingly colorful corals, pretty starfish, innumerable reef fish, and a billion other things that I’m not capable of identifying. During our return to the boat Audrey also found the world’s friendliest batfish; the two foot long fish hung out with her while we did a safety stop (photo below).

We had high hopes for this evening’s night dive since the one two days ago was so great, but Audrey’s light died pretty early into the dive – it turns out that diving at night is less fun when you can’t see – so we shared my light and I served as her seeing-eye buddy for the dive. It was still neat having so many fish around, but it’s not quite as easy to relax on a dive when you’re also trying to make sure that your partner of nineteen wonderful years doesn’t accidentally swim headfirst into the reef.

Tonight we’re expecting a somewhat rough crossing from the Great Barrier Reef into the Coral Sea, then if we’re lucky and conditions are good, tomorrow should be an action-packed day of diving in a pretty special place.

Batfish, Great Barrier Reef

The world’s friendliest batfish and Audrey during our end-of-dive safety stop (Audrey is the one holding onto the mooring line).

Potato Cod

Posted from Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef at 5:19 am, June 1st, 2024

After five dives yesterday I was wiped out, and today’s first dive was at a narrow pinnacle with a reasonably strong current where you’d swim half a lap into the current, then half a lap getting pushed. When we came out of the water both Audrey and I needed a breather and so we decided to skip the second dive, which was at the same site. Luckily during the break between dives two minke whales came in to check out the boat, so I hopped in for an easy snorkel with the whales, who were playing coy but still came in close enough to cause a bit of spine tingle whenever they appeared from the blue – seeing a small whale slowly materialize as it swims towards you is a pretty awesome experience.

Our second dive of the day was at Cod Hole, famous for its human-sized and very friendly Potato Cod. This dive site had a significant current when we got there, so we jumped in, used a rope to get to the mooring line, used the mooring line to get to the bottom, then sat on the sand while our onboard reef monitor handed out snacks to one of the giant fishies. The potato cod are apparently able to respond to hand signals after several years of human interaction, and this one waited like a dog for its treats before sucking them down in giant gulps.

Our last dive of the day was along a coral wall, after which we came back to the boat and conked out for thirty minutes, then had our final dinner with many of the passengers who will be departing tomorrow, including (as we learned tonight) a teeny Columbian girl who is apparently an undefeated chili-eating champion; her proud mother told us “she doesn’t feel the spice, and has won $2000 so far, beating all of the big men!”

The second half of the dive trip is out in the Coral Sea, and visits several remote reefs that are extinct volcanoes that rise thousands of feet straight up from the ocean floor. We’re going from 24 passengers to just 12, so it should be a much cozier group. After last night’s shark madness Audrey showed Pedro (one of the staff divers) a video, and his response was “that’s nothing compared to what’s coming”. We’re tired and may need to skip a dive or two going forward if we’re going to make it through this trip (that kills me to admit), but we’re super excited to see what else is out there.

Potato Cod, Great Barrier Reef

Potato Cod at the aptly named Cod Hole dive site. There was a pretty intense current, so we all sat on the sand while our reef monitor handed out snacks to one of the residents.

5 Dives and a Million Sharks

Posted from Ribbon Reef, Great Barrier Reef at 5:36 am, May 31st, 2024

This week of diving is going to be BUSY. We did two dives after boarding on the first day, then FIVE dives today, including a night dive with what seemed like every shark in Australia swimming around, past, and alongside us. After the first dive I was worried it could be a horrific trip, after the last dive I’m pretty sure it will be one of the best dive trips we ever do.

The trip started ominously with a checkout dive in choppy waters where there was all sorts of confusion about what to do, what the hand signals were, etc. Before I even got to the bottom I’d blown through a quarter of my air, and Audrey and I both came up questioning what we’d gotten ourselves into. Since then, however, it has been amazing. The coral is generally really healthy, the fish are fearless, and there’s tons of neat stuff to see.

While yesterday’s two dives were on the inner reef, the boat motored through the night, and now we’re diving the outer, less visited portion of the reef, specifically Ribbon Reef #9. The first four dives today were good ones – we saw a few cuttlefish on the day’s first dive at 7am, and I need to see more since they are awesome. All sorts of other fish have made appearances, but between my utter inability to identify fish and the fact that it would bore everyone reading this journal for me to do so, I’ll just move on to the night dive with a bazillion sharks.

We did two dives at the same spot today, one in the late afternoon, and one after dark, and the difference in the dive site was the epitome of “night and day”. Before we even jumped in the water for our night dive we could see tons of sharks, trevally, and other big fish out hunting, and when we got in the water it was an instant madhouse. We were utterly surrounded by big fish, with three foot trevally and six foot sharks gliding past just inches away. They didn’t care one bit for us, and were totally focused on getting their meal on, sometimes pushing themselves under ledges to wrestle out poor souls they’d found. After forty-five minutes of swimming through hordes of the beasts we returned to the boat, and I’m pretty sure that dive is now safely in my top three dives ever (mantas are hard to beat).

Tomorrow there are only four dives on the schedule, then we have an in-between day with just a couple of dives while some of the passengers and crew rotate out at Lizard Island, then we’ll have three more very full days of diving out in the Coral Sea. The photos for the next few days will all be screen captures from GoPro video, so the quality won’t be quite up to the standards of the big Canon camera, but they should give some sense of what we’re seeing.

White-tip reef-shark, Great Barrier Reef

Pedro could have reached out and petted this reef shark as it swam over the coral. There were dozens of sharks in VERY close proximity on this dive.