Therapeutic Adrenalin

After a blurry morning flight from Melbourne, my partner Chris and I received a bumpy landing into Cairns with hopeful ambition in our hearts on arrival to become certified divers.

My first impression of Cairns was like none other. We were greeted by the glowing green shades of the rainforest, the echoing screams of the bat-strewn, pink dusk and the hard watery showers crashing into the willowy figs trees, it was a welcome I’d never forget, I knew from that moment that this place was special.

Not only does Cairns boast the World Heritage inscribed wet tropics rainforest, but also, the largest reef in the world and to me, the Great Barrier Reef really was something else.

The world’s oceans are home to over 370 species of shark, half of which are in Australia...Yes, you guessed it, I have a fear of sharks, which is a tough call when you want to be a diver.

Suddenly, struck with nerves, it dawned on me what I was about to get myself into. I began to question myself - why was I going miles out to sea to get lost amongst the deep of the biggest and most unpredictable living thing on Earth? It’s half the size of Texas and goes deeper than 2,000 metres and I was voluntarily jumping in!

I didn’t sleep much that night and before I knew it, it was 5 AM and the boat set off from the tranquil sunrise, yet I was far from peaceful. As the land disappeared into the horizon, it was time for me to dig deep for courage and try to untangle the knot of anxiety in my stomach. It hit 11 AM when we arrived at the first dive site and we still had PADI training to do. My first plunge into the water was full of daunt and determination, it’s always strange sinking on purpose and as I descended, watching the water drown the outside of my goggles the facts about the dangers of diving from the briefing rang in my ears.

A challenging four dives later and we had passed! My nerves had disintegrated and I couldn’t be more proud to be given the opportunity to get out onto Flynn Reef and navigate for the first time without an instructor as an official PADI Open Water Diver.

It had been a blissful lesson adapting to underwater life and on our fifth dive we had more than adjusted. As we swam amongst the pure and glorious wonders of the aquatic world, the oddities and beauty was then and still is now, to me, something undeniably magical.

We were approximately halfway through our dive, there were parrot fish dancing around us, clown fish playfully bobbing in and out of their anemone on a mushroom bommie, stingrays and turtles gracing us with their incredible presence and I was about to find out that the aggressive nip of a trigger fish wasn’t the only danger I would need to escape from.

I confidently swam in front, the coral walls became lost behind me and the water seemed colder and far more vast in the distance, I turned to find Chris, but was shocked to be met with a two metre grey reef shark drifting over my head! It’s grey, pointy fins and downward mouth of teeth glided through the water above. Wide-eyed and covered in goosebumps of fear I signaled ‘shark’ and pointed in the direction where it was swimming, luckily for me, away from us. Then lost, we resurfaced, located the boat and descended once more to make our way back. Once we’d boarded the boat again and taken off our gear, I needed a moment to catch my breath and reflect on the previous moment. I couldn’t quite believe what had just happened.

The moment played back in my head and I asked myself - why was I so afraid of the beautiful and natural creature I'd watched gracefully gliding above me? It was spectacular. Sharks are older, wiser, and more beautiful than anything else that I’d seen before in the wild. It goes to show that trust and respect between two lives, no matter how big or small, means everything. The shark was not aggressive or threatening, nor did it mind or question why I was in its space. I was lucky to see such a sight, a wave of wonder lust washed over me. We had been told most divers wait at least year before seeing a shark in the wild and I had seen one on my first unsupervised dive!

The shark taught me a very important life lesson that day. Face your fears, you never know until you try and life is full of unexpected surprises and even bigger ones if you give them the chance to unfold. I took a chance and a shark shared an unforgettable moment in its home with me.

Scuba diving is what I’d describe as a perfect balance of therapeutic adrenalin.

Protect our planet. It’s amazing.