Along the Northeast coast of Australia, is the Great Barrier Reef. It is made up of 3000 km of coral sitting about 2km off the shore. (Those who know me can imagine: I'm making those numbers up. But, you get the idea). It's a huge sorce of food and shelter for thousands of fish. Also, it's an awesome underwater seascape for scuba divers.

Andrea wasn't interested in learning to dive and I'm already scuba certified, so I went on an all day dive trip to the outer reef while she went shopping and relaxed.

The dive was really great. I saw a clam that was about a meter in diameter. When I touched the edge of it's "mouth," it started closing until I jerked my hand away. The reddish slug in the first picture clung to my hand as I held it up. I saw everything from tiny clown fish swimming in their anemonie home to fish that were a meter long and 30cm in diameter.

Here's a wild conincidence: I met someone on our dive boat who went to my high school (thousands of miles away) at the same time as I did.

I was reminded that, on a dive trip, there are a lot of potential problems to avoid. Reservations were made correctly on the internet. My dry cracked lip stopped bleeding. I had one last pair of contact lenses. I remembered to take a sea-sickness pill. I remembered to shave off my mustache so the mask wouldn't leak. I managed to keep from getting a cold that Andrea was fighting (It's impossible to clear the pressure in your sinuses if they are clogged).

All this would have been for naught if it weren't for the fine employees at the Great World Serviced Apartments in Singapore (Great World official site). I had forgotten my dive certification card in our Singapore apartment. The employees at "Great World" went into our room for us, found the dive card, and faxed it to the dive shop. Thanks to them, the dive trip was saved.