Members of team Drive Around the World receive an introductory dive on the Great Barrier Reef off of Cairns, Australia, while Colin documents their first experience at breathing underwater. (L to R: Colin, Justin, Todd, Instructor, Neil, woman.)

Journal by Todd Borgie, photos by Reef Magic

What do you do when you see a shark?

Thanks to the famous Colin McCulife and Reef Magic of Cairns, Australia (Cairns is pronounced “cans”, don’t ask me why), team Drive Around the World had a delightful experience at the Great Barrier Reef. The adventure started at 8:00 a.m. with check-in and departure, and the cast and crew of our boat had us going until we returned completely wiped out at 5:00 p.m.

Over the last couple of rainy days, Colin has been arranging this trip for us, never knowing if the weather would ever clear up for good diving conditions. The power of the New Yorker paid off as prices fell while he kept talking. We got a great deal and were all very impressed with the facilities, the staff, and what we learned over the course of the day.

It was about an hour-and-a-half out to the reef, so on the way out, Justin, Neil and I learned some scuba (self contained underwater breathing apparatus) basics. We learned how to clear our regulators and let water out of our mask while we were under the water. Instructors spent about an hour teaching us the basic skills we would need to know to dive for about 20 minutes on the reef. It was not very technical, but it was enough to give us a good feel for things and to keep the more faint-hearted from panicking.

After our schoolroom instruction, a marine biologist took over describing different types of reefs--fringed, ribbon and patch--how they were created, and some of the stuff we would see. It was a nice intro to the reef and got me more excited to go underwater.

Close to where our boat set anchor, we were issued stinger suits (suits to prevent jelly fish stings), or wet suits if we wanted to rent them them. The water was 27°C (80°F), so it was pretty comfortable; the rough-and-tough Nancy Olson chose to do her snorkeling in just a swimming suit. I opted for a stinger suit that covered me from hands and feet to neck. This not only protected me from the jellyfish, but also from the unrestrained sun that crashes down through this ozone-depleted area!

Our group was called, and we were given our hands-on training. From the back of the boat with head underwater, we needed to prove to the instructor that we could breathe normally, clear our regulators, and clear our masks. Once checked out, we headed down, down, down. Colin “the shark” McAuliffe, a certified diver, swam around us like a a predator as our instructor and the five of us, Neil, Justin, our instructor, another woman, and I, swam arm-in-arm down to a depth of about 10 meters. Colin was swimming with his special Equinox underwater camera housing; it looked like a cartoon ray gun. We were only underwater for about 20 minutes, but in this time we saw plenty of fish and coral. We saw clownfish, like Nemo, Damselfish, Parrotfish, and sea cucumbers; we could even touch them. The Clownfish (Nemo fish) have special mucus on them that protects them from the anemones. They also coat themselves in the same mucus that is secreted by the anemones themselves, so the anemones do not sting the fish as it passes through them; their sense organs recognize the mucus as their own, and since they will not sting themselves, they do not sting the fish. That’s just one of the many things we learned!

After diving, we were free to snorkel to our hearts content. Nancy and I hit the sea highway and trailed a sea turtle, a white tip reef shark, a puffer fish, and a triggerfish, before we broke for lunch. This place was amazing! Although we were 30 miles off shore, it was really not that deep! Apparently, as you go offshore here, there are ridges and channels. The channels are deep and wide, and the coral reefs sit on top of the more narrow ridges; that is why the water seemed deep as we were going out and it suddenly got shallower where we stopped. We were parked on top of a ridge.

After lunch I went out snorkeling again with Neil, Chanda, and Nancy; however, it is so hard not to get distracted. There are so many colorful fish, interesting coral, and beautiful colors. I saw some coral that reminded me of scotch heather, which made me think of my Grandma; she loves scotch heather. I watched a moray eel, from a safe distance, for 15-20 minutes, and hung out with fish as they were slapped back and forth by the underwater currents. There is just so much to see!

The Great Barrier is a true wonder of the world. I hope to someday return when I am a fully certified diver. The underwater kingdom is teeming with life and is a beautiful place to explore.

We were all tired after a day of diving, but the day did not stop there. One of the most rewarding parts of this expedition for me is spreading Parkinson’s awareness. I have been learning so much about the disease from the many people I have met that have been dealing with it. Today a woman stopped Adam after reading the Parkinson’s logo on the vehicles. He gave a brief description of what we are doing, after which she revealed her mother has Parkinson’s disease. He mentioned that I conduct interviews with people with Parkinson’s along our route, and then called me out. We visited for a while and set up a time to have coffee tomorrow. It sounds like her mother has been having a lot of trouble with her medication and suffering from bouts of depression. After having a tremendous experience with Parkinson’s Queensland Inc., perhaps we can share our experiences to a positive end. I guess tomorrow will tell. This is Todd signing off after an amazing day in Cairns, Australia!

Todd does the underwater disco.

Help support our cause: The LONGITUDE Expedition is the longest journey ever attempted with a focus on Parkinson's Disease. The Drive Around the World team aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by driving four certified pre-owned Land Rover Discoverys around the globe following lines of longitude. Readers are encouraged to pledge small amounts of money per expedition-kilometer via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. 100% of donations received go directly to Parkinson's research and all who donate $10 or more will be entered into a raffle to win an expedition-equipped Land Rover Discovery.