I try to keep this blog more or less focused on software development, but every now and then I think it’s good to throw in some personal updates as well… Last week Hege and I went up to Cairns for a dive expedition with TAKA Dive to the Northern Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Before the trip we did some research, checking out YouTube video and Flickr photos from the area, but the trip turned out even better than what we dared hop fore. Already after the first dives on Ribbon Reef #10 a group of 6-7 Dwarf Minkie Whales came up to the boat. We got to snorkel with the animals, and it was just unreal having a 6 meter animal swimming just couple of meter underneath me. Another highlight of the trip was the diving at Osprey reef - heaps of sharks, big fishes and amazing visibility (30-40 meters). We also did a shark feed at North Horn, which attracted schools of white tip reef shark, gray whaler sharks, and some oceanic white tip sharks. On one of Hege’s photos we could count more than 30 sharks in one shot. So I don’t know the total number, but they were plentiful. We did a total of 14 dives over a 5 day/4 night trip, and got to sea sharks, whales, turtles, big schools of fish, amazing healthy coral reefs and more.

We were about 30 people on the boat, but it never felt crowded. It had plenty of space, good cabins, modern mid-deck with plasma TV’s and computers where we watched the video of the days diving every night. The food was top notch, including dishes like lamb roast, roast beef and homemade lasagna. The crew did an awesome job, and I can’t do anything but highly recommend TAKA for anyone wanting a great dive expedition to the Great Barrier Reef.

I’m going to keep this post short, and Hege have also posted a more lengthy story on her blog, as well as heaps of photos on Flickr. I’m including some of the best once here, but I strongly recommend checking out her Flickr feed.