After the Sky Rail ride we boarded a helicopter which transported us to the dive boat that was located 55K (35 miles) off the coast of Cairns. (The picture in the top left quadrant is a view the reef from the helicopter.) After boarding the dive boat things started to became rushed. I had to download my lunch and immediately suited-up for a dive. The equipment manager handed me a mask which I didn't realize would not clear until I got underwater. Similarly, equipment manager insisted I wear 6 kilos of weights instead of the 3 kilos I typically wear. Since, I didn't have time to plead my case, plus I'm not all that experienced of a diver and I assumed the equipment manager knew more about his equipment than I did, I acquiesce and jumped in with the six kilos, which turned out to be too much. I had to swim vertically instead of horizontally. The only way I could offset the excess weight around my waist was to inflate my buoyancy vest. In spite of the less than an optimal dive conditions, it still was my first dive on the Great Barrier Reef and the coral and fish were truly astounding, that is what I could see through the blurry mask. Most spectacular was a massive Maori Wrasse and a giant clam, both approximately a meter and a half in length
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