Never been diving

I arrived in Cairns not knowing what to expect but ended up spending 2 weeks with amazing people that will be my friends for life. I spent the first couple days learning how to dive in a classroom and pool with prodive. It was a really good learning environment and everyone easily understood all of the theory required for diving. After my 2 days in the classroom we went on our first dive boat trip (3 days out on the Great Barrier Reef) during this time I got certified as an open water PADI diver (other divers on the trip got more advanced certifications during this time if they already had their open water). I was able to get more comfortable diving by doing multiple free dives a day and even a night dive. The next day we went to Fitzroy Island to help out at a turtle rehabilitation centre and have free time on the island. The island was beautiful but expensive to do anything other than the hikes around the island (had to paid to hire stinger suits, snorkels etc. by the hour). Then we went back out on a dive boat for another 3 days of diving. This time we did our marine conversation part with eye on the reef. A dive master taught as how to take surveys of the coral and 10 minutes surveys of the marine life. We learned a lot about the coral and the marine life, we even were able to remove invasive snails off the coral. I had a great time and learned so much! Diving at the Great Barrier Reef project allows you to see many amazing marine life and learn a lot about the reef.