Today is our second day of diving with TUSA. I get picked up again at 7:25am. I get carried on the boat today instead of me transferring to the steps and bumping up. I get carried directly to the inside lounge. Since we filled out paperwork on Wednesday we do not have to fill it out again. We get the safety and dive briefing while heading to Norman Reef. Today our dive guide is Tyler, from Georgia, Will has the day off. The first two dives are at Norman Reef with about 20 minutes between dives. I get ready with help from Tyler today and get in and out of the water as I did Wednesday. We see another white tip reef shark on our first dive. Visibility is about 30 meters with no current. After our second dive I have lunch outside again. The boat moves to Saxon Reef for our third dive, Coral Gardens.

I get ready and get in the water. As I’m starting my descent I take a breath on my regulator but all I get is a mouth full of water. I see my regulator in front of me but don’t realize what’s going on. I’m still descending and wave over my dad and Tyler for help. That’s one of the last things I remember until I get to the surface. I briefly see a “white light” then I surface with my dad and Tyler. I don’t know if this is the sun when we get close to the surface or the “white light” people claim see at a near death experience. We surface about 20 feet from the boat. I take a minute to get my breath and we make our way back to the boat. Tyler goes back diving with the rest of the group after making sure I’m ok. I get carried up the steps to take my gear off then to the lounge. I can’t figure out what happened but am very disappointed in myself for not remembering my training. I should have grabbed my regulator and put it back in my mouth, put my secondary air source in my mouth or inflated my BCD and surfaced. Tyler gets back from the dive and once again makes sure I’m ok and asks if I’m still going to dive tomorrow. Yes, I’m going to dive tomorrow, no reason not to. My dad and Tyler tell me they both tried to give me their octopus, a secondary air source, but I waived them away, I don’t remember this. On the boat ride back to Cairns and bus ride to my hostel I have water dripping from my nose. When I get to the hostel I blow my nose several times and nothing but water comes out. I feel fine and have no concerns about my health. I check my dive computer and was 36 feet deep before they brought me to the surface. Much deeper than I thought. I’m a little nervous about diving tomorrow because I don’t know exactly what happened. After getting cleaned up I meet mom and dad for dinner at Villa Roma Trattoria for pizza. The restaurant is located on the corner of Esplanade and Aplin. The outside seating area is reservations only so we sit inside. The seating area is up two steps but the do have a ramp off the sidewalk on Aplin Street. They have regular table service so we do not have to order from the bar. There is an accessible bathroom but you have to enter from Esplanade Street. We make our stop at Rattle n Hum for drinks then I head back to Northern Greenhouse to relax.