Cairns part 3 – The Great Barrier Reef

On January 2nd Iral got up early once again to return the rental car and to find the boat taking us to the reef. We woke up to another rainy morning and this time it was pouring bucket loads of giant raindrops. It didn’t matter because in a few hours we’d be 80km (50 miles) out to sea snorkelling on the reef all wet anyway. Returning the car I managed to find a covered spot for us to wait under for the shop to open at 7am. But as I made the dash to the door I stepped squarely in a puddle about 4” deep. After the paperwork was taken care of the rental company was nice enough to give us a ride to the docks about 1.5km (1mile) away. By now the rain had let up a little and it was only raining cats and dogs. With our overnight bags we walked up and down the dock looking for the Reef Encounter and only seeing the Reef Experience. There were several similar type large catamarans doing day tours and it wasn’t easy to tell which one we should get on. There were lots of people getting on several different ships. With a perplexed look and about to call the number on the receipt another passenger noticed us and let us know the Reef Experience was the ship we wanted. As we boarded someone took our luggage and we headed inside to fill out the required forms. As the shipped filled up with tourists the rain subsided and overnight guest we escorted to the upper deck lounge. We were informed that this was a day tourist boat and we’d be transferred later to our overnight ship. Sitting in the lounge we met 2 very nice ladies from Nova Scotia, Jill and Francine. They had been travelling around Oz for a couple weeks and had a 2 night stay on the reef planned.

About 90 minutes later we arrived at the reef and were shuttled over to the Reef Encounter with the other guests and piles of luggage. We were all given the safety briefing and information about our stay. Lastly being assigned our rooms and allowed to store our bags. A quick costume change and Iral and I were out on the reef snorkelling. This was my 2nd time on the reef and Iral’s first. The rain had stopped and the sun was out. We grabbed fins and goggles. Being sure to spit in the mask and rub it around before rinsing with salt water as a trick to keep it from fogging up. I then swabbed a finger full of Vaseline in my moustache to help seal the edge of the mask. Air and water temperatures were around 30 C degrees (86 F), just perfect for jumping in the water. As we entered and swam away from the boat the full life of the reef comes into view. Hundreds of fish in all sizes, shapes and colours are swimming around you. Tiny little bright blue ones, plates size yellow ones with black stripes, and large parrotfish. There are corals of many types, hard and soft, sea cucumbers deep dark purple lying in the soft sand beds. Floating in the water is millions of tiny particles, so much it’s floating on the underside of the surface and in the water like a film of pollen might on top of a lake. It’s really beyond words and unfortunately I don’t have an underwater camera to show you photos. You’re just going to have tom come visit me and see it for yourself. The Great Barrier Reef is an absolute must thing to do in your life and I’ll gladly go again at any time!

A couple hours in that spot we were served lunch in the dining room and sat with our new friends, Jill and Francine. They were headed to Tasmania after the reef and then to Melbourne for a few days. Iral and I filled them in on a bunch of things to do in both places. After lunch the boat moved to another location on the reef. We were given the scuba diving safety speech and filled out our introductory dive forms. Iral has mild asthma so was not able to do the dive that came with our trip. He tried several times to convince the crew it wasn’t a problem and put up a good fight but in the end they wouldn’t budge, citing safety concerns. He was very disappointed and I was too. But the bright side was they let me take his dive instead since it was already paid for. While I suited up for my dive Iral did the best he could and become the photographer for a few minutes before doing some more snorkelling on his own. As our group of 4 plus a guide started to descend down the anchor rope I cleared my ears several times from the pressure that built up and gave the ok signal every few feet to our leader. At about 5 metres (16’) below the surface we left the security of the rope and started off in the direction of the reef. Here the water was much clearer. Gone were all the coral sperms, fish poo, and itchy sea lice that got in your way at the surface. Here you can’t feel the waves but you can feel the ocean current trying to pull on you. As we approached the reef the full magnitude of this most incredible of Mother Nature’s wonders overwhelms you. The multitude of fish swam all around you. The colours are a little less vibrant because the water filters out red first at these depths. While we swim around the corals I get to see a full grown green sea turtle. He’s (or She’s kind of hard to tell) is about 2’ across and chomping on some soft vegetation. Our guide takes us closer to it and while the turtle does seem to notice us he’s not overly concerned that we’re watching. Our guide then takes us to a sea cucumber about a 1’ or so in length and 4” in diameter. He is a dark purple, almost black colour and I can’t tell which end is which. We drift around trying to take as much notice of all the details as I can. Trying to keep my breathing slow and even to maximize the amount of time I have in this beautiful place. Here you lose all sense of time; you become part of the sea, one of the many creatures of a complex ecosystem. You begin to understand what we as humans are missing by being at the top of the food chain. Why we must try and save this planet and the reef itself for all others to experience. When the time finally comes to return to the world above the water I’m sadden that my time is over, but excited about the next time I’ll be able to enter the underworld again.

In the afternoon the boat moves again allowing Iral and I do more snorkelling together at a 3rd location. Since he wasn’t able to dive he tries to just holding his breath and diving below the surface. I do this a couple times and then come back up with my ears full of water and very painful. We make our way back to the boat and dry off. I’m pretty waterlogged at this point so a little time out of the sun and water would be good. I talk to some of the staff and find out I can barely hear anything my ears are so blocked. They recommend tilting my head to try and drain my ears and told me at this time of years it happens quite often because of all the stuff floating at the surface. I decided t go one step further and lay down for a little while before dinner.

When we hear the dinner page about 7pm I’m feeling a little better but not great. We go down to dinner and meet up with Jill and Francine again. Jill got to dive today but they wouldn’t let Francine for medical reason too. I found out Francine’s ears had gotten blocked up that day snorkeling also. What this meant mostly was Jill and Iral chatted while Francine and I just tried to hear what was going on. Shortly after dinner I went to lie down again. About 9pm I woke up feeling better. My ears had drained some and the pain was much less. Iral and I went up on to the sun deck and stared at the stars for a while. The moon was half full, very bright in the sky and shimmering on the water. The stars this far off the mainland, even with a bright moon are in the thousands. So many you never see living in the city. We were able to see Orion’s belt a constellation most of you can see in the northern hemisphere and is part of what southerners call the saucepan. We get a great view of the Southern Cross and are clearly able to see the 5th star that is so hard to see at home. Even the Milky Way is stretching from one end of the horizon to the other. After star gazing for some time we headed below deck and caught the tail end of dessert, brownies and ice cream. What a fabulous way to end a wonderful day.

In the morning we awoke to calm seas and beautiful sunshine once again. This day was spent much like the one before. Iral and I got some snorkelling in after breakfast then Jill and I got to go on another dive. My ears were much better but I was still a little hesitant. So I explained the situation to our dive guide and we took it really slow on the decent checking my ears and making sure the pressure didn’t build too much. Once things were good we set off from the anchor rope and headed for the reef. This time I was lucky enough to see 2 white tipped reef sharks, each more than a meter long (maybe 5’). They were circling near the sandy bottom at the base of a tall coral formation. Beautiful tropical fish all around with 1 eye on these menacing carnivores. After our dive the boat moved again and we did more snorkelling. By lunch I was pretty waterlogged again and we had to move out of our room so the next guest could move in so we lounge in the common area for a while. Iral and I watched the newbies come aboard all excited and eager to get in the water. They got the welcome and safety speech before being assigned rooms. We got another chance to chat with Jill and Francine and swapped information. Promising them a little tour of Melbourne after they visited Tasmania. (We're all facebook friends now too) After lunch us  and the rest of the departing guest were shuttled to the other ship and then back to the main land. Iral with a smile on his beautiful face and me not too badly sunburned!

In the evening we had dinner and repacked our luggage for the trip home in the morning. Chris the resort bartender made us one more Mango daiquiri and we sucked up what we could of the booze in our room.

I’ve ended this entry a little abruptly because I have another one to type up and get out to. Not to mentioned I’m almost a month behind now. The next blog is one you won’t want to miss and t's all about my Australia day adventures! There’ll be a lot less text and a lot more photo’s in that one if I can get this website to load the photos properly.

Happy birthdays go out to my grandmother who turned 87 on January 30th, my friend Dean here in Melbourne who also had a birthday on the 30th. I did have a drink for you both!

My apologies to anyone I have missed.