I set the alarm for 6:50am this morning. I wasn't planning to get up so early but I realized lying in bed last night that I forgot to purchase an under-water camera for my trip to the reef. I quickly got dressed and walked about 15 min up to the main street in search of a convenience store or pharmacy/supermarket that was open at 7am. I found a few places but none had cameras. I aborted the mission and decided to live without but by this point it had started to rain. I proceeded to get drenched on the way back to the hotel. Normally I wouldnt mind a bit of rain in such hot temps but it was still dreadfully humid and so I was dripping in sweat and rain by the time I made it back. I had a few minutes to spare, so I stopped in the dining area for to access the free bfast. I went back to my old NZ faithful... toast and peanut butter. I added some fruit for good measure.
At 8am, the bus from Poseidon (the Great Barrier Reef company we were using) picked us up at the hotel. It was a short ride to the marina. We borded a large motorized yacht, like a cruiser. I'm not sure how many passengers there were in total, but if I had to guess I would say maybe 60-70. The company takes a max of 90.
The crew strongly suggested that we take sea-sickess tablets as soon as we got on board in light of the wind conditions. I was all over that given my history of vomiting on boats. Shortly after this we set sail and were on our way. The trip out to the reef actually took about an hour and a half.
I signed up to do an introductory scuba dive and some snorkeling. Those of of us who were new to diving spent most of the first hour of sailing getting instruction on equipment and safety maneuvers. By this point the seas were sufficiently rocky and we started losing people to the barf bags one by one. I managed to keep down my breakfast but I was definitely struggling while trying to pay attention.
We were all fitted with snorkels, masks and stinger suits...these were thin body suits to prevent jellyfish stings. Those of us diving then went out on deck to get our weight belts, vests and air tanks. We were put in groups of four per diving instructor. Initially they took each of us one-by-one off the boat and they taught us how to do the safety maneuvers under water while holding a rope. I did ok. I was nervous I might panic or hyperventilate but I didn't. By the time it was time to actually go under and dive, our group of four was down to two because two people bailed. Our instructor then took me and the remaining girl down into the water. We held onto a rope as we gradually went deeper and deeper. About every meter or so we had to equalize the pressure in our ears by holding our noses and blowing. I found this difficult and one of my ears didn't really want to pop so easily. At one point it really hurt but the instructor was really good about waiting and checking in with us often. He spoke to us in sign language that we had practiced before.
We made it to a maximum of 12 meters down. We then had a very brief swim around and a peek at the coral before we had to start ascending. The view was really cool and I enjoyed it a lot, even tho it was brief. I was excited to try a second or potentially third dive. As we ascended my ears popped along the way. My right ear never fully equalized however. I got back on the boat and felt like I was still underwater on one side.
I decided against going out for the second dive which was shortly after the first. I didn't want to hurt my ear further and I got queezy again when the boat moved to the next spot anyway. I elected to try snorkeling for the second trip. Oh and at this point I also realized that I wore my Fossil watch on the first dive. The gears were floating. Needless to say ill be getting a new watch for Christmas!
The views when snorkeling were amazing. The coral was multi coloured and so were the fish. I saw parrotfish, zebra fish, giant clams (and I mean giant!), and a yellow hammerfish. Some people also saw clown fish (aka Nemo) and reef sharks. There was a big orange fish with yellow eyes and mouth but I didn't know what it was. I saw only one really big fish and it was a species of parrotfish. It was almost as big as me! He had a bump on the top of his head. The sea plants were quite amazing. Multi coloured and textured. We could see them really closely.
The water was really warm but incredibly salty (seemingly more than the ocean back home) and the seas were a bit rough. Sometimes you had to really work to make headway when swimming around. I stayed out snorkeling for a while but started feeling tired and a bit nauseous again. I also felt like my head and lungs were overflowing in salt water. I swam back to the boat and got out. I went to straight to the toilet and hurled my guts up. It felt good and bad if you know what I mean. After that I went inside to sit down and they had just started serving lunch. There was an assortment of salads, bread, meat and prawns. I had a bit of pasta salad and two dinner rolls. I wasn't pushing my luck. I took another sea-sickness pill too, as the crew had recommended.
I decided to go out snorkeling for the last stop. My ear was still plugged so I decided to give up on the scuba for the day. The views of the coral were just as good but there were fewer fish it seemed.. .or I just got used to the amazing scenery.
We all got back on the boat around 3pm or so and then started the journey back to Port Douglas. I was feeling much better so I sat outside on the top deck in the sun for much of the trip. The seas were better for the first hour but then got choppy again. I was ready to get off when we docked about 4:30pm. Oh, I purchased a few digital pics on board. .. $55 for 4! Good thing this trip is almost done or I would go broke!
We rode the bus back to the hotel and the first thing I did was hop in the shower I was so salty that I could rub it off my face onto my hands. The shower felt amazing.
I blogged for about an hour and then went down to the hotel picnic area where our guide Brett was cooking a BBQ for us. It was the last night for some of us on the tour so it was a goodbye BBQ. The others were continuing on to visit central Australia as part of a larger trip. Brett cooked steak and sausage and he provided a green salad, packaged coleslaw and pasta salad for sides. It was great! He even served ice cream and Tim Tams (cookies you can buy here). Mmmm mmm. I love me some chocolate and ice cream.
The group hung out for a couple of hours, but by about 8:30 people were already starting to head to the rooms. We were all pretty pooched. I left around 9pm and stopped to check email on the hotel computer for a a few minutes before heading back to the room.
Mary and I packed up our bags (again!) so that we could allow ourselves to sleep a bit later in the morning. I went thru a bunch of my pics and finished my blog for the day. Unfortunately there was no free WiFi at this accomodation, but everything else was so good it made up for it.
10:30pm and it was beddy bye-bye. Cant believe my journey comes to an end soon...
T
Ps. Sorry, no reef pics yet. Have to wait till I get home to a reliable computer.
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