'Ring Of Bright Water'

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RING OF BRIGHT WATER – We wouldn’t normally choose a well known title as the heading for one of our blogs but this one has a particular significance. Read on:

Friday 9th September – today was the day of our very early start – a 7:30 pick up from the caravan park. We weren’t alone as another couple, Dale and Alison, had also arranged for a day on one of the Frankland Islands. The day out would eventually last until about 6:00pm but for now we were being ferried by the boss of the company, no less, to a rendezvous point near the centre of Cairns where we were met by a small coach. On board already were about 10 people, mainly Japanese, and soon after another couple arrived. So with the coach now fully laden we made our way out of Cairns south towards Deeral and the Mulgrave River. Here a fair sized passenger boat was waiting to take us on a short cruise down the river and then out into the Coral Sea on our way to explore part of the Great Barrier Reef. The boat is capable of carrying 100 passengers but today there were about 70 together with about 10 crew and a couple of marine biologists. Many people had made their own way to the boat but another couple of buses like ours had ferried people from different parts of Cairns.

We were headed for Normanby Island – a small, un-inhabited island which is part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and access has only been granted to the Frankland Islands Cruise and Dive Company. This meant that no other people could use the island and our tour group would have it exclusively to ourselves. So with a variety of planned activities available we were all looking forward to the day’s adventures. The short cruise along the Mulgrave River lasted about 30 minutes and the journey out to the island, part of the Inner Reef, lasted about another 40 minutes. During this time we were all plied with as much tea/coffee and biscuits as we could manage. On arrival at the island we were transferred (there’s no jetty) in a smaller boat which took about 20 people at a time. We were divided into groups depending on which “package” we had purchased. We had gone for the “full works” so we were the first group to be given a chance to go snorkelling. The group was sub-divided into experienced and beginner snorkellers so with our experiences at Ningaloo behind us we joined the experienced group. We had brought our wetsuits and goggles with us but not the flippers so we spent a few minutes squeezing into our suits and collecting the correct size flippers. Dave, the marine biologist allocated to our group, led us out into the water with the intention of showing us the best areas to snorkel and to point out some of the major features of the area. Immediately we were treated to displays of multi-coloured fish and unusual shaped coral – it was magical. Perhaps the numbers weren’t as great or as varied as we had seen at Ningaloo or when we had travelled to the outer reef eight years ago. Being able to walk in off the beach of Normanby Island was far less of an ordeal than trekking all the way to the outer reef for just a couple of hours of activity.

I had endeavoured to keep alongside Graham as we always try to keep an eye out for each other. He seemed to be happily progressing with the main group but, after a while, unknown to me and to anyone else, he had lagged behind at a certain point. He seemed to be unwilling to move on and it was only when the group began the return swim to the beach that all became clear. He was about 100 meters from shore and in about 3 to 4 meters of water. It transpired that he had felt something “hanging” off his right hand and, thinking it was a bit of seaweed, he had shaken it loose only to see his wedding anniversary ring (40 years) floating to the bottom of the ocean! He had watched it zig-zag in the current as it drifted down and was focused enough to see where it had landed. As luck would have it, the ring came to rest alongside a large, circular piece of coral and from a certain angle, with the bright sun reflecting on it, it was clearly visible even in 4 meters of water. The ocean was wonderfully clear but, of course, Graham couldn’t move away for fear of not being able to locate the correct piece of coral again. He is now an accomplished snorkeller but he is no diver so he was reluctant to try and retrieve it himself. He “hovered” for the best part of 15 minutes until Dave came back past on his way to the shore. He attracted Dave’s attention and explained the dilemma. Diving down a little way to point out where the ring was, he then watched as Dave expertly recovered the ring in one dive. Graham was a very relieved and grateful man although Dave made little of it. Apparently it’s not the first time that has happened - fingers can slightly diminish in size when under sea-water and rings can easily work loose. Dave’s recommendation is that all rings are removed before undertaking snorkelling activities - no doubt Graham will remember that in future!

After recovering from our snorkelling adventures, our group was invited to board a semi-submersible glass-bottomed boat for a tour of the waters surrounding the island. We were able to go to the opposite side of the island to where we had snorkelled and, again, we saw plenty of fish and beautifully shaped coral. The main interest was “turtle spotting” but, disappointingly, we never saw one from the boat (but we were to see several later!). On our return to the island, whilst the other groups were still on their snorkelling trips, we were able to partake of a truly splendid lunch which had been set up in a shaded area on a number of large picnic tables. Being “first in line” our small group was able to help ourselves at our leisure before the larger numbers came by for their lunch. It gave us a chance to chat to fellow travellers and in particular the other couple from our caravan park – Dale and Alison. They proved to be delightful company and time passed very easily and surprisingly quickly.

We then had the chance to go snorkelling again but we were taken by the idea of a walk around the island with Dave, the marine biologist, who promised to show us things we would never have seen before. It all started off innocently enough and we had soon spotted several turtles lazing in the waters just off the shore. But Dave was heading for the many rock-pools that lay just a short, but a very difficult, walk away on the opposite side of the island. The walking was extremely tricky with most of the group, ourselves included, trying hard to keep our feet dry. Eventually we just gave up on that and, luckily with our beach-shoes on, we were able to splash through the shallow water following Dave who was actually bare-footed. But the things he un-earthed by moving some rocks were absolutely fascinating. Star fish were in abundance and sea cucumbers and crabs of different, shapes, sizes and colours left us all transfixed. He was able to spot and describe things that the normal tourist would not have spotted – he was brilliant. It transpired that he had written several well-received books on the subject and was a bit of a “star” in that field.

All too soon the walk was over but we still had time for a quick swim/snorkel if we wanted. We decided that, as we were relatively dry and didn’t want to get wet again, we would sit and chat for the remaining half hour. The return boat trip was a relaxed pleasure, looking back at the beautiful Normanby Island. Afternoon tea and cake were on offer and it went down very well. We spent some more time with Dale and Alison and they kindly invited us for a cuppa on our return to Lake Placid. They’re travelling from Maldon in Victoria in a very smart Winnebago motor home so we thought it would be nice to see how the other half live. I’m sure they thought, like us, that we’d be back at about 5:00pm, maybe 5:30 at the latest but none of us had bargained for being on a return coach which did a “drop off” tour around Cairns. We were virtually the last to be dropped off and it was close on six o’clock. By the time we’d all showered and freshened up it had gone 6:30 and very dark, but we spent a delightful couple of hours with them, and their dog Gadge, recalling the delights of the day and sharing our touring and life experiences. It was all very relaxed and pleasant – a splendid way to finish what had been a really enjoyable trip.

(Note on previous blog: ‘A Hair-Raising Day’ – unfortunately I forgot to add photos of our visit to Mareeba Wetlands so a few more have been added including Dad Emu and his six chicks.)

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Photos

Giant clam exposed
with the outgoing tide