A Day on Opal Reef and Beyond

---

By the end of the week the weather had improved a bit so we were able to go on our trip out to the reef leaving from Port Douglas Marina. We went with the same company, Haba, Alex and Anne recommended and found ourselves on board an 80’ catamaran with 30 other would-be divers.
Unfortunately Seb discovered that as he had used an inhaler in the past 15 years he was unable to scuba dive with Tristan and Dominic. He was very disappointed as he had been looking forward to the experience all through the trip. They have very strict medical conditions they follow which is probably just as well. Tristan and Dominic sat and listened to an induction talk and learnt how to carryout some basic hand signs and what to do on their first dive.
We had not appreciated how far out the reef was from land and having been suggested to take anti sea sickness tablets I was very glad as we bounced and crashed into the waves travelling at great neck speed out into the blue yonder, I was very glad to sit holding onto the handlebar and focus on the picture on the wall inside and not the horizon jumping up and down as the boat cut through the sea.
After a brief lesson on how to keep the mask clean and how to release water from the mask if it seeps in we were allowed to don our wet suits and flippers and lower ourselves off the back of the boat and swim out to the edge of the reef that stretched out in front of us. It took us a while to adjust to the breathing and swimming on a slightly choppy surface and hear your own breathing echo through the mouth piece but after a little while we were all off spying fish as they darted about in front of us. It was truly amazing the whole undersea world was just full of all sizes of colourful fish feeding on the coral. Huge coral growths of living moving feeding polyps, sieving through the micro-organisms as the water current passed through them. It was just like watching a BBC nature programme in 3D! The best moment was when a huge Maori Wrasse swam up to us and started to circle around the swimmers, it was so tame and was enjoying being fed some tip bits from the boat.
Seb and Dominic were very adventurous and loved using the underwater camera we had hired to try and photo some of the fish and coral we saw. Not an easy task however as the fish almost sensed the fact we were trying to take a picture and would stay in one position long enough to hold the camera up in front of them and then as soon as you had focused on the fish they swam away!! Seb also mastered the art of diving down to the reef bed with just his snorkel to take a closer look at the sea cucumbers and star fish and other fish too shy to swim close to all the swimmers.
Tristan was in his element and mastered the dive with an instructor and then had a second dive later that day. I think he has been smitten by the bug and will look into getting his diving certificate.
After lunch the boat went to a different reef and the sun decided to shine turning the sea into beautiful shades of turquoise blue and jade green, it made such a difference to the snorkelling as the reef visibility become a lot lighter and clearer.
We saw colourful Parrot, Clown, Angel and Flounder Fish to name just a few, some people said they saw White Tipped Sharks, I am glad to say we did not!!!
The return trip was less rough as we also went with the flow of the current so the boat seemed to jump around less and my sea-legs withstood the trip!

It had been a wonderful day and certainly rated as one of our Top Ten Highlights of the Holiday.

---

Comments

[alex]

true blue
the water and fish looks stunning, yet I can't get over how sexy your matching wetsuits are...