All at sea!

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Today I get to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef! So excited - still devastated that this flipping asssssmaaaaaar won't let me dive properly but still, at least I get to see some of the reef and the life below the ocean waves.

My day started at 7am, with a lift to the marina where I'd be joining the Passions cruise. Now don't get the wrong idea here - it's all about passion for the ocean rather than passion for fellow passengers (although admittedly the boys must have been in their element on our boat, as the vast majority of girls (self obviously excluded) were wearing next to nothing and very beautiful, lazing around on the nets of the catamaran. The boys however...less so...all us girls had little eye candy for the day sadly.

The boat held about 75 people and we were greeted with tea, coffee, cake, and a firm reiteration that I'd not be stepping anywhere near a diving suit today. Boo. Still, I met some nice people straight away - Kate and Paul, Kate who was travelling, Paul who was on holiday visiting her. We sat out on deck and it was scorching - sunburn in 10 minutes flat without the factor 30. You could see the scantily clad turning a deep shade of crimson before we'd reached the half way mark of the 2 hour trip to Michaelmas Cay, our first snorkel stop. One of the only over 50s on our trip topped up her sun protection with some factor 6 fry oil. Seriously. On the trip over we saw flying fish skim over the water's surface, but nothing more than that until we pitched up in the ocean, whereupon thousands of tropical fish circled our boat like a welcoming party.

We got to Michaelmas and were transported to the island by glass bottom boat. I could feel those who'd paid an extra 20 dollars for the privilege of sailing in said glass bottomed boat reeling at their mistake. Once at the beach it was like my worst nightmare come true. Admittedly it looked bad from the boat but worse up close. The place is covered - and I mean covered - in thousands of migrating birds, swooping low and diving at you like you're their prey for the day. My heart was pounding - I was in the water before anyone else, frantically trying to put my flippers on underwater away from the gulls. And so I was off - snorkelling back towards the boat which was moored at sea. We were told it was only for the good swimmers to try that - clearly I've become a lot better than my 50m achievement at school, because I went back and forward twice to the boat without too much effort. The water was so calm, it wasn't strenuous in the slightest. Mind you, with flippers built for size 8 feet, my propellor mechanisms were pretty darn good...

As I snorkelled out, the coral was breathtaking. Clams in the most vibrant of colours, and both hard and wispy coral in every shade you could imagine. No underwater camera again today but imagine looking at the reef in HD on an LED telly and you can imagine the array of colours. You could hear the fish picking at the coral below too - just amazing. And as for the fish - I can't begin to describe what I saw - turquoise, green, pink, purple and yellow - and that was just one fish! I wish I had an underwater guide book to tell me what I was seeing - but it was breathtaking.

I saw a ray the colour of the sand below, swimming along the sea bed, which was amazing, but didn't get to see any reef sharks sadly. The amazing bonus was getting to see a huge sea turtle on the way back to the boat - I was the first to see it and apparently they haven't seen a turtle out there for weeks. Tsk - who needs to be a proper diver anyway?!

Chuffed with my achievements, I retreated to the boat and munched down on some lunch, ready for the afternoon. We headed off to Paradise Reef where, as the only boat, we had uninterrupted views of the coral at a deeper part of the ocean (20 metres). Snorkel in hand I was off in a flash...and then back to the boat even quicker when I was breathing in more water than air (dodgy snorkel). 5 minutes later and I was back again - dodgier snorkel - however third time lucky and I took off. To be honest, the fish here were equal to the ones at Michaelmas, and the coral a lot more barren, due to the cyclone in 2009. However, the size of some of the fish was incredible - we saw angel fish, nemo's cousins and many many others (learned some of the names after the event on the journey back to Cairns). I also swam above the divers and in their expelled air, it was like being stuck in a jar of fizzy lemonade. Loved it! 40 minutes of treading water and snorkelling in the ocean and it was time to reluctantly leave - and time to treat myself to a beer. I met a girl called Louise, younger but not by much compared to the teenagers on board, who I got on with like a house on fire. As a result, we made plans to go out for the evening, with some of the crew who were fab. Simon, in particular (relatively pretty too, it has to be said) remembered everyone's name on board and then finished the day off with some magic tricks - an added bonus.

So we went to Gilligans, the backpackers' hostel and bar for cheap beer and vodka. And lots of it. I had to walk back to my hostel, about 15 minutes walk away, to change because we had got soaked to the skin in walking to the bar earlier in a tropical downpour and I hadn't dried out enough to go into town. Couldn't get a taxi back either so walked another 15 minutes back again. Once back, we met up with Margaret and Keith, two of the 'overs' on our boat and had dinner with them which was lovely. And then disaster...managed to cut my arm somehow and it caught a blood vessel. The blood was pouring and pouring and pouring out of my arm. My white cardie was red. It was touch and go as to whether I would pass out or need an ambulance but despite it all, we headed off to the Woolshed where we bade farewell to our new friends.

The Woolshed is a backpackers' hangout and we met up with Kate and Paul again, and their new hostel friends - 2 girls who said not a word and 2 guys who were pro golfers. Having wowed them with my superior golf knowledge (Rory Mc is world number 2, not Lee Westwood, don't you know...) and found out they come from Bournemouth, a night out down there is in the offing when I get home. Oh and Louise and I again passed as being under 28...result.

The night had to come to an end in the Woolshed when we found ourselves being approached by letchy men and a competition began which involved those taking part stripping off to win a trip on a boat. Including one girl who had already been on our boat earlier in the day who was giving it her all. Too old, we retired to PJ O'Brians for more beers and a dance, in a pub that was empty, before calling it a night and taxi-ing it home. A real shame that I only got to meet Louise today for the first time and now in the morning I have to move on but hopefully our paths will cross again in the future because she was hilarious and we had a great time. Oh but when I say move on in the morning, that could be somewhat dependent on the hangover which, I have a feeling based on the red, white, beer, rum and vodka mix, could be the most unpleasant yet of the hols....

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Comments

[Andy]

East Coast
Excellent blog Adele. Reading it brings back a lot of memories from when I did the same route back in 1998. If you get the chance, make sure you go to Fraser Island. It's amazing (at least it was back in '98.. who knows what has happened since). Also, if you need Kristy's details in Burleigh Heads (near Brisbane) let me know - well worth stopping there for a few days.