A Good Day

(photos: Quicksilver,
diving platform,
coral reefs)

October 31, 2001-Not More Than We Deserved

The entire experience on the Great Barrier Reef was phenomenal. We were picked up in Cairns by a bus & transported to a boat. It was about an hour’s boat ride to the larger vessel in Port Douglas that took us to the reef. It was another 1-½ hours on the large boat to the company's private diving platform at the reef. The platform was huge & had different areas for scuba divers, snorkelers, & the dock for their semi-submersible. There were ropes with floats to define swim areas, but lots of people, including us, ducked under them & swam on. It was not a problem & no one strayed too far. On the platform was a buffet for lunch & tables to seat several hundred. There were changing rooms & showers. Bathroom facilities were back on the boat that stayed moored to the platform the entire time. If you preferred to dine in air-conditioned comfort, you could eat on the boat. In typical Australian fashion, there was an abundance of shade. None of the eating area was in direct sunlight & the boat was 90% enclosed seating.

Act Is Together

From the on-time pickup at our motel door at & 7:15 AM to the drop off at 7 PM, it went like clockwork. The Quicksilver operation was so thorough they even provided swim fins large enough to fit David’s size 14’s & a shark watch hovering over us in a helicopter. You could pay to take rides over the reef in the copter, but its main purpose was an eye in the sky. Guards were posted at regular intervals on the dive platforms & in boats nearby. Scuba divers were lowered into the water on a hydraulic lift & snorkelers sat on a platform that was partially submerged. All they had to do was scoot into the water. They were scrupulous in counting & re-counting the guests before & after the boat docked at the platform on the reef.

A woman we met on the way to the reef was a non-swimmer. She’d planned to just look at the fish through the glass of the boat bottom or on the semi-submersible. She asked about a non-swimmer doing any snorkeling & was ready to hire an instructor. What they did was give her a life jacket, fins, mask, & snorkel, & tell her to hold onto the rope. They kept a close eye on her & she stayed near the boat. She was fine & felt very proud of herself to have done that.

The security measures were interesting. Although there were changing rooms & small lockers, there were no facilities to store larger items like backpacks. Most of our belongings were left on deck including wallets, cameras, & clothing. The rule was that if anyone claimed an item of theirs was missing, the boat didn’t leave the dive platform until it was found or turned in. That kept everyone honest.

This was the first time using our masks & one of the crew noticed. He gave us something like Soft Scrub to rub on them & then rinse off to avoid fogging. Of course there was no way to avoid having to spit in them. David had our optometrist put his prescription lenses into his mask & it was the first time he could really see what was going on underwater. It was like a religious experience for him. Before he had his prescription put in he’d only been able to see my bathing suit & follow it. For both of us, we had the luxury of goggles that really fit so we didn’t constantly have to empty water out of them.

Nerves

The Great Barrier Reef’s claim to fame is that it’s the length of California. It’s not the best or the most beautiful diving venue, but it is spectacular. There were plenty of colorful fish & bursts of color in the coral. At first, I kept seeing the flash of a bright blue fish out of the corner of my eye. When I turned my head to find it, it would be gone. It turned out that lots of the flippers borrowed from the ship were blue. Not a fish. I was also startled by something that brushed my arm repeatedly. It was my t-shirt. The crew suggested we wear them for sun protection & most people did. We all tried to follow the Aussie rules of “slip, slap, & slop.” Slip on a shirt, slap on a hat, & slop on sunscreen.”

Another moment of nervousness was when we realized we were swimming in a school of jellyfish. We quickly noticed they didn’t have tentacles & were harmless. It was fun watching them propel themselves along. I didn’t know that I could talk to myself underwater, but I distinctly remember hearing my voice give out with a muffled, ” Oh shit,” when a very large fish swam my way. For part of the time, the only part of me that didn’t have goose bumps was my tusch. It must have been the closest part of me to the top of the water & was toasty warm. The water was about 75 degrees & the air was 85, so it wasn’t really cold. It was just me, as usual.

One of the people sitting with us on the return trip bought a video about the reef for her 9-year-old grandson. She wanted to know how long it was & couldn’t read the small print. We found the running time but also noticed that it had run on the National Geographic TV Channel under the title, “Sex on the Reef.” David’s comment was that he didn’t know it was an option. Lots of jokes followed about underwater cameras & how sharp the coral was.

As we headed for the buses that would take us back to our motel, we passed an exhibit promoting a reptile farm. They had a snake that everyone was petting. I, who can hardly look at pictures of snakes, decided to get over it. I walked up to the handler, learned that it was a carpet python, & petted it. I think my comment was that it felt like a pair of shoes.

We boarded the bus & after our driver made us fasten our seat belts, we had a nice ride through Port Douglas on our way out of town. I thought it had more charm than Cairns. I didn’t know I would get to tour the town again so soon. There was a couple who’d missed the bus so we had to return to town to get them. It was a winding road to Cairns & we pretty much followed the shore. We did see wallaby hopping down the road & huge termite mounds.

We didn’t know it until yesterday, but didgeridoos are made from branches hollowed out by termites. We may get one that’s been decorated by an aboriginal artist. David is intrigued with them. If we get one, we’ll likely ship it home to Akron. That’s really too bad. When we left our apartment yesterday a duck had taken up residence in the pool. I’m sure it would like to be serenaded by a didgeridoo. It might even fall in love thinking it was a mate.

We were tired when we got back to the motel, so decided to eat in the restaurant there. It was surprisingly good.

Toby