Today was an included trip to the Great Barrier Reef. We rose at 6.30 and packed the back pack with swimwear, towels, sun lotion and water. We had breakfast and then the bus arrived to take us to the harbour. It was only 1 km away and we could have walked there in 10 minutes so bus seemed a bit over the top. We waited on the quay while our tour manager collected the tickets from the office and then made our way to the boat. We were almost at the front of the queue so were able to get some prime seats outside at the back of the boat, but in the shade.
Vickie was a bit worried about getting sea sick so this was likely to be the least bumpy spot on the boat. It was a large catamaran operated by a local family owned company called Reef Magic.
The boat could carry up to 400 people so we hoped it was big enough not to move about too much on the swell. We had about half an hour to wait before departure, during which time the crew did a safety briefing and demonstration rather like on an aircraft. At the end of the briefing they announced that pills were available at the bar to counter sea sickness and that you should take them half an hour before sailing for maximum effect. Vickie bounded off to the bar to buy some whilst the man said, “If you are prone to sea sickness, take a pill, if your not sure, take a pill, if you get bored, take a pill.” It sounded like they were used to people getting sick and were keen to prevent that if possible. At 9.30 we finally cast off and headed out into the bay, which was quite sheltered and so it was a very smooth ride even though the boat was batting along at around 30 kph. There were great views of Cairns as we sped off towards the open sea.
Once we passed the headland at the mouth of the bay the swell increased and the boat was moving up and down a far bit throwing spray over some of the outer seats even though we were on the second deck.
Thankfully, being a catamaran there was very little roll, so being at the back of the boat the movement was not too unpleasant.
We were heading for Moore Reef which is 40km (25 miles) out to sea and on the outer reef. About half way there, as we passed Fitzroy Island
the first Chinese woman was helped out onto the rear deck. She was staggering and wailing and very soon throwing up into paper bags brought by the crew – she had clearly not heeded, or maybe not understood the message about the pills! This scattered those sitting near the door as you may imagine, fortunately we were far enough away not be affected. She was followed by quite a number of others from the inside cabin who were clearly feeling very ill. It took almost an hour and a half to get out to the reef by which time there were about a dozen Chinese women and children lying around the back of the boat groaning. Thankfully we all felt fine and Vickie who is very susceptible to motion sickness declared that she felt a bit wobbly but that the sea sickness pills clearly work. We had to hang around for about 15 minutes while the crew got off the boat to prepare the pontoon. The Pontoon was much bigger than the boat and much of the middle part was given over to tables and chairs.
There was an upper sun deck that was about a third of the size. One end of the pontoon was given over to diving and snorkelling equipment and the other end was a kitchen and a buffet style servery. We grabbed a couple of tables for our group and settled down while most of the others rushed about grabbing stingers suits, flippers, masks and so. It was pandemonium so we stayed well out of it until everyone else had finished. Some of our group went on the ‘semi-submersible’ which is a boat with a deep keel that you sit in and look out of the windows at the fish and the reef. They came back looking very green and saying that it rocked around so much that they were feeling very ill. They couldn’t face any lunch and spent the rest of the day looking very glum and feeling worse. That decided it for us, no going on the semi-submersible, nor the glass bottomed boat. The Chinese woman who we had been the first to get ill was in such a state of anxiety, and her daughters were not much better that her husband had obviously been negotiating with the crew to get them off. About half an hour after we arrived a helicopter came out from Cairns to pick them up. There is a helipad on a pontoon a couple of hundred metres away and it is possible to buy a package where you cruise out and fly back for $500 per person. I suspect this is at least what this Chinese man had to pay to fly his family back to Cairns. They had to get on the semi-submersible boat to get out to the helipad and so they endured another ten minutes of bobbing around like a cork, which can only have made them feel even worse! Thankfully the pontoon was hardly moving at all and despite it being the rainy season we had mostly blue skies, no rain and calm seas. By now the snorkelling area was crammed with people trying to get into or out of the water and thrashing about wildly, so we decided to wait until it had quietened down a bit.
At one end of the pontoon was an underwater viewing area so we went down there to have a look. This gave a view of the reef and some fish but the glass was scratched on the inside and covered in algae on the outside so the clarity of view left a lot to be desired, but we did at least have it to ourselves. Once the platform had cleared a good deal I got my self a set of kit which has to include a so called stinger suit. This is a black lycra full body suit which protects you from jelly fish stings, but also from the strong sun. During the wet season there are a number of lethal jellyfish species around including the scary sounding Irukandji which has a bell only 5 mm across but tentacles a metre long and is almost impossible to see in the water. The rules on the pontoon say you must also wear a lifejacket which makes it impossible to snorkel properly, that is to say it is impossible to dive under the water, or swim very quickly because of the drag. Once I finally got all this clobber on I made my way down to the platform and shouldered my way into the water and swam as far away from the platform and the mass of inexperienced snorkelers as possible. There is a boundary marked by ropes and buoys but it is quite a large area and easy to get away from the hoards near the pontoon. Now like most people I’ve seen the films and so on about the barrier reef and the colourful fish and coral, but I wasn’t prepared for the quantity and variety of fish within sight at any one time. The coral didn’t look as colourful as I expected but the fish certainly did and I was taken aback by my first experience. I thought I might see 3 or 4 different fish and that they would be hard to spot, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.
After about half an hour I returned to the pontoon and raved about what you could see. On the boat on the way out they had been trying to sell underwater camera hire at $69 in part by saying rush to the bar now before we run out as we have limited numbers. I had thought $69 would be a waste of money, but now I was desperately hoping they had some left, so I hurried of to the bar on the boat to see if I could hire one. Fortunately they had loads left so I paid up my dosh and rushed back to the pontoon. It was only a small Canon point and shoot inside a big plastic box with a trigger like shutter release on the outside, but I was quite pleased with some of the results for my first time. By now the lunch was ready so we went off for a look. The hoards had already devoured a huge proportion of the food but it was, or had been an impressive range of hot and cold dishes of different styles to suit the range of nationalities on the trip. We were not particularly hungry and don’t generally do much for lunch so there was more than enough for us in the way of cold meats and salads. After lunch Vickie decided that since she was here she had to get in the water despite the fact that she had tried snorkelling before and couldn’t stand the mask on her face and the snorkel in her mouth. So having donned stinger suit, life jacket and face mask we made our way into the water. The water here is at 29oC so it is very warm and pleasant to swim in. Vickie was unable to use the snorkel but held her breath and used the mask. After 20 minutes or so she was quite tired out so we made it back to the pontoon. There are other options than those I have already mentioned for seeing the reef underwater. For an extra $129 you can go ‘Snuba’ diving, which is a system whereby the air tanks are on a small raft that you tow around. You breathe through a normal scuba regulator which is attached to the tanks by a 3 metre tube so that you can swim down to 3 metres without having to have tanks on your back. Another option is helmet diving where you get a helmet and suit that allows you to walk along an underwater walkway beneath the pontoon.
You don’t even need to be able to swim, and you don’t have to put anything in your mouth or even get your hair wet! Of course there was also scuba diving, both for beginners and certified divers.
For a $189 you have a 10 minute flight over the reef from the little helipad nearby. I went back in the water for a couple of 30 minute sessions over the next two hours and by then it was fairly quiet as most people had done with snorkelling. Finally I had one last go and I was able to sneak in without my life jacket on and do some proper snorkelling which meant I could get some better photos as I could get closer to the fish. At 3 o’clock we had to pack up and get back on the boat for the journey back to Cairns. We had about 4.5 hours on the pontoon, which for those who were still feeling ill must have been hell, but for me it was a fabulous experience and the time flew. We had to wait on the boat for about half an hour while the crew cleared up and cleaned the pontoon. I returned my hire camera and was given the SD card to keep – it had 179 photos and 4 movies on it. Here are a few of the better pictures – I’m afraid I have no idea what any of the fish are so I can’t add captions, I just hope you enjoy the pictures.
Once the crew had finished on the pontoon we moved quite slowly away from the reef and then once we were in the open sea they opened up the throttle and we sped back towards the distant blur on the horizon that was the mainland.
The sea must have been quite calm as we got back to Cairns about 15 minutes quicker than the scheduled hour and a half. It was 4.45 and we declined the bus back to the hotel and walked south along the waterfront on Chinaman Creek until we came to a bar restaurant called Mondo on the Waterfront. They had a smoking area in the garden so we had a couple of beers and a smoke and then strolled back to the hotel. It was about 6.30 but as we don’t usually eat until 8 o’clock at the very earliest we were in no rush, so had a leisurely shower, ironed some clothes for the evening, and the trip out in the morning as well as getting the pack sorted for our very early start the next day. We went out about 8.30 and walked up and down Esplanade looking for a place to eat. Most people had finished eating by now and places were thinning out so we plumped for Via Romana, an Italian trattoria a couple of doors down from the previous nights restaurant. We were able to get a table outside on the front line overlooking the Esplanade. We decided against a starter and ordered a bottle of white wine and then I had a Chicken Salad and Vickie had a Caprese Salad with Salmon. By the time we had finished our salad the place was almost deserted, they were starting to clear up and it wasn’t even 10 o’clock. I suppose the same goes for restaurants in the UK, but here it wasn’t just restaurants it was the bars too, which we thought was a bit odd for a tourist resort. We had kind of dismissed it in Sydney and Melbourne, putting it down to being working towns, but now we were thinking it must be the same everywhere. It doesn’t help that most places don’t advertise their opening hours so it’s hard to plan ahead. We found a few places that advertised on their web sites that they were open from 11 a.m. to late, but it turns out late is 10 o’clock as we discovered in one place when we tried to order a second drink at five past! I suppose we are used to Spain where you will not find an open restaurant before 9 p.m. and most Spaniards don’t even turn up to start until 10. I suppose they must open earlier in the tourist spots or the foreigners wouldn’t cope. So it was back to our hotel for an earlier night than expected or wanted. Still we had had a brilliant day out and were looking forward to another the following day. We had booked our first non itinerary tour to the Daintree Rain Forest.
Thoughts from home and away. 
Sailing the seas to the Great Barrier reef ….such magnificient species of fish and coral.
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