The Overseas Adventures of Annie and Steven Berger August 29th through December 18th, 2015: 9/15 Cruising on the Great Barrier Reef!

Some background on Cairns: The city is located on the east coast about 1500 miles from Sydney and in the state of Queensland; it’s the only place on earth where 2 World Heritage sites – the Wet Tropics Rainforest and Great Barrier Reef are side by side.

The focal point of the city is the Esplanade which has a 43,000 sq ft man-made, saltwater swimming lagoon with a wide sandy beach. Suspended over the mud flats is a timber boardwalk that runs 1968 ft along the waterfront. We just loved walking along the boardwalk which was just across the street from our hostel and minutes from downtown Cairns.

The Great Barrier Reef (GBR from now on) is the only living thing on earth visible from the moon; it’s more than 1,240 miles long, home to 1,500 kinds of fish, 400 species of corals and 4,000 kinds of clams and snails. The GBR region is listed as a World Heritage Site and contains the biggest marine park in the world.

Walking along the Esplanade in front of our hotel - what a great way to walk to the wharf.

We were so excited even getting up early as we had a fun day planned for months to go out to snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef with Compass Cruises that we had reserved through our hostel. Our cruise included snorkeling on different parts of the Reef, lunch, boomnetting (imagine holding on to a net for dear life spread out at the back of the boat while the boat is in motion – I couldn’t wait!), followed by wine and cheese on the way back to shore. Sounds like an ideal day, right?

Photos of our walk along the Esplanade to the wharf:

Fitness station along the Esplanade.

We sure thought so too but the day didn’t unfold quite like that, more’s the pity. Upon checking in at the hostel about 1 minute after closing time last night since our plane from Uluru was so late, we were given an envelope with a map and the slips inside for our pre-purchased activities for today and tomorrow. Didn’t realize til we walked for 15 minutes down to the wharf that of course we had no idea which quay the Compass Cruise boat was moored at. Luckily my dear Steven saw the boat in the distance so we jogged over there as the 7:30 departure time was nearing.

A photo on the Compass Cruise boat of the boometting that looked so fun.

You’ve all known and experienced ‘the hurry up and wait’ situation a few times no doubt. Got to the right boat and right quay to find out there had been no reason to rush after all as Reef Experience wouldn’t leave til 8:30 and they were still awaiting more passengers who were being picked up from their hotels – wow, they were a lucky lot. We made our way to the open top deck and I had the whits about me as frazzled as I was to think about asking a crew member which side of the boat she recommended we sit on.

The bathing beauties!

Sure glad I had asked which side to sit on as, when the boat got underway, there was a lovely, fine mist on our side the entire 90 minutes out to the first reef the captain was taking us too. We watched with a certain glee as those on the other side got unexpectedly drenched when waves came overboard!

We’d only had a yogurt and toast each for breakfast so the smell of bacon (Steven’s probably all time favorite food) frying on the small stove in front of us made him look longingly at it. So many people around us were eating mammoth breakfast sandwiches that looked and smelled scrumptious. When we asked about having one, we were asked what our ‘numbers’ were that we had been given when we had checked in. We soon realized that #’s 33 and 34 meant we were in the cheap seats, i.e. the ones bumped over from Compass, and therefore not permitted the same ‘luxuries’ as most of the other passengers. Crew members always identified everyone by their numbers for safety reasons when doing head counts and especially knowing when to charge for virtually everything on board – numbers 33 & 34 were definitely not the numbers to have had!

After lounging on the so comfy, and dry, seats for a good while, the boat stopped and let a number of passengers off at another one of their boats mid-Reef so they could stay the night there. It was fascinating seeing all the crew (above) lined up on each boat like a fireman’s brigade transferring each bag, endless pairs of shoes (none could be worn on board at all), and box after box of food from our boat to the other one.

The water was a dazzling greenish color but not crystal clear
as you see in some photos of the South Pacific.

Once we got to our first stop, at Saxon Reef about 90 minutes out from shore, the staff encouraged everyone to wear wet suits (which we rented for the day), and we took them up on their recommendation to wear safety vests as well because of the choppy waters even though the bulky wet suits would keep us pretty buoyant. Getting on the wet suit was no easy feat, I can assure you, and I was certainly not able to manage it with any degree of finesse or grace. But it made me feel better when I saw Steven having the same difficulty wiggling and pulling and doing a lot more wiggling before it was finally on.

I’ve swum all my life and consider myself to be a pretty adequate swimmer but I must admit to having felt some trepidation just sitting on the walkway that had been lowered on the side of the boat wearing the suit, mask and snorkel as the water lapped over my legs in waves knowing I had to push off in moments as there were a line of others waiting to take my spot.

All snorkelers and divers had been given strict instructions where we could swim at all times in relation to the boat prior to the almost 2 hours we had available for the first time in the water.

Once I felt OK with my bearings and bobbing up at frequent intervals, I thought, to keep an eye out where I was in relation to the boat, it was wonderful and freeing to gaze below to see what marvels awaited another lazy stroke and flip of my flippers. I so wished right then I had rented the underwater camera as the beautifully colored fish and coral were utterly spectacular. I felt like I was swimming in an aquarium in and among black and yellow polka dotted fish, iridescent blue/green fish, tiny sharks (I think at least), and too many other fish to describe. What an absolutely amazing experience – wish you, Keith, especially could have been there as you’d have loved diving on the Reef.

There were high waves and a strong wind the entire day but it was glorious with sunny blue skies, white puffy clouds and only a threat of rain early on. We had thought we were going to be in for a miserable, overcast, rainy day based on the weather forecast but most of the day was picture perfect to be out on the Great Barrier Reef.

Going out in the glass bottomed boat for the people in the 'expensive seats.'

I wish so much I could have shared the experience with Steven but we got separated from each other almost immediately once we got into the water. It wasn’t until we were both back on the boat a good 90 minutes later that we shared what we’d seen.

I must not have paying close enough attention to where I was swimming at one point as I was having so much fun looking at the sea creatures below. All of a sudden though I could hear a whistle being blown nearby so I popped up my head to see a crew member (who I later learned had to come out from the boat) in a motorized rubber raft near me wildly waving at me to get waaaaaaaaaay back to the boat as I had swum too far out. Oops!

It was reassuring that the very young crew placed such a high importance on safety; while there were people in the water, there were generally 2 crew members wearing orange construction type vests on deck always on the lookout for those who had swum astray or appeared to be in distress. I got back to the boat earlier than Steven so I could hear one of them, Kayla, always blow her whistle and say with great enthusiasm to those who had strayed outside of the strict parameters, ‘My love, my darling, my friend, my stragglers – you need to get closer to the boat, you need to swim on this side, etc, etc.’ She was a sweetheart and no one could possibly take offense at anything she said.

I’m not sure how to put this delicately but ‘barf bags’ were in plentiful supply and used by a quite a few passengers once the boat began cruising at a fairly high rate of speed. During the preceding safety lesson, only a few passengers had admitted to having prior issues with seasickness but that changed quickly enough. There is often a chain or contagious reaction to that sort of thing so we made sure to quickly avert our eyes when someone near us would suddenly grab a bag.

Suellen: The Kohl's chain I mentioned to you!

Back on board and after wrestling to get the wetsuits off, again no easy feat, we enjoyed a mostly delicious lunch: marinated chicken (great flavor as long as you like really pink meat) and a choice of either a sausage or ‘steak’ and lots of salads to choose from. While the boat was at anchor, there was an endless supply of boiling water for tea and coffee and cold water to drink so I was in heaven.

We ate our lunches top side again but it was harder than you might think. Trying to get forkfuls of salad into our mouths was comical as the wind carried bits of lettuce away in the wind only to drop unceremoniously into the lap or other parts of the person to the left of you. I hadn’t known when I sat down on the end most seat that I had chosen the perfect seat as no lettuce would be flying my way!

Floating pontoon - we had just seen a helicopter leave from it.

Just a few minutes after lunch, the captain pulled up the anchor and we were off to the next reef, Norman Reef, for more snorkeling and diving arriving in just 10 minutes. The captain said it was a more protected bay with bigger fish and fewer waves which sounded promising. Lunch hadn’t had much time to settle by then but we all gamely put on our wet, slimy feeling wet suits ready to snorkel for up to another 90 minutes, til 2:30 when the boat was heading into Cairns again. Again, we had a marvelous time snorkeling ad I made sure to keep a close eye on the boat this time so no one had to be sent after me to reel me in!

Steven and I were both surprised that we saw such little coral color variation at either reef. The color I did find the most striking was one that was the deepest purple and looked exactly like a gigantic cauliflower. There was mostly a lot of golden yellow coral that I saw but I suspect the coral would change in color and shape depending on where your flippers took you.

Looked like a mini sub.

No liquor could be consumed on board til after the scuba diving and snorkeling had taken place, the crew told us. On the way back to shore, a complementary glass of wine and cheese was given to all. Ah, we thought, how divine to enjoy wine on board as the sun shone amid the threatening clouds that were rolling in. But we soon realized that drinking wine was akin to attempting to eat the lettuce earlier – with the waves and the increasing wind, droplets of wine would fly onto your neighbor with increasing abandon!

The day out on the water gave me the cheapest perm ever.

Steven told me a funny story on the way back. Apparently the boat’s shaking caused some unexpected results in the men’s toilet too – even he was grossed out by the errant spray!

I loved watching the waves spray water up at the windows. Thank goodness for digital cameras as I took about 20 shots, each one showing different designs or patterns on the windows. Steven 'threatened' to post each one on successive days as a screensaver when we get home - even I might be sick of them by the 20th day! Aren't you relieved I only picked 3 to include here?

What a beautiful scene as we neared Cairns.

Reaching the harbor was almost like we were on a highway as

all the boats returning to the wharf were in the same ‘lane.’

Good time to return to shore, don't you agree!

We’d been sitting by this Welsh couple and their 26 year old daughter, Jess, the entire day. Kim, the mom, had told me that from a young age her daughter had wanted to live in Australia. Jess made it happen after traveling extensively first and has been living in Darwin for several years in between pretty frequent weekend trips to Bali. What a life, huh!

Our sendoff: Just like after a high school football game!

Although there was no boomnetting available on the Reef Experience that I had been so looking forward to, the day on the boat and the reef was a spectacular one.