Reef Day Friday 3/21/08

Up and at ‘em before 6:00 this morning. This is our day on the Great Barrier Reef and we have an 8:15 check-in at the main dock in Cairns so we need to be on the road by 7:30. We grab some fruit and an egg muffin and take off into a steamy sunny tropical morning. This is Good Friday, which is a national holiday here, so there is no traffic on the roads with the exception of a few adventurers like us and a ton of tour buses picking up at the area resorts. We get to the parking area that requires $8 in coins, so John checks in and gets change while Mary keeps the parking cops away from the car. Not likely at 8:00 am on a holiday. We are actually on the boat before 8:30 and parked in the front row.

There are rough seas this morning and we take some seasick pills before heading out. Fishing boats have been banned from leaving port in northern Queensland for three weeks because of the constant high winds and industry pundits say some of the operators are in financial trouble. Our tour boat is pretty darn big and we are being tossed around and even catching a little air as we bounce over the waves so we can imagine the problems of the small fishing boats. It is an hour and a half cruise out to "Marine World" which is a fixed platform on the reef owned by this particular company. There is a string of these along the expanse of the Great Barrier Reef and the whole process is tightly controlled by an international watchdog group. Each operator has to comply with very strict guidelines about how the reef is maintained and, of course, a portion of every visitor fare is dedicated to the preservation of the reef. This is one we are happy to pay.
During our cruise out to the reef the crew is rotating among the passengers presenting options for snorkeling, diving, helicopter rides and explaining the other activities available. We chose this particular company because they offer a lot of "dry" options such as a semi-submersible which is basically a glass-bottomed boat that will carry passengers around the reef and an underwater viewing platform where you can watch the activity like you are in a big aquarium. John opts for a "rookie" snorkle tour with a marine biologist while Mary remains firmly committed to the dry options.

John is in the first group out for the snorkle so he gets outfitted with mask, fins and a "stinger suit." This is a lycra (think spandex) one piece suit with mittens and hood that is designed to keep you from being killed by a bite from a jellyfish. The suits are a rosy pink, obviously designed for visibility, and make everybody on board look like a faded red Michelin Man. The jellyfish leave you alone because they are too busy laughing. Mary, thinking she is being kind, tells John that he doesn't look as bad as a lot of the others. How nice. John has snorkeled many years ago so this refresher is not a bad idea and the biologist is informational in a Steve Irwin sort of way. "Crikey, look at the size of this guy." He does pull some creatures off the bottom for our little group to handle and points out all of the various fish species and explains the different types of coral that make up the reef. He dives to the bottom and points into a little crevass where a clownfish is hiding so we have found Nemo.

After the intro session John spends more time exploring on his own while Mary is doing the semi-sub. Because of the high winds and heavy seas the visibility is not what you would expect from National Geographic specials. We have periods of sun and clouds and when the sun is out the view is much more colorful and has a lot more depth. The most interesting characteristic is the changing depth of the reef as you travel across it. In some places you cannot see the bottom and in others you barely have enough room to pass over the coral. John finds some massive schools of little fish and an assortment of others, all in reds, greens, yellows, pinks, blues and blacks. The colors of the fish are designed to match the bright colors of the coral and they are even better than one would hope.

There is a nice buffet lunch served on the platform and we visit with a couple from south of Brisbane. He is a painter (house variety) and diver and she is a dance instructor who is primarily here for a holiday and helicopter ride. We talk American politics (she is sick of it so how must we feel?) and the various dance shows on TV these days that she is pretty pleased with. He doesn't chat but does show us a few of the pictures from his morning dive. We all realize too late that we have eaten meat on Good Friday so agree that we are Minnesotans for a day where it is still Thursday. After we eat we both take the mini-sub cruise (where we see a shark) and watch the fish feeding by the biologist as he explains the critters feeding habits. There is a big "Maori Head" fish that is like a local pet who will actually crawl up on the diving platform for a little rub and maybe a fish. John had encountered him during the morning swim and got in a little rub on his head before he wandered off. He is a fifty pounder that has been a boy for less than a year after spending his first 8 years as a female. We didn't hear if that was a choice on his part.

Mary curls up while John takes a couple more swims in the afternoon and he has developed a few more skills which allows a better appreciation of what he is seeing. It really is astounding. With less than an hour left, John peels out of his pink skin and we grab a couple beers and some cheese and crackers to relax on the platform for a while. That makes for a sleepy ride back and we both doze in spite of the bounce during the 90 minute sail home. We blame the seasick pills for making us sleepy. Well, it might be true.

It is almost 6:00 when we get back to our apartment and we order "Indian" take-away from the little place down the street from us. We share a Chicken Vindaloo, Saag Paneer, jasmine rice and garlic naan and are ready to crash by 8:00. So we do. It must be the seasick pills.

Today's local headline: Patel told to pay his own way Courier Mail (Brisbane doctor arrested in Oregon told to get rid of public defender and hire attorney)