If you’ve never experienced breakfast at 6:30 a.m. in a bar, I wouldn’t recommend it. Gilligan’s provided our group with breakfast literally off the bar. They had at least cleaned but I think large amounts of ammonia were used to kill all the nasty germs in the place, which meant instead of smelling toast and coffee I smelled the wonderful scent of bleach or something – I don’t even know. Anyway, I had a huge bowl of chocolate rice krispies and some toast and was on my way.
I have been fortunate enough to do a lot of traveling with my family. I really am blessed. Hawaii has been my favorite destination. I’ve been there three times, once I was too young to remember it though so for all intents and purposes, I have been there twice. I love it. It’s paradise on earth. People say they couldn’t live there, I say sign me up. The point is, Cairns reminds me a lot of Maui. There are picturesque mountains that go right up to the ocean, the waters are crystal clear and the weather is phenomenal. It was a beautiful day as our group boarded the Ocean Spirit boat and headed for one of the seven natural wonders of the world – The Great Barrier Reef.
I'm on a boat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28jBDhqwXhE (censored version)
The cruise out to the reef was worth the trip alone. We were leaving the mountains and city behind and heading into the emerald green and sky blue waters that signal reef. I will upload some pictures but again, they don’t do it justice. The colors were so bright and vivid, it’s a shame the camera can’t capture them all. We made it to our first stop, Oyster Reef, at about 10:30 a.m. We had a quick scuba diving tutorial, were given our time slot and then we were free to do whatever we wanted. For me, this meant snorkeling. Again, I have been fortunate enough to snorkel in Hawaii and I thought that was absolutely unreal but this was truly something special. The wildlife (fish) was much the same - spectacular amounts of fish, color and activity. The real difference was in the volume of coral. There was an incredible amount of color and creatures. I dove down to get some closer looks and snapped a couple pictures with my underwater camera. It was a nice appetizer for the main event – scuba diving.
Some scenery on our way out. Tremendous.
So, here’s a funny story. My swimsuit has a back pocket. Do you see wear this is heading? I jumped in all anxious to snorkel and about 2 or 3 minutes into it, I was hearing jingling. I knew, or was at least fairly certain, that fish don’t jingle and I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I just kept swimming (Finding Nemo reference). Two or three minutes later I heard it again. Then it hit me, I had about ten dollars worth of change in my back pocket. But wait, there’s more – I also had my wallet. I made it back to the boat with my wallet in my pocket but unfortunately I made a $10 donation to the Reef against my will but there were bigger fish to fry (okay, maybe not the best timing for that saying) – I wanted to get back out there and snorkel. But wait, there’s more. So at this point, about 10 people from our program and ten strangers on the back of the boat are laughing at the goofy kid who just got out of the water and pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. I’m laughing too. The ability to laugh at myself is something I have become very good at it. This skill would come in handy in the next two or three minutes as well. I climb back down the stairs and jump back in the ocean. My flippers decided to stay behind, stuck in the stairs. Now, everyone is laughing harder as I come back to the surface with these stupid flippers stuck in the stairs. I climb back out of the ocean (familiar theme), put my flippers back on and jump back in the ocean. But wait, there’s more. When I put my flippers on I had to put my goggles and snorkel on top of my head so I could see what I was doing. When I jumped back in, I forgot to put them back on and they came flying off as I went under. Now, everyone is laughing even harder at me and I am laughing at my own stupidity. I got them on and FINALLY was able to go get some more snorkeling in. It cut into some of my time but in the end, it’s a fun story myself and about 20 other people will be able to tell.
Since, none of us were licensed scuba-ers (definitely not a technical term), we had to be under the supervision of a dive instructor while we were scubing (again, not a technical term but should be). This meant we went in groups of five (including the instructor and HAD to interlink arms the entire time. Equipped and ready to go we jumped in and took the plunge. Easier said than done. We spent about 20 minutes getting adjusted once we were in the water and diving down to different depths on the side of the boat to make sure we could handle the pressure and what not. I was the first person down to the lower level (2 or 3 meters) in our group and floated there for what felt like eternity. I don’t want to toot my own snorkel or anything but I was just kind of hanging out there while others were going up and down and up and down trying to get adjusted. Our group of five had one member who couldn’t get adjusted (relatively common. Another group had all but one back out) and finally headed out to the reef. We made it to the first huge piece of reef and it was absolutely, phenomenally, incredibly awesome. One of the first things we saw were clown fish swimming in and out of their little piece of coral. My niece, Zayda, calls these fish Nemo fish after the movie Finding Nemo – one of my top five favorite movies. I was armed with my camera and swam off to get a picture. Remember how I told you he HAD to be interlinking arms? Oh how quickly I can forget things. My instructor was not to pleased, to say the least. As soon as I snapped my picture, I was ripped away by the grasp of my instructor on my harness and jerked back into place. She looked at me and said “bubble, bubble, bubble.” Well, that’s not what she said but that’s what it looked like and heard. I’d imagine it went something more like this “Listen here, you stupid Yankee. If you pull another stunt like that, I’ll feed you to the sharks.” Oh well, I got my picture and lived to tell about it. No harm done. The rest of the trip was just as beautiful. We saw giant clams, endless amounts of reef and tons of fish up close and personal. We went up and down and through and around. It went way too fast. I can honestly say, looking up and seeing we were back at the boat was one of the most disappointing moments of my life. I could’ve stayed down there for hours or at least until I ran out of oxygen. Either way though, it was the chance of a lifetime and something I will remember forever. I really want to get certified now and then do some more diving at some point but we will see. I climbed back onto the boat traded my scuba gear for my snorkel gear and headed right back out. I always have been obsessed with swimming and the ocean. I think it might have something to do with the saltwater aquarium I had as a kid but the stuff fascinates me and I couldn’t get enough so back out I went and I stayed out until they practically had to drag me back to the boat. I got back on the boat at about 2:00 but our day was far from done.
It really upsets me that cameras can't capture the colors but this was my effort.
We had one more stop. The Apollo reef and I wanted to get back in the water. We took about an hour to get there and back in I went. This reef wasn’t quite as spectacular but it was still pretty incredible. The water had gotten a little rough which made snorkeling more challenging but nothing to difficult. Again, I spent as much time as they would physically allow me to spend out in the water. I got my money’s worth. Some students got to see a sea turtle but by the time I made it over to where they were, it was gone. It is my personal mission to see a sea turtle in the wild before I die.
Plus, it gives me an excuse to scuba/snorkel some more. After I made it back to the boat, we made our way back to shore. The trip back was a little choppy. We were all sort of bouncing around but the scenery was worth it and we were all so exhausted we didn’t even care.
Just doing some philosophizing (sarcasm) on our way back with our complementary glass of champagne. Great way to end the day.
When we got back to Cairns, we had an hour or two to change and get ready for dinner. At dinner, we went to a Pizza place (on our travel agency’s tab) for some Pizza and pitchers (of water as far as my parents are concerned). After dinner, we went out and experienced the nightlife a little bit. Again, maybe a little too crazy for my tastes but um, well, let’s just say we all had a good time. We went to a place called the Woolshed that was pretty awesome. The dance floor is actually your table. And your table is actually the shelf above your table if that makes any sense at all. After we had all we could handle there, we went back to Gilligan’s for some live music and some more dancing. It was a great night. Something I wouldn’t want to do more than once a month or so but I have no regrets. We made it back to our rooms at around 3:30 or 4:00 (yes, you read that correctly) and passed out. On schedule for the Sunday was the Daintree Rainforest. Until then…
Cheers!
P.S. I am in the process of getting some underwater pictures developed that I can hopefully upload later.
So. Stinkin. Jealous.
ReplyDelete'Nuff said.
P.S. Your YouTube references are cracking me up!
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