Well, we did it!!! Not sure we have to do it again!! Later I will to clarify this last statement.
The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day.
All started well, we both took Travelcalm so the trip out to the reef
went well for us even though it was rough at time. However some of the other travelers were not
feeling well and we shared our Travelcalm. The ride out to the first reef was
approximate 1 ½ hours. At the furthest
point we were approximately 39 miles from land.
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| Port Douglas Harbour |
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| Getting on The Wavelength Boat |
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| Ship Captain at the Helm |
We were given wet suits, flippers & snorkel goggles as
we boarded the boat. At the first reef
we were told all about using the equipment and techniques. There were 25 people
on the boat with a whole range of experience.
Cal & I were definitely at the bottom of experience along with
several other couples. The waves were fairly calm on this reef. Out we went! Adjusting our equipment and
learning how to breathe through our mouths. Neither Cal nor I are strong
swimmers, or really swimmers at all. Thank
goodness the water temperature was comfortable, which was great. But after a while I started having leg and/or
foot cramps, probably due to using different muscles - I don’t know. Anyway I did not go as far out into the reef
as Cal did, and he got some nice photos on an underwater camera. After 45
minutes we moved onto a second reef. I
did not get as far out this time due to my legs cramping, I just looked under
the boat and saw some nice fish. The
boat always moored where the reef was deeper and then you had to paddle you way
to the shallow part of the reef. At the
3rd reef stop the water was more turbulent with bigger waves. Neither one of us enjoyed this stop very much
however there were some nice fish around the boat. So we did it! And this experience
has been checked off our ‘bucket list’!! (it never was on the ‘bucket list’ to
begin with!) But since we were here by the GBR it is a ‘must do’ item. As I said earlier, “not sure we have to do
this again”! I am not saying that we
never would do it again, but the water needs to be calm, and not so far out
from land.
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| Approaching the Reef |
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| The Reef from Above |
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| Getting Ready to jump in |
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| Cal Snorkeling toward the reef |
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| snorkeling around the Reef |
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| An eel along the reef |
The trip back to Port Douglas was rather rough - several more
people were quite sick. We had taken another pill and kept looking at the
horizon, so we stayed feeling well. We had to stay away from those that were
sick.
Tomorrow will be getting to the airport in Cairns by noon
and flying on to Auckland, New Zealand, arriving there about midnight. (NZ is
2-3 hrs ahead of eastern Australia)
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