Good day everyone!
We went to the Great Barrier Reef today and WHOA what a ride. It was extremely windy and high tide when we left Port Douglas at 8 am this morning. To get into the boat I had to step up onto an stool and the boat was directly even with the dock. We booked this tour because it was small and it turned out to be even smaller than we had anticipated as only 6 people were on our tour (it holds 30) so it was virtually a private tour for us.
We left the dock and headed into the open sea - it is a 1 hour and 20 minute boat ride to the reef. WHOA what a ride we were rockin and rollin the whole way out to the reef. Once at the reef there is a bit more protection (because of the reef) but it was extremely windy and so white caps and choppy. The first two stops were so rough that I decided I didn't want to get into the water and Sam totally didn't because he isn't that strong of a swimmer. So we sat onboard and talked and enjoyed the wonderful sun while the others snorkeled their little hearts out.
They served a morning tea and muffin, then lunch of fresh prawns, cold cuts (ham and roast beef), salad and desserts. After the second snorkel stop, they served fresh fruit that was to die for.
Third snorkel stop - BINGO calm seas and a very protected area and I was finally able to get into the water. It isn't always easy for me to get in and out of boats (I try very hard not to look like a beached whale - but somtimes it does happen) the whole knee replacement thing isn't easy to deal with in situations like this one. Ok, there was a small platform off the back of the boat and I was really able to get in and out easily.
AWESOME is the only word there is for snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef. I could not believe the fish and the coral. I got to hold a star fish that our marine biologist brought up the bottom - pretty cool (Alex you would have totally loved to draw that star fish). We had to wear these lovely wet suit kind of things (trust me you will NOT see this photo on this year's Christmas card).
The ride back was so bad that I prayed to get to land. WHOA what a ride - rockin and rollin like nothing I had ever experienced. We had the water so hard sometimes that water poured over the roof . I had heard that the waters of Australia were sometimes quite rough - now I have experienced it. We arrived back at the dock it was low tide and I thought we had tied up at a different place (of course Sam encouraged that belief) and we had to climb up a ladder of about 8 to 10 steps to reach the dock - remember how I had to step down into the boat in the morning at high tide - holy cow what a huge difference.
This was an experience of a life time. I can say that I snorkeled at the Great Barrier Reef - how cool is that?
The weather here is to die for. By the way - just an interesting tidbit that I picked up today from the woman who mans the "reception" here at the hotel. Minimum wage for unskilled labor - i.e. bus boy, etc is $17.67 per hour. Skilled labor - plumber, a/c heating, electric is somewhere in the range of $70 to $80 per hour. Food is out of sight in cost. Houses are in line with the US.
More later - this was a good day.(no pun intended)
Char and Sam
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