Whitsunday Islands
Trip Start
Jun 18, 2008
1
54
72
Trip End
Ongoing
Whitsunday Islands,
Queensland,
Australia
Sunday, October 19, 2008
We have arrived in paradise. Just off the coast of Airlie Beach, a small, party orientated town, lay 70 islands; full of white sand beaches, crystal clear waters, and a range of marine life to gawp at. Travel a litte bit further out, and you are on the Great Barrier Reef. And it was to this that we went.
Looking at the hundreds and hundreds of trips you can take, we had a bit of trouble trying to figure out which one to take. The possibilities are endless - numerous party boats for the backpacker crowd; gentle island hopping tours for the elderly crowd; and full day snorkel and dive tours on the Great Barrier Reef for the fit and adventurous crowd. I think it was obvious which one we went on. (The snorkel and dive tour, obviously)
Diving the Great Barrier Reef!
.It took a good two and a half hours to get out to our destination, Knuckle Reef. Some 100km off the coast, across a very choppy shipping channel, half the fun was getting there - it was very bouncy. Once there though, things just got better. The boat moored at a large pontoon, home to various things like a Waterslide, a Underwater observation deck, plus a Submerged vessel and a Glass bottomed boat. To be honest though, I ignored these things and immiditely got my wetsuit and flippers on, managed to get a mask with prescription lenses in, and was the second guy in the water. It was fairly choppy still, but warm, and visibility was really good - at least 10m (32 feet).
From the boat to the reef bommie itself, was a 10m (32 feet) swim accross 15m (50 feet) deep water - a bit sketchy if you were a first timer, of which many on board were. Once at the reef however, their fears would have been forgotten, thanks to the multitude of coral and fish around. I can't describe them all, there would be too many - but there were a few very, very large Mauri Wrasse that were friendly and didn't mind me next to them. Saw lots of Giant Clams, Butterfly Fish, Parrotfish, Clownfish....as I said, I won't name them all. Far too many.
Then it just got better
Fishes!
. I decided to actually do a proper Scuba Dive. And where better to learn, than on the Great Barrier Reef? With all the equipment on - tanks, weight belts etc - I was 15kg heavier than im used to, so walking down the stairs to the dive chamber was very odd indeed. After a brief introduction to everything (we learnt more on the boat on the way over), we begain by literally sitting on the floor of the chamber, a metre under the water, whilst people in the observation deck watched, and probably laughed at my attempts to actually sit - I was too buoyant! Once that was done, and the instructor was happy that we were okay with breathing (very odd because you can hear yourself breathe), we literally jumped off the ledge and floated down - which was a scary thing to do, since you can see to the ocean floor, 15 metres down (50 feet), and you have very heavy equipment on, you assume you will sink like a stone. But you don't, you are literally weightless, so you can easily go up or down as you please. It was surreal, really surreal.As it was an intro lesson, we only hit 6 metres (20 feet) in depth - where my ears decided to really hurt. A quick pinch of the nose and a snort, and they popped, and after that, no more problems. I couldn't believe how easy it felt. The Instructor said beforehand that if he felt we were doing well then they could legally take us down to 12 metres (40 feet) - and that is where indeed we went
Giant Clam
. 12m down, looking back up at the ocean surface, is a very odd thing - you sort of forget you're in water, until the bubbles go by your face - or a massive Eel snakes its way by. We followed the outline of the reef for about 50 metres, passing an inch or two above the corals, Giant Clams, Sea Cucumbers....too many things to really describe. It was easily the best experience of my life. It was fantastically good. For 40 minutes we just swam around the Coral, from 6m down to 12m, depending on the seabed, just four guys (three of us never done it before, the other guy was the instructor). I reckon all three of us were pretty good for novices - the instructor thought so since we went further than the other groups who went out, and caught on quicker. We ended by swimming along the sea floor under the pontoon, before making our ascent up to the dive chamber - and to be honest, I did it too fast, because I sure felt dizzy before I got out, which was a little scary!After that it was hard to do anything remotely as good, but I did have the pleasure of snorkeling alongside Helen for an hour, which is always nice - it gets a bit lonely out there sometimes, especially when you see something fanstastic - or very scary! We saw much of the same again, just drifting around and over the reef. A brilliant experience, worth every single penny (cent, really) and I can only wish to go do it again
Huge Mauri Wrasse
. Our next opportunity will be in Cairns, but sadly there it is over crowded, and also the reef is damaged - I know a few people who have gone out and seen nothing but dead coral, and the only fish around were there to be fed by the tour boats. We shall see when we get there.Before too long however it was time to get going back to the mainland, with an even bumpier return trip. I ended up spending a fortune on getting the professional photos of the day, various ones of myself diving and Helen snorkeling. They put them on the TV screens and every single person was beaming in the photos - always a good sign.
Highlight of the trip? I think so. I can't really put in words how good it felt to dive on the Great Barrier Reef of all places. I just wish I hadn't waited so long in life to try. I'm converted.
