The Great Barrier Reef

Shute Harbour, Queensland, Australia
Wednesday, January 8, 2014

We have had some amazing days in the last two months and today has been up there with the best of them. As part of our visit to Hamilton Island, two trips were included and this morning we departed to the Great Barrier Reef at 9am sharp from the Marina. Yes I know, water yet again, but it couldn't be avoided as you will see. Our vessel was called the Sea Horse and was a large ocean going catamaran with every facility. The Sea Horse left Hamilton Harbour and headed north through the Whitsunday Passage. On 3 June 1770 Lt. James Cook sailed up the East coast of New Holland, as Australia was then known and through this body of water and its large group of Islands, naming it the Whitsunday Passage, as it was the 7th Sunday after Easter (White Sunday). He named only one Island, Pentecost, in honour of the feast of Pentecost.
It is a two hour voyage, across the Coral Sea, out to Reefworld, which is a permanent purpose built pontoon on Hardy Reef and I'm delighted to report that it was a calm, sunny journey! As the boat draws near to the pontoon, the sea colour starts to change to a light sea green, indicating that the water is shallow and that is all there is to indicate that one of the great wonders of the world is under your feet. The Great Barrier Reef extends for 2,300 kms and comprises a network of some 2,900 individual reefs, with the same overall area as the UK! The reefs are made up of corals, living colonies of organisms, similar to jellyfish, but they are attached to a skeleton of secreted limestone. They will only flourish in warm waters receiving high light levels. Along this coast is a shallow continental shelf 20-30 mtrs deep, which has given the Great Barrier Reef chance to develop. It is a gigantic Marine Park that over 1500 species of fish call home and is an environment that is continually under threat from climate change and pollution.
There are a variety of activities you can pursue whilst on the pontoon, from sunbathing on the upper deck, to scuba diving, snorkelling, sitting in the underwater viewing observatory, riding in the semi submersible with the resident marine biologist or even a helicopter flight to admire the reef from above. The time passes very quickly. We took a ride in the sub and marvelled at the variety of corals visible and the teeming fish just everywhere. The underwater observatory was equally fascinating and you soon felt yourself drawn into an underwater world of such diversity and complexity, that the term 'the Wonder of the Deep' floated into the mind.
At 1 o’clock came the moment of truth. It was time for the snorkel safari that we had signed up for, heavy legal disclaimer and all. I hope you are sitting down and if you are not, please do so, this is not for the faint hearted! It was time to don the wetsuits, which are a protective measure against a killer jellyfish called the Irukandji. My mind was instantly taken back to the kayak skirt incident. Getting the damn thing on was even more tortuous, because here you had a whole body Spanx suit as opposed to a skirt. Peter struggled into his only to find he had it on back to front and had to strip it off and start again! As you can imagine this took a while. The end result was of course riveting, particularly when you look around and realise that, with the exception of one other couple, you are the oldest there and most of the young things cavorting about looking svelte in skin tight Lycra are young enough to be your children at least. A thought provoking moment. Next came the flippers. They look innocuous enough don't they? They are fiends, so tight as to almost impossible to get on alone and once on inclined to give one cramp. The final piece de resistance is of course the mask and snorkel itself. Now this should and must be waterproof and in order to achieve such a state it seems to me that It is essential to cut off all circulation to the face. Our instructor was a lovely lad called Tom. He had the longest dark eyelashes I've ever seen on a man. Strange the trivia you notice and focus on in moments of extreme panic. However, I thought they might be long enough to grab on to if all else failed. Poor Tom had clearly weighed up the situation in a flash and whipped out a life jacket with one hand and a large flotation ring with the other. Clearly the thought of being squeezed to death by
a stressed out grandmother was something to be avoided at all costs! Down to the diving platform we went and drill was gone through, before the moment of truth. One had to slip gracefully off the ledge into the water, whilst trying to remember to breathe through the snorkel. I was terrified and only the thought of letting everyone down and failing to do the task I had set myself got me into the water. To those of you who are good swimmers this will be incomprehensible, but please bear in mind that I can only manage a steady head up breast stroke and treading water has always been beyond me. I clung on to that ring for grim death. Tense wasn't the word for it. 'Relax' says Tom and 'put your face in the water to look at the reef'. Peter did brilliantly and was away. It took me ten minutes to follow Tom's instructions. but when I had finally found the courage from somewhere, it was worth every panic stricken moment. He guided us around the reef explaining as he went. I couldn't move much (paralysed with fear), looking down was one thing, moving anything, quite another. The one advantage was the little fish of brilliant hues thought I was an inanimate object and swam right up to my mask to investigate. I was entranced. We saw coral of all sorts, shoals of beautiful fish, clams and sea anemones with their own resident Nemos(clown fish). We were so thrilled. It was magical. Mind you I wouldn't have seen a thing if that poor lad hadn't towed me round bless him. He deserves a medal. After half an hour I felt I was beginning to get the hang of it and could breathe, look down and perhaps waggle one foot. Then came getting into the inflatable dingy for the ride back to the pontoon. If only you had had a camcorder. It took three of them before I was finally sprawled like a beached whale in the bottom of the thing laughing like a maniac. Well what else could you do but laugh at your own idiocy.
This was a challenge for both Peter and I, but you don't come half way round the world and be on top of one of the marvels of the world to go home annoyed with yourself for being such a coward. WE DID IT and once more it is a memory to savour.
The wind freshened on the way back and yes, you've guessed it, out came the sick bags again, but we were on such a high, we didn't even feel queasy. How's that for a triumphant end to a spine tingling day at the Great Barrier Reef.

PS There were three other ladies in our group with the intrepid Tom. Caroline, a GPs wife from Ely who emigrated to Tasmania 6 yrs ago ( the family that is) and two other girls from London, one of whose family home is at Newmarket! Yet again - small world.Read more