Iter Facere

Creatures of the Deep...

Wednesday, July 12
Noon

To the internet kiosk. Kiosk is open, connection fine, got an email, sent one back and then we discover that Blogger is down for maintenance. Rats. We’ll eat and then try. Breakfast was a tad confusing. I’m not sure what type of coffee to order. Confusion with the waitress...do I want long black which I think is espresso shots diluted in hot water, or a flat white? Eventually I get a latte. Later on I find out that flat white is a cafe au lait. We eat, wander around for awhile and then I post to the blog. Success. Now we’re killing time until the glass bottom boat adventure.

8:15 PM

The trip was great. All of these islands have “fringing reef” around them, so just offshore you see a forest of coral, with thousands of fish. The little kids on the boat kept saying “I see Dory” or “There’s Nemo”. The sky was overcast, so we didn’t get a great view. The lack of sun made the colors subdued.
Nevertheless it was striking. Sometimes there were very few fish, other times dozens. The boat would drop some food which attracted more. Quite entertaining.
We both are excited about diving amongst the coral tomorrow I hope I can do it. I keep thinking I’ll chicken out. The coral is quite fragile, so the guide was saying that all of the large boats from the marina are killing the coral with their wakes. This is quite the rich persons paradise. George Harrison built a retreat here, and the guide pointed out several $10 million yachts in the harbor. When you buy your multimillion property here, you are only buying the remains of a 99 year lease. I don’t know who the actual landowner is. He pointed out one small island as the only freehold property in the Whitsunday islands. Property prices have gone up 500% in the last few years. Another miss I guess.
After the boat ride, Jenny bought a nice Australia fleece, and then we headed over to the go-kart track. Jenny had some trouble with the accelerator and the brake peddle, so she almost burnt out the brakes. Oops. Then over to the driving range for a bucket of balls. Jenny figured out how to hit the ball quite well. Back to the bungalow for some reading and then to the Italian restaurant for dinner. I had a spatchcock, which is a three month old chicken, with cannelini beans and tomato sauce. Nice. Jenny had gnocchi with four cheeses, also good. I had a Tasmanian pinot noir. Good. Back to the bungalow for an early evening. We need to be at the pool tomorrow at 7:30 in the morning.

Thursday, July 13
6:35 PM

Up early for scuba. I step outside about 6:oo am and see what I think are kangaroos hopping past the bungalow. They stop just down the path and spend some time grazing on something on the ground. One of the staff members walking by says that they are actually wallabees, which are smaller than kangaroos. Good start to the day.
Jenny and I wander down to the pool about 7:10. We wait, worried that something will go wrong...we’re in the wrong place, the trip has been canceled, etc. At 7:30, the normal people show up, so we’re OK. The group is a couple from San Diego, a teenage boy from Pennsylvania, two teenage boys from Sydney and a man from Adelaide. We get into our gear, hop into the pool and spend an hour on basic skills. It’s a nice course. We learned how to clear our mask, clear our regulator, and find our air hose if it came out of our mouth. We then swam around the pool underwater. We both felt pretty good after doing the preparation. Much more involved than our little jaunt in Turkey. Then down to the boat. The dive group went along with about 15 others who were going to snorkel at the reef. The first island we headed to was about one hour away. Usually they go all the way out to the Barrier Reef itself, but it was too rough for that today. It was also overcast. At least we don’t need to worry about sunblock.
We got to the island and squeeze into our still wet and cold wet suits. Ugh. We then hop into a zodiac boat and are driven to our dive location. We are in two four person groups. As a surprise, it turns out we have to roll off the boat backwards into the water, and Jim’s first! With severe trepidation, off I go. With success, I feel pretty good. We’re at a life ring that is tied down to the bottom. All of us will hold onto the line and descend with the instructor, stopping to pressurize our ears every few feet. It’s deep, about thirty feet. Oops, Jenny points out that we forgot the underwater cameras we bought. We start to descend, and my heart heads up into my head. Quite nervous. Then it’s time to equalize my ears. I can’t seem to do it. I don’t hear the pop, and they’re beginning to feel uncomfortable. That makes me more nervous and I’m not sure if I can’t equalize or I’m just afraid. Miko (the instructor) points out some coral and fish behind me, which is pretty neat. I try again, no luck. She can’t wait for me, because everyone else has to wait too, and they’ll run out of air. Up I go, they call over the boat and I’m demoted to snorkeling. Jenny however does great and keeps going. She’ll have to write up her entry, or at least I’ll try to transcribe what she tells me at dinner tonight.
Snorkeling, while disappointing because it wasn’t diving, was neat. If I hadn’t been mad at myself for being there, I probably would have thought it was grand. After awhile though, the enchantment began to wear down my disappointment. Fish everywhere. It was like floating on top of the National Aquarium coral reef. Big fish too. At some point I floated over a group of parrot fish biting away at the coral, with several dozen other fish swarming around. I assume the the parrot fish must disturb other things on the coral which the other fish eat. The coral rises up to what looks like ten feet from the surface, and then plunges down to thirty or so feet. They are yellow, blue, and red corals. I spot a giant clam.
The boat returns and the captain asks me if I want to try the second dive. Sure. Back to the main boat for my gear (and the cameras) and then to the next dive spot. Same problem, although now it’s a pain in my temples. Apparently I blew so hard to pop my ears I put an air bubble in my sinuses. Back to snorkeling. Jenny has a camera now, as do I, so hopefully some of the pictures turn out.
After the diving and snorkeling is complete the boat takes us to Whitsunday Island. On the way we see a couple of whales on the horizon. We have lunch on the boat and then disembark onto the island. From the lookout point we overlook at Hall’s inlet and the most beautiful white sand beach we’ve ever seen. Jenny says she’ll never be able to go back to the Jersey shore. The sand is literally white, and amazingly soft. The park sign informs us that is pure quartz from the mainland, which is why it is so white. The water is an astounding turquoise color, because the quartz is pulled from the mainland by the really strong currents, and the quartz is in suspension reflecting light until it is deposited on shore. It makes for tough running, as we discover during the soccer game that starts up. It’s so soft you sink in quite a ways. We’ve struck up conversation earlier with a family of five from Germany, so I’m on their side, while Jenny plays for the other. A good game. Finally, called due to exhaustion and the tide we head back. On the way we see the whales again, much closer. We can see them blowing and coming up out of the water. Pretty neat.

posted by Jim @ 4:10 AM