As Leo said, we ended our trip with a splash.
Tuesday (Day 20) – Cairns/Great Barrier Reef
We got up early Monday and headed to the pier, where we boarded yet another boat. This large catamaran is owned by a local company, Reef Magic, and would take us to a section of the Great Barrier Reef.
There are multiple companies for this of course, but I’m glad we chose Reef Magic because they take you out to a semi-permanent pontoon, which they have dubbed “Marine World.” From the pontoon, you can snorkel, scuba dive, ride on a glass-bottomed boat, ride in a semi-submersible, lie on the deck or get a massage. It’s a 90-minute ride out there, a bit bumpy toward the end. (Once again, I predicated which child would get sick. All you have to do is figure out which parents are handing their kids chips and Coke before departure.)
The weather was perfect – sunny and 90 degrees with some decent wind to keep you cool. Once on the pontoon/platform, Leo and I found some gear and got in the water. The pontoon has a nice launching off point – a catwalk-style platform on the side of the boat that’s partially submerged. You stand on it knee-deep in water to put on your fins.
I leaned back into the water and whew! I lost all my air as I sank into the brisk 72-degree ocean. But once Leo and I kicked away a little, it got better. And the reef! I’d been snorkeling once before with Leo in the Florida Keys, but this was much cooler. The coral is more varied, and schools of brightly colored little fish swam around us without a care.
The company mascot, Wally, is a large Humphead Maori Wrasse. The fish was like a dog, coming to the underwater photographer, posing dutifully for photos and letting people pet him. Leo and I got our picture taken with the fish, but we didn’t end up buying one. Here’s a picture of him, courtesy of monkeyonagazebo on Flickr.
We spent five hours out there total, with some time for the lunch they served. (A decent mix of hot and cold foods, salads and fruit.) They even showed the movie “Finding Nemo” on the boat if you’d rather watch TV than watch the live fish below.
Leo signed up for the “adventure snorkeler” tour, in which a marine biologist took them on a boat farther out on the reef. The boat dropped them in the water and they snorkeled back to the pontoon, spending about an hour out there. The biologist talked about the fish they saw, which were larger and more varied in that section of the reef.
But those of you who know me know I grew up 1,000 miles from an ocean so I’m a tad more comfortable on land. I opted to skip the adventure in favor of a 30-minute massage. I made the right choice.
All the fun and sun wore us out. Half the boat’s passengers slept on the way home. Bleary eyed and starving, Leo and I found a beer and some food before passing out really early.
Wednesday (Day 21) – The Journey Home
Now, we’re munching on breakfast before our long trek home. Four airplane rides. Gee, can’t wait. Once we depart from Cairns at 9:25 a.m. local time, we’ll be traveling for 34 hours. The craziest part is, that it will STILL be Wednesday when we get home. We might be slightly incoherent.
Leo and I talked a lot on this trip of what it would be like to live here or move here. But after three weeks of traveling and exploring, we’re ready to return to good ole Raleigh.
As Dorothy said, there’s no place like home.
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