We Find Our Sea Legs Again

Friday 17 November

Today we were moving on from Cairns. We managed to have our bags out for 07.00, but on entering the breakfast room, a couple of other tours obviously had the same time schedule as our group. Colin still managed at least five courses, if not the full ten, before we had to get on the coach for our drive to Port Douglas, to see the Great Barrier Reef.

The road between Cairns and Port Douglas is called ‘Captain Cook Highway’. At the beginning it is a flat thoroughfare as it crosses the Barron River flood plain, through sugar cane country, with the odd palm tree farm along the way – these ‘nurseries’ provide fully grown trees for new developments and gardens – not all Australian houses have gardens, but where they do, they want them landscaped and mature immediately. On the far side of the plain the landscape changed to limestone rocks, and the road climbed steeply, running alongside the sea cliff edge, with the water pounding the rocks below, flinging up thick plumes of spray. It reminded me of the road from Sorrento to Almalfi in Italy that featured the film “The Italian Job”, but not quite so hairy and definitely not so high, but quite scary as the road cornered hairpin bends.

Port Douglas was a small port, developed to transport gold from the nearby mines. It only expanded with the building of the Mirage Resort in the 1980s, with a marina for large expensive yachts, and lots of smart large houses around a golf course. Several hotels have been built along the incoming road to the sailing mecca of north east Queensland. When 9/11 occurred in 2001 Bill Clinton was staying in the Sheraton hotel here, and the whole town was closed down for two days, with no one allowed in or out, as a security measure. We collected towels from our hotel – the Radisson Treetops – before making our way to a huge catamaran moored at the end of the jetty, near the marina. There was an appealing selection of chandler-style shops selling expensive souvenirs, clothing and toys.

Our boat was a huge catamaran, the “Wavepiercer” (little did we realize how appropriate the name was to be), which carried up to 500 people. There seemed to be almost that number boarding as we made our way along the harbour walk, but once on board, we found there were ample seats for everyone, either inside on the two lower decks or outside on the second and top deck We chose seats at stern (rear) of the vessel on the middle deck, in an area shaded from the overhead sun. Amazingly, everyone was on board in time for the prompt departure at 10.00, and we were soon skimming over the waves of a turquoise blue sea, that was so clear and sparkling. There were a few white crested waves, but the water appeared quite calm. We passed Snapper Island, with Thorntons Peak, rising to 1374 metres high, the third highest mountain in this area and we saw several small cays, small sand covered coral outbreaks in the ocean, some with palm trees – real desert islands. The journey took about an hour and a half to reach a pontoon at Agincourt Reef, on the far side of the Great Barrier Reef.

The reef extends for 2,300 kms from Cape York in the north to Bundaberg in Southern Queensland, and is a network of about 2,900 individual reefs covering about the same area as the United Kingdom. The corals need three things to grow: warm water, sunlight and low nutrients, and although many countries have these conditions, there is not usually sufficient shallow water for the coral to receive the sunlight. On this coast the there is a continental shelf just 20 – 30 metres deep, which has given the coral an opportunity to form.

Agincourt Reef is a small group of reefs situated on the very outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef, and two kilometres beyond, the sea drops away to over 500 metres deep, identified by a line of breakers in the distance. The water washing in from the deep ocean helps the prolific growth of the coral.

We docked beside the pontoon, and made our way to the far end to the mini-submersible vehicle – like a small boat with a viewing chamber in the hull under the water. It was very claustrophobic inside this chamber, and as we were all shown to our seat - a flap, which snapped down across the width of the vessel and held two people - the lady who got on first, decided it was not for her, so we all had to stand up and lift our seats up to let her off! It was a bit of a s squash. When we were all settled, the propellers turned in front causing waves of bubbles to pass the windows, as we set off. We were steered close to the reefs of coral by a driver who wore infra-red goggles above the water to see where we were going, and not crash into the coral. We saw stag horn, brains, spaghetti, plate and hundreds of other corals that we couldn’t identify, mostly growing together in huge clumps, like a cottage garden. There were some brilliant reds, blues and yellows, but most were shades of brown, identifiable only by their very different shapes. Shoals of small fish were swimming in and out of the fragile stems, as well as angels, sergeant majors (black and white banded), huge black cross looking fish, speckled browns with more smiley faces, tribes of small blue and green larger than guppy type fish, and a ‘green’ turtle (which in fact was brown). There were too many to name, but we did also see a very large grouper and a white tipped shark (just as we sat down) swimming at the bottom of the ocean. The tour took about twenty minutes and it was really hot inside the capsule and some people did not like the sensation, but we had a great time looking at all the different formations and fish, with lots of ooohs and aaahs, although the fresh air was very welcome when the hatch opened at the end.

Our next visit was to the observation platform – again just a few metres under the surface of the water, from where you could watch lots of different fish swimming around. There were some quite large fish with blue and tan diamond pattern scales and red eyes who were particularly inquisitive. It was like watching a tropical fish tank with the wide variety of species and colours. We then decided to have a quick snack at the buffet before going snorkeling.

To go into the water, you were advised to put on a “stinger” suit (very becoming in peacock blue lycra, from head to toe (only your face wasn’t covered) – a precaution against the stings of the box jelly fish that could be in the waters here at this time of year. (There were hundreds of these blue amphibians wandering around – it was a bit like “aliens from outer space”.) Then we collected masks, snorkel tubes and fins, before entering the water from a special platform. The area for snorkeling was cordoned off, so you couldn’t swim too far away from the pontoon. There were lots of other people swimming in the area, and when we were there the fish were being fed, so we were amongst hundreds of fish looking for a meal. Swimming out a little further, we could see large areas of coral, with many smaller fish passing close by. It was really fascinating and we felt like real “Jacques Cousteau”. By the time we got out of the water and changed back into dry clothing, it was almost time to board the ‘Wavepiercer’ again for our return journey.

In the morning, the captain had told us that the weather may change in the afternoon, and a little way into our journey home, the winds picked up and the waves increased from small whitecaps, to larger rolling waves, which caused the catamaran the rock from side to side, quite violently at times and heave up and down, sometimes too much for people to walk around. The spray came over the side and we were all soaked, but it was great fun, with everyone wrapped in their towels to keep as dry as possible – a lot of people were not so well apparently (mostly those sitting inside). On the way we saw a couple of other smaller catamarans ploughing through the rough waves, and at times they seemed to almost submerge, only to rise again on the next wave. A sailing boat was listed right over to one side, as the waves battered the boat, but it seemed to be slowly making headway. Being a large vessel, we were traveling at about 35 knots, and fairly bounced over the smaller waves, as the name “Wavepiercer” suggests.

Once back in the harbour we slowly disembarked into the late afternoon sunshine, and our legs felt a little wobbly back on dry land. We stopped a short while to look in the souvenir shops before heading off to our hotel. We were met by a friendly member of the hotel staff, Andrew, before going to our room on the third floor. Unfortunately we were again looking out of a building site – yet another new hotel being built next door. Our bodies were covered in a fine layer of salt, and it was great to stand under the drenching shower, and feel clean again.

Dinner tonight was an ‘Option’ meal (APT like their ‘Options’) and we had chosen the seafood buffet, with a promise of oysters, crabs and large prawns as opposed to a set three course meal – which turned out to have a choice of three selections for each course. What a disappointment then, to find the buffet was an “Australian” meal, with a selection of the inevitable kangaroo, emu and crocodile, both hot and cold. Prawns were the only seafood on the menu, and there was a casseroled beef dish. The desserts were apparently quite tasty - the usual slelection of pavlovas, cheesecakes, and tortes, with some fresh fruit. The set meals had included a choice of fish at both entrée and main courses – more than we had been offered – and most people who chose this ‘Option’ were pleased with their meal.

On returning to the room, I was very tired, so gave blogging a miss and went to bed. What a change in beds again – this one was firm with proper pillows to give us a chance of a good night’s sleep. So far, this tour is far short of the standards set by the previous tour – perhaps we so lucky to have had Ruben and Paul as our leaders – but we miss the constant anecdotes and legends related by Ruben which helped illuminate the scenery and landscape we were seeing. As we travel more in the coach tomorrow, perhaps we will hear more.