In an Octopus’s Garden...

Dunc in his stinger suit and wet suit
Keila with in her gear with flippers
Rescue dingy at the back

I’d been looking forward to snorkelling on the world famous Great Barrier Reef. I didn’t realize that Duncan had been dreading this experience. Neither of us is terribly fond of boats, but he gets seasick and I generally do not, especially if I stay outside while on the boat.
We’d booked our trip with the firm Passions of Paradise in Cairns on the recommendation of one of Keila’s friends. We left next morning at 8 a.m. on the catamaran with about 60 other passengers. The trip to the reef took almost two hours and Duncan and Keila had a rough time. Keila sat outside for most of the trip. Duncan tried various places on the boat and found standing at the back was best. I enjoyed being outside ; when I went in and tried to read the newspaper I felt queasy so returned to the deck at the side of the boat.

Looking around, the average age of the passengers was about 25. We were definitely in the minority with about 10-15 seniors on the trip. The young staff shared information on snorkelling equipment and encouraged us to buy a stinger suit to avoid the stings of the jellyfish lurking in the water. We also rented wetsuits so that we would be warmer. We looked like blue frogs in the stinger suits with the hoods and mitts on our hands. The weather was rainy and overcast. No brilliant blue skies, pictured in all the travel brochures, for us.

A small boat dropped us at Michaelmas Cay, a bird sanctuary and from there we began snorkelling. The rain started coming down, but it didn’t really matter since we were wet anyway. There were fewer fish than I had seen in the Bahamas many years ago but the coral gardens were quite amazing. I saw lots of beautiful fish, but there were not great schools of them as I had imagined there would be. Because it was cloudy the colours were not brilliant but it was still beautiful.

I snorkelled for about 40 minutes then joined Duncan back at the Cay. He didn’t seem to be enjoying the experience as much as I and that was unfortunate. When I asked why he hadn’t stayed back in Kuranda, he replied that he felt he had to see the reef. As it was nearly time for lunch we headed for the boat. It took me about 15 minutes of snorkelling and popping my head out of the water to check my course. I got into the boat and stripped off all the gear greeting Keila who’d arrived before me.

I kept an eye out for Duncan, and he arrived about 10 minutes later. I’d heard that one person had had to be “rescued” with the small boat they kept for people who didn’t feel they could make it back to the boat. We’d learned a series of signals before setting out. Hand on the head: I’m fine, fist in the air: pick me up, waving and yelling: Help! It turns out Duncan was the one they’d rescued. He kept drifting off course and didn’t think he could make it to the boat. He’d gotten a bit scared and decided to yell for help. He and I had put on floater belts so he wasn’t really in danger. He just gave the crew a chance to practise their rescue skills. His rescuer jokingly called him “a silly old bugger” when she’d pulled him into the boat. Duncan thinks he gave her a scare.

After lunch we moved to another area and snorkelled off the back of the boat. The sea became much rougher with whitecaps so Duncan decided he’d stay onboard. Keila and I held hands for awhile to keep track of one another but then found we were able to navigate easily by using the beautiful corals as landmarks. This area was in deeper water, and we were clearly able to see the drop off where the reef began and ended. I loved being in the warm sea looking at neon coloured fish and corals. The fish seemed oblivious of all the “blue frogs” amongst them. One fellow snorkeler pointed and said he could see a shark, but I couldn’t see it. There are no Great Whites up here so I wasn’t worried!

The trip back was even rougher, many people were using the little brown bags. We sat at the front of the boat for awhile until we started getting wet, then we moved to the back of the boat. Keila was flat out on a bench the rest of the way home.

Duncan’s mood improved somewhat when we were back on land. However he went to bed very early, worn out by the day’s events. Keila, Henri and I performed our magic trick act for Jean. We’re going to a friend’s 50th birthday party on Sat. and have to perform magic tricks. Henri has engineered the act consisting of silly tricks. It should be funny.