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It was so named the barrier as it is indeed a long unpassable barrier for ships of any kind, except the lightest and narrowest one or two men canoes, and during the time of the great expansions and colonisation by the European powers no craft of that day could pass it and make port on Australia without having to go the long way all around the reef.
Tragically scientists today say that the reef will be dead and gone within the next fifty years if levels of world pollution, greenhouse gases and global warming do not stop, but as none of the great political powers in the world seem intent on doing enough to reverse this I think that any children I may have in the future will have to go visit it as soon as they are able and it is unlikely that their children will even have the opportunity to see it.
The day started with a pickup from my hostel that was around twenty minutes late, but the dirver was not only very apologetic but funny too so it didnt matter that much in the long run. I had already packed a small bag with sun cream, hat, change of clothes and flipflops and was the only one from the hostel going on this trip today.
The sun was already out in full force, making things both hot and humid and I was very glad that I had remembered to bring my suncream with me, as I would hate to burn again, and I made sure that despite charging us AUD $3 per drink that I kept up my water level and helped myself to the free water fountain often. As an added bonus the firm that I was travelling with, the Reef Experience, made sure that almost everything was included in the price, so reef fee, port fees, snorkling and scuba equipment hire and both a breakfast, lunch and cheese snack on the way back were all complimentary.
Back in the hotel I had asked about hiring an underwater camera and was told the price was AUD $40 per day, but here on the ship itself they were selling a very similar model at AUD $45 to buy outright ( or AUD $20 for a disposable underwater camera ), so although perhaps it wasnt the exact same make of camera I am sure that the reef people would not see crappy ones so I'm guessing that the hostel are just making a mark up or are in league with an expensive brand of camera rental.
Breakfast was a slice or two of fruit, a bacon and egg blockbuster of a roll ( with a vege option too ) with mugs of tea and coffee being available and free through the day. It was a nice start to the day and I was looking forward to getting out there.
The trip out to the first place was about an hour long, which shows how far out to sea it is as the catamaran that we were sailing on was no slow coach in terms of speed. During the trip over I striked up a number of conversations with other passengers, one a couple from Ireland, one a Engish and Azerbajan couple and one a couple of retired Americans, and all had their own stories to tell.
One story that the Americans told is that the husbands brother used to be a great scuba diver, cleared and certificated to swim just about anywhere at any time under and under any conditions, when one dive at a place he had been told had a rather nasty underwater current he got caught in it and was almost sucked to his demise in an underwater cavern. He managed to escape with his life, barely, by grabbing onto the outer face of the cave at the last second, the current being too strong for him to swim out of, and climbed his way out of their, vowing never to return to scuba again and to this day aparently he never has.
Another story was from the Azerbajany who told me that when she visited Russia the local authorities were extremely rude and demanded bribes in order to have her passport returned to her, with the policemans line being that his wife would not let him return home if he did not bring back money. Again, having heard that many similar stories to do with the corruption in Russia I do not doubt the story, and would say that the best thing to do in Russia is avoid the authorities and government officials at every opportunity if at all possible.
The water we travelled over seemed very flat and calm, almost like a circus mirror, but still as the catamaran powered its way up and over there were plenty of dips and troughs and one guy was throwing up in less than ten minutes of setting off.
Once we reached the reef our crew did a good job of introducing us to them, of going through all the safety procedured we should follow and for both snorklers and scuba divers were told that if we get into any trouble to shout, scream, wave and splash as much as possible because with many people remaining still not to scare the fishes it can be pretty hard to spot a dead person from a live person in the water. Also we were told that it takes the reef about a year to recover one centimeter of growth so there is to be no touching or standing on the reef at any time for any reason whatsoever.
We were all givena safety number, mine was 40, that we had to memorise and use often and for checking us all onto and off the ship and as I had signed up to do a introductory dive I got to do almost an hour of snorkling before it was my turn to take the big plunge.
I saw a large number of people putting on suncream thick enough to be almost pure white on their backs and so I double doses myself, hoping that my stuff was water proof and not just a little bit water resistant.
Snorkling around was great fun and I got to see so many different varieties of fish that I could not count them all, but by far away the coolest was a huge turtle that I managed to keep pace with for a bit til I was in danger of reaching deeper waters again and had to turn back.
I was in group four of the intoductory dives and the largest of the group, with 5 other first time divers. I had been given the drill, had practiced on the ship the two key skills that I needed but still I was totaly unprepared for what I was about to face. For some reason, despite me overhearing that the girl handing out the weights was new and was told to put on less weights than she had been, I was given three belt weights which with the tank too felt like a ton strapped to my back.
Clearing my mask of water was easy, but keeping it free of water was next to impossible as it just reflooded within seconds and I felt like I was going to be doing it constantly for the whole dive. Removing and replacing the mouthpiece while underwater was the other key skill that I had to master, but each time I did it I could not stop what seemed like gallons of sea water flooding into my mouth at the same time, and I choked and almost gagged.
The instructors saw me do this once or twice and were not satisfied that I had dont them happily, so I had to repeat them but it was more than I was able to do without yet again flooding my mask and my throat and so in the end I chose rather to go up and cancel the dive than repeat these horrible tasts. A bit like eating live grubs, if my life depended upon it I am sure that I could master the basics enough to survive, but they are so unpleasant that I do not chose to do them willingly and frequently.
The instructor tried to coax me into giving it another try, which I grudgingly did, but with the same results and in the end I just headed on back up and out and had to get a drink to wash the taste of the water out of my mouth. I have never been big underwater and yet agian this proves that although I can face my fear I just don't like it and would rather be doing anything else but this.
I know I can swim, but can't really dive and even pre-scuba episode I saw plenty of snorklers dive to the bottom of the reef and back up again but when i tried it despite my best efforts I was unable to get even a meter below the water, I was just a manic floating buoy, going close to being totally submerged but never actually managing it.
After the failed attempt at scuba I just stayed on the craft, in the air conditioned lower deck, til it ws time to leave for the second spot location and in the meantime it was lunch. Chicken, sausages, potatoes and salad for a healthy and tasty light snack, alcohol forbidden til after the second location was over or else they would not allow you going back into the water again.
I forgot to reapply my sunscreen before I went back into the water at the second location, and although I was one of the first out of the water again, I could feel that it was a mistake and that my back and legs were feeling the heat. It was crazy on the water as often you would find yourself floating into a very hot patch of water and then just as quickly as it arrived you would float right on through it and be in colder water again, being clumsy and not used to it I could not change direct quick enough to see if they hot water dissipated or just moved.
One other highlight was spotting Nemo and his fellow clown fish all dancing and playing in and out of their little habitat, not really going too far from the safety of the many strung out fingers bristles of the stinging anenemy.
I think of all the safety warnings that the cew gave out the one thing that I needed to hear most, was to put of some proper water proof suncream often and thickly as during the return ride back to Cairns harbour I could feel it start to sting and redden visibly and I began to have doubts that I would be ok enough to go on the tour tomorrow, where the heat and humidity outside of my aircon dorm room would just feel as hot and hell.
I walked back to the hostel, managed to find the after sun and applied a healthy dose before I was due to go back out and grab a bite to eat at central Cairns backpackers restaurant, more commonly known as the WoolShed. I had already guessed that you could both exchange the vouchure that the hostel gave for a basic meal or upgrade it to a full meal by paying a little extra, but I didn't know that you could also double upgrade to a AUD $10 meal vouchure that included a drink and a choice of desserts. I only found this out when I bumped into my dorm mates here again and learned that this was exactly what they had done.
Things like this make you wonder why, being a backpacker hostel and a backpacker restaurant, the staff are not more open and forward about advising you what to do to get the best deals, and is again another example of typical Aussies not really being as friendly or as helpful as their reputation suggests.
As the meal was over pretty quickly, being not the largest I had seen, I was not too keen to stick around for another hour just to see the local nightly entertainment of goldfish racing, this being a Saturday and the place thinking that there was no real need to give backpackers a reason to stick around as they probably would anyway, unlike the middle of the week where wet t-shirt competition, etc are all held to entertain the punters.
My back still stinging like anything I headed on back to the hostel, accepting a lift from my friendly Canadian dorm mates, and then after lubing myself up with even more aftersun left the aircon unit on all night and got an early nights rest.
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