Great Barrier Reef

If you want to see the Great Barrier Reef here's what you have to do: First, take a plane to LAX and grab a 14 hour connecting flight to Sydney. From there, it's a 3 hour plane ride North to the tropical town of Cairns. From Cairns you will ride a bus 1.5 hours north to Port Douglas. From the Port, you will take a 1.5 hour boat ride through rough seas and white caps to the outer barrier reef/low isles where the snorkeling is good. From there, you will take a 5 minute shuttle boat ride onto and island, where you will put on your fins, mask, and snorkel and dive in. So you do the math. It takes a long time to get here and it is worth every second.
From the beginning... we left our beautiful hotel this morning at 8:30: www.cairnscolonialclub.com.au.
The bus ride is through sugar cane country, with plenty of rainforest and coastal views. The rainforest is the oldest one in the world still in existence--dating back 110 million years ago. Locals were against building a road through it until they realized it was actually a healthy thing to do in the name of research and preservation. We had a beautiful day for the ride. Port Douglas is a typical port town... small, quiet, and built around charters to the reef. There's only one thing people are here for.
To get on the boat you give your last name on video surveillance and they make a slash mark on a piece of paper... just like they did in "Open Water." Scary! They also offer you a "microsuit" which protects against sunburn and stingers. Once on board I took my ginger motion sickness stuff trying to be all natural and it didn't help much. As much as i hate to admit it mom, i am so glad you snuck the heavier stuff in my bag!!!
On board a marine biologist gave a presentation... mostly notably mentioning that the only sharks we might see would be the white tip ones which are only a couple of feet long (and one girl on the boat DID see one!)
The water was SO rough and we were dying laughing when a pen went flying out of my hair into the water. This is the only pen we've had all trip and we've been sharing it. WHEN THAT HAPPENED COURT STARTED LAUGHING AND YELLED OUT "I THINK I JUST PEED A LITTLE!" And the WHOLE boat heard. Literally everyone just watches us and laughs the whole time. Everyone is glued to their seats because it's so rough out... and Court and I are falling all over the boat laughing (and peeing i guess). Everyone wonders why we go to bed at like 9....
Court and i being the nerds we are were the only ones able to walk around the boat because we knew from gait training that you must lower your center of gravity and widen your base of support to achieve better balance. The neurologist with us thought that was hysterical!!!
Once we got out there and got all of our fins and stuff we were ready to snorkel. Court and I are quite possibly the world's WORST snorkers. I cut myself on the reef in like, the first 5 minutes of being out there. Court did later, too, but the people on the boat gave us iodine for it so it wouldn't get infected.
Underwater, it was surprising to see how BROWN everything was. It is actually 90% brown coral under there. The guide later told us that red is very hard to see underwater... and the blues and the greens are the last colors to get washed out of the reef. There are over 470 species of coral under there and they all have cool names like "brain coral," "spaghetti coral" and "vase coral." They are all named for what they look like... an interesting concept i wish they had applied in anatomy a little more!!! We saw sea turtles and sea cucumbers or snakes (not sure which) and a sting ray and lots of big pretty fish. I was surprised at how safe i felt in the water. It was fun to take a deep breath and go way down then blow all of the water out. The only part that stunk was the pressure in your ears as you went down too low.
We went back onto the boat for lunch and then went on a glass bottomed boat ride. After that we decided to go back down once more before the boat left. It was sooo much cooler this time because were more comfortable. Court swallowed a bunch of water and i literally saved her!!! I was like BAYWATCH!!! Seriously though, she was struggling so much that the guy even came out on his raft--but being that she had her own professional lifeguard... ;-)
When we got back on the island we realized the tide had gone out and we saw 2 objects out on the exposed reef.... one pink one blue. They were our noodle flotation devices we had ditched earlier!!!! The guides just stared at us and shook their heads. Most beautiful place in the world and somehow the jersey girls found a way to litter. Later we saw an osprey "raptor" dive into the surf at the end and pull his dinner out. What a great finish to the trip as we headed home for our own dinner!
Back on the main boat, a freshwater shower felt so good. I passed out. Perfect day.
We are in Cairns city center now for a quick dinner and email check. Back to the hotel soon and an early night to bed. Tomorrow we are going out to James Cook Univ in Cairns to hear from a dr. on tropical medicine. This university is actually a huge "caretaker" of the reef, research-wise. Then we are going on some sky rail or something.
We are having the time of our lives! Today will be hard to beat. I sort of feel like the trip is over after this. The only thing more exciting than snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef is coming home to all of the people you love!!!!
More tomorrow!
Unable to post pics at the hotel... i will bring my computer into town tomorrow.
R