At breakfast, by the toaster was a big slab of honey -- a honey comb taken from
a bee farm. Other than that, it was pretty much breakfast as usual.
Eggs, meat, pastries, fruit. They had a person available to make
omelets on the spot. French toast was pretty good.
After breakfast we stopped by the activities center to pick up
some snorkeling equipment for use in the lesson in the pool. Today
would be our trip to the reef, and we wanted to try snorkeling
for the first time. It was a bit strange for me at first, as I
kept getting water in my snorkel because it wasn't at the right
angle, and I was putting my head too far down. Once I got the
hang of it, it was pretty fun. Of course, snorkeling in a swimming
pool is much different than doing it in open water. I've never
even gone swimming in open water -- only in swimming pools, and
Jean's not a very good swimmer, so I was a bit apprehensive about
the day.
Muggy Muggy Beach
Other people stayed for scuba lessons, but we knew that wasn't
for us. We still had a while before our boat arrived, so I went
on a short walk out to Muggy Muggy Beach. It was only about 700
meters away, a short 10 minute walk from our room. There's not
much there. There wasn't anyone else there when I arrived, although
a few people started filtering in later. The beach has a bunch
of vertical rocks which are interesting to look at for a minute
or two. It's also interesting to note that there are a lot of
sea shells here -- more than on Coconut Beach, even. While I was
there I saw a plane come in. Just before I was about to turn around,
I saw our boat dock. That meant we had about an hour to get to
the dock, so I turned around and headed back to our room.
Plane landing on Dunk Island
We started walking toward the dock, and started walking faster
as we realized it was quite far to walk. We made it in plenty
of time to spare, however, as it took a while for everyone to
get situated on the boat. The Quick Cat is a large boat, probably
sitting a hundred people. It was probably about half full for
this trip. We sat on the top deck, in the shade. Others on the
top deck sat out in the sun, while the rest sat down below. One
thing we noticed was that a lot of people were sunburned and didn't
seem to mind. They just accept it as part of life. Bill Bryson
wrote a book about Australia called "In A Sunburned Country,"
and I'd have to say that's completely appropriate.
I've been on boats before, of course. We'd just been on three
river cruises. But sailing on the ocean is a different story.
We headed north until Dunk Island disappeared and we could only
see water in every direction. Along the way I felt horribly sick.
I've felt mildly sea sick before on a San Francisco Bay cruise.
But I'd never felt so nauseated for so long before. It got worse
to the point where I just wanted to step on dry land. Or even
jump in the water to feel better.
We arrived at Beaver Cay, where we'd set anchor for 3 hours. The
cay is oh, about 20 feet wide and 40 feet long. A tiny little
island in the middle of nowhere. We were free to choose between
a glass-bottom boat, semi-submersible, snorkeling, scuba diving,
laying out on the cay, or eating lunch on the boat. Staying on
the boat was not an option for me.
Jean on Beaver Cay
Jean got a little something to eat, but I was in no shape to eat.
We took the glass-bottom boat over to the cay. After sitting down
for a few minutes, I was ready to try out snorkeling. We put our
gear on and went into the water. Now, the person who dropped us
off warned us not to step on the reef, because some of it might
puncture our fins and pierce us with a poison that would ruin
our day. So, that being said, we went cautiously out toward the
reef. As soon as I put my head in the water, I saw fish swimming
around. It was quite fun seeing them swim all around us. Unfortunately,
as we went a little further out, all we could see was dead reef.
It'd been eaten by some creature called the Crown of Thorns, which
lacked any remaining natural predators. The result was a sea floor
covered by gray and black.
Fish near Beaver Cay
Make no mistake, we were in the middle of the ocean. Occasionally
the waves would fill our snorkels with nasty salt water -- it
was as if someone took an entire salt shaker and put it in a single
cup of water. Okay, maybe not that bad, but pretty bad. In any
case, the correct response is to blow into the snorkel as hard
as you can to expel the water. Unfortunately, that has the side
effect of forcing you to breathe in afterwards. And if you haven't
expelled all the water (as I hadn't), it's a very disconcerting
feeling. My reaction was to pull off my snorkel and stick my head
above the water, sputtering. At the same time, I was very aware
not to step down, since we were still in shallow water, so I ended
up flailing around back toward the beach until I could put my
foot down in pure sand. I did this several times, probably looking
like an idiot each time.
Jean looking for lunch
Meanwhile, Jean's not a very good swimmer, so even though we were
both wearing life jackets, we didn't venture very far. Soon enough
we'd had our fill of snorkeling, having mostly circumnavigated
the small cay. We took the glass-bottom boat back to the Quick
Cat. Along the way we could see some of the wonders of the Great
Barrier Reef, as we saw actual live reef, as opposed to the dead
stuff we'd seen near the cay. We saw bright blue fish and starfish.
I wanted to go snorkel here, thinking that since it was deeper,
it might be better since I wouldn't have to worry about stepping
on anything.
Coming right at me!
Unfortunately, I'm a big chicken. Jean didn't want to go since
she's not a good swimmer, and I was too chicken to go by myself.
Plus, after getting back on the boat I was beginning to feel sick
again. I went downstairs to check out the food, but couldn't bring
myself to eat anything. I went back upstairs and just sat and
tried to conserve my energy and not move at all. I just sat there
the rest of the time and all the way back. At least I managed
to sleep a bit on the trip back.
Meanwhile, they did a fish feeding right before we left. One of
the crew stopped by to check us off on a list to make sure they
didn't leave anyone behind. And then we were on our way back.
After the hour ride back, we disembarked and took a walk along
the beach back to our room.
That night was BBQ night by the pool. But we decided we'd avoid
all the crowds and have a quiet dinner at EJ's again. We had fish
and chips, which turned out to be quite good and quite huge. Chris
and Camile were replaced by another duo who weren't nearly as
good.
After dinner we decided to do our laundry. We managed to stay
awake long enough to put the clothes in the dryer, but fell asleep
before we could take it out. That would have to wait until the
morning.
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