First off, there are tons of Chinese here because this week Chinese New Year is being celebrated. Because of that, there were not enough seats on the trip out to the Great Barrier Reef for all of us who signed up. SOOO on the bus returning last night Peter announced the 10 people who could go today and another 6 who could go only to Green Island, 1/2 way out. Others could go Monday and switch our scheduled trip to a cable canopy ride in the rainforest and visit to an Aborigine park. I was one of the “lucky” ones as I’d been on a GCT or OAT trip before, I guess.
So off we went (most of the Cape Eight got to go) on the bus to the pier. Peter ended up going on a different boat with the Green Island people. We had a green dot to put on our shirts to show that we would stay on the boat after Green Island. It was already windy and rough in the harbor and it just got worse! When I work on the Dolphin Fleet in P’town going out whalewatching, with this weather they NEVER would have gone out. I took a ginger tablet they provided and Mary Lou Kirk, from CA, a yoga/pilates teacher traveling with her mom, who has done 23 of these GCT/OAT trips!!!!!, had a lotion to apply behind my ears for motion sickness so I put that on, too. Whatever, it worked and I had no problem.
But vomiting started about 45 minutes out and was non-stop for almost 3 hours!!! Including poor Barbara, my teacher friend from CT/PES traveling with our group. I can’t praise the crew on that boat enough!! They ran around handing out barf bags, cups of ice, gave me a plastic glove filled with ice for the back of Barb’s neck. She broke out in a huge sweat, turned pale and that was it!! We were sitting inside. When we got to Green Island and stopped she had to decide to continue or get off there. I think I would have called it a day and stayed there. But she braved on!
We went outside in the back where Portia and Carol had been sitting, got soaking wet, but the wind/breeze seemed to help. Out here was one Chinese man who not only looked ready to die from barfing but made huge noises until finally the crew told him to cool it!!! Over half of the people were ill. It actually got rougher and longer, as they took a longer route to try to ease the waves but it didn’t work.
We finally arrived at the platform where we tied up and moved over to where they would serve lunch. How they could feel like eating right away is a mystery but they piled their plates high!! I went to gather my fins, snorkel/mask and sting suit (like a light wetsuit I paid an extra $7 for as they had talked about jellyfish and other stingers you couldn’t see in the water, and someone getting helivaced (is that a word?) off the platform when they got stung. We went for a 1/2 hour ride on a submersible boat that roamed around over the reef with big windows down below. It was really a disappointment. Mostly we could see these dead tree-like coral, mostly white but some blue, and other waving coral. Very few fish! There were so many boats out here, if I was a fish, I’d hightail it outa there as well! I had rented an underwater camera (good quality, $35, I get to keep the chip inside) to take with me. My photos actually turned out better than other’s cameras and I saw one big turtle, and then I used it when I snorkeled.
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Coming back from the submersible, I grabbed a plate of food for later, in case it was finished when I returned, and donned my snorkel gear. We went down steps to an underwater platform to put on fins and went in. The water was wonderfully warm, but again it was a disappointment compared to any time I had snorkeled (in Hawaii and Cancun area) before. Got a few shots and then later went to the underwater museum on board and saw a larger fish and a speckled butterfly looking fish that was cool.
One guy, new to the group, Wayne from McHenry, IL, was in for at least an hour snorkeling around. His wife Pat watched from the side. She had felt ill so didn't go in. He had told me he had a hip replaced THREE times!! I was impressed! I stayed in paddling around for maybe 1/2 an hour and got out. But I did SNORKEL THE GREAT BARRIER REEF!!!!!
The ride back was much better (BTW, they had a helipad out there and I think at least 3 times I saw it taking people back to Cairns, to the tune of $350, is what I heard!!! Barbara actually considered it but stuck it out!! Those frugal Yankees!!! But we didn’t have to go back to Green Island so headed straight in and then cruised along the shore to the harbor. So it was maybe an hour and half back, rather than the 3 hours out!!
After disembarking, I chose to walk back to the hotel, rather than bus, as I wanted to go to the Night Market that was on the way. I stopped first for chocolate/pistachio gelato!!!! My favorite! Walked along the esplanade - very lovely walkway along the shore - and wandered through the market, buying some tea towels, necklace and earring (blue stones), a belt for $3, a couple of neat wine bottle holders with native designs and THEN I found the Chinese massage place!! Can’t pass it up! Had a 40 minute one for $25 and then he talked me into these Chinese medicine patches for my shoulders that he said were SOOO tight! He wanted to put 2 more on my lower back but I only did the 2 as they were $5 each!! But it all felt soo great!!
Headed back to my room, turned in the camera and got ready for bed! Long day tomorrow!
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