The Great Barrier Reef – January 11, 2010

Boy, we sure do know how to wipe ourselves out! Today, we had plans to visit The Great Barrier Reef via The Whitsunday Islands. Our tour bus was scheduled to pick us up in front of a local restaurant at 7:10am, so we were up by 6:15 to have breakfast, pack up and check out. We freaked a little bit when the reception office opened late – at 7:05am and we ran to catch the bus that was already picking people up. Luckily, the bus we needed was five minutes behind, so we had just enough time to make a quick phone call to reserve a tour for Fraser Island (Jan 13-14 adventure).

The day started out very similar to yesterday with white puffy clouds mixed in with rain clouds throughout the morning. When we boarded the boat – this time a catamaran – the crew gave several warnings to all on board that we would be experiencing very rough seas and to take preventive measures to avoid seasickness. We decided to take the Dramamine again knowing it would be a really long day if either of us got sick.

Our tour operators gave us a second breakfast of plain and raisin bread with jams and jellies, one of which was a product called “vegemite.” Apparently, people either love it or hate it. I don’t know if it is an acquired taste, but both Colin and I agree that its bitter, salty taste is gross! An hour and a half after breakfast, we were then served some morning snacks of pastries and muffins. I don’t know if the crew wanted everyone to fill our stomachs before hitting the rough surf, but for a solid hour to the reef it felt like we were on a roller coaster that twisted us side to side, up and down. Many people got sick, so we were glad to have taken the meds.

The approach to the reef was pretty amazing. You could certainly make out the various color schemes in the water.




To snorkel, we had to wear our stinger suits to protect ourselves from the killer jellyfish that inhabit these northeastern waters in the summer months. It didn’t feel that weird to wear the suits, but the photo shows how ridiculous we looked! It didn’t feel so bad with everyone else wearing the same.



We did get to snorkel for as long as we wanted, but the areas closest to the floating pontoon were very crowded. While we didn’t see anything extraordinary, it was an amazing experience to explore just a tiny fraction of the largest living structure on earth, which stretches 2300km! We were also able to see the reef in a submarine, via an underwater observatory, and see enormous 1200 lb. Groper fish from the deck.




The only part of the day that let us down was lunch. Not only was the food mediocre, the meat was cooked on an outdoor BBQ grill, which was washed down at the end of lunch with runoff going straight into the Groper fish’s pool of water. So much for ecotourism.

The ride back was similar to the ride out, except a little drier since the clouds cleared a bit. Colin and I were fine without meds on the way back, but many others were not so lucky. Our theory is that you have to keep your eyes open, remain outside and focus on the waves and the motion as you feel it – at least this works for us.




The actual amount of time spent exerting ourselves by snorkeling was very little, but the two days out on the water exhausted us. We arrived back at Airlie Beach at 6pm and drove an hour and a half south to a city called Mackay. This is our destination for a shower and bed for the night. Tomorrow we drive down the central coast of Queensland to Hervey Bay, just outside of Fraser Island. The drive should take about 8 hours and we have heard the first 4-5 hours are very boring, but might allow us to see some Kangaroos. We’ll let you know.