Reef Day

  Mossman, Australia
Monday, July 17, 2006

Our first night in Mossman, it rained all night. Woke up and ate breakfast on a lovely outdoor porch where the hostess fed the birds and showed Kellen how she takes care of the Kookaburra. However the Kookaburra isn't completely satisfied with that and likes to slam the meat against the porch railing in order to make sure it is dead before eating.

The hosts had set us up to go out to the Great Barrier Reef that morning. It wasn't really raining at that point, but it wasn't the clearest of days either. What we were hoping for was a lack of wind so the ride out wouldn't be choppy.

We drove to Port Douglas and got on a catamaran called the Quicksilver (III or IV or whatever they were up to.) The boat was really fast, but the location it was going (
Agincourt Reef) was way out on the reef as well, so it would take about an hour and a half each way. Unfortunately, that was more than enough time for Maura to get very seasick, even with Dramamine.

The setup that they had was very nice. The boat docked with a giant pontoon, from where all sorts of activities were possible. Our goal was to try to get Kellen to go snorkeling and he was very excited about getting in the water. However, one of the guides told us to try the semi-submersible boat tour first, as most folks opt to jump into the water right away. So we took the guide's advice and tried that first.




The views from the boat were amazing. It was like being in the Disneyland 20,000 Leagues exhibit, except with real fish. We saw sharks and giant clams, all kinds of colorful coral and fish and were generally amazed. We also met a nice young woman from New York who was a trainer for athletes over in Australia for the Macabee games. She was not a big fan of the ocean at all, but figured since she was there, you have to go out to the reef.

We found out that unfortunately, when the boat turns, the entire bottom of the boat- the place where we all sat - got rocked up and down so much that Erik got seasick as well. So when we piled out of the boat, the gentle sway of the pontoon felt like waves crashing for the two adults. Erik decided that lunch was now necessary for recovery and I pounded some more Dramamine in hopes of surviving. Luckily, Kellen had no such issues. He wanted to get into the water as soon as possible.



After lunch, we went to get into our wetsuits- cold wasn't really a problem, but jellyfish sometimes are. Then we headed for the snorkeling platform.



At this point, Kellen had been taking swimming lessons for about six months or so. He had the dogpaddle down pretty well and wasn't afraid of the water. So he got his mask on and we put the snorkel in his mouth. He plopped into the water and we learned a lesson about kid's masks - they aren't as snug as adult ones. Thus poor Kellen got seawater in his eyes and that was it for him. From then on he was happy to watch mom and dad snorkel. I went out but, frankly, it was cold (the water temperature was almost exactly the same as the outside air temperature, which was kind of odd -E), the sea dark, and it wasn't a great day to be out there. So I took Kellen and let Erik snorkel.

Overall, it was ok, but not the dreamy sunlit experience that I had dreamed of for years. And then, of course, I had the hour and a half boat ride back to look forward to.

When we returned, we walked around Port Douglas a bit. The place is pretty touristy with prices to match. We had dinner at fish and chips cause everything was so expensive and we were tired of so-so food at whoo-who prices. Although we did splurge on some ice cream afterwards.