Ah, Paradise--the Great Barrier Reef

Saturday, April 3--We woke this Saturday morning on Dunk Island to clouds, but the sun had begun to show itself by the time we finished breakfast. Mike and I took a few minutes in the gift shop, then back to our room to get ready for today’s adventure to the Great Barrier Reef.

We had a short drive to the jetty to catch the boat. Today’s catamaran was larger than yesterday and brought some folks from Mission Beach to meet up with those from Dunk to head out to the Reef. We still had fewer people than the boat often takes, so were able to spread out and not feel crowded. Our trip was a bit rough crossing the deeper waters as we went 18 miles out to anchor near a small sandy cay along the Reef. One of our group got motion sickness and spent the remainder of the trip recuperating.

With lots of assistance and instruction we began going into the water with our snorkeling gear. The water was a very refreshing temperature, but I found it to be more challenging than I’d hoped, so got farther from the boat than I should have done. I made it back okay, but I was really exhausted by the effort it took. Big sister Pat was there at the ladder when I returned to the boat and helped me out of my flippers and up to get onboard. Our guide who has been here many times verified that the waters were daunting today, the current stronger than occurs sometimes.

We had a pretty day and the boat itself was air conditioned on one level and relaxing. A simple, but adequate lunch was provided. The disappointments mounted when the dinghy that had been promised to take folks back and forth to the little cay where we could have snorkeled in shallower water failed to work. They had brought along two motors for backup, but neither could be made to work. Apparently there was water in the fuel or something.

A worse disappointment for those in our party who hadn’t planned to swim was the lack of a glass-bottom boat, another promise of this Reef tour. Apparently the contracted company had a breakdown on their glass-bottom boat and another was not available. Needless to say, this was a very big disappointment to several of our fellow travelers. As we’ve grown fond of them, we felt bad for their inability to enjoy the reef as they had hoped.

These let-downs probably caused the most disgruntlement on this entire trip. Other problems have been weather-related and, while disappointing, we understood the need to make changes to adapt around them. Today’s issues seemed, instead, to be a failure of service from this provider that shouldn’t go without notice. We’re all filling out questionnaires about the tour tonight and tomorrow and I’m confident the comments there will cover today’s failings.

We continue to marvel at the beauty of this island and its rainforest. Flowers are both colorful and fragrant. The trees are lush with most palm trunks supporting big ferns. The beaches are sandy and welcome visitors to stroll along them. They don’t, Pat reminds us, have the exceptionally fine white sand that line the Gulf of Mexico in Florida, but they serve their purpose. The resort provides shallow bowls in which to dip and wash your feet after a walk on the sand.

The humidity is so high that even when it isn’t raining, our skin feels damp and it’s difficult to dry towels or clothing when it gets wet. This is the price paid for such green surroundings where everything grows quickly and lavishly.

Having the island days at this point in the tour was planned to allow for rest. It has been in some ways the opportunity to relax that we needed. Tomorrow’s tour on the way back to Cairns will, we hope, be easy on us as we prepare for the very long flying trek that will get us back to Charlotte through Sydney, Los Angeles and Dallas.

Photos by Mike Lumpkin