Ok – everyone sit down – we are taking another ship’s tour! Yeah, yeah, we know, but for the Reef, we figure this is the way to go. It’s only maybe $10 more than a tour on our own – plus we get picked up here at anchor – go out the tender dock, jump right aboard the Catamaran and head to the Reef. Easy is good in this instance!
So, we rendezvous in the theater with 250 of our close cruise friends. I quaff down a Dramamine, just to be safe, as the cruise staff hands out pills to those who do not already have them. Embarkation on the Cat is pretty smooth and we score the best seats in the house – upstairs on one of the circular sofas with a big table upon which to eat and snack. And, even better, we only have 5 people sharing the space – perfect!
We get the safety drill and then they hand out the barf bags! They tell us the winds are pretty strong and it will probably be rough, so we need to take our pills (buy them from the ship if we don’t have them) and use the bags if necessary. Argh.
But, really, it’s not that bad. Not at all. I probably didn’t need to even take a pill – but I’m not taking chances, so I keep up the 4-5 hour regimen. The ride goes smoothly – they serve us fruit, cheese and crackers halfway through, as well as coffee and tea. We hang, read and watch the water rush by as we near the reef.
After about 2 1/2 hours, we arrive at the pontoon out in the middle of the reef for our adventure. It’s amazing – this little pontoon, out here with nothing around – just reef. Cool!
We hop off and quick as bunnies, head to the snorkel gear. We collect our flippers, snorkels, then head to the stinger suits. We don’t need wet suits for the temperature of the water, but to protect us from the jelly fish (stingers) that are prevalent this time of year in the water. Oh yeah…shimmy into these bad boys….fun!
We don our life vests and head off to the diving platform. The water is so warm! It’s great – but even though the staff onboard said the current wasn’t that strong – ha! To us – it’s strong! We admit we’re not the strongest swimmers or snorkelers – so we kind of floated around for a while, made our way to the reef, managed to avoid knocking into all the other bozos out there snorkeling and then dragged ourselves back to the pontoon to take advantage of the other activities available! The only disappointment was that we forgot to bring an underwater camera. Bummer! Coz, when we were floating over the reef – it was pretty darn cool to be that close to those gorgeous corals and the vibrantly colored fish. Really quite the experience – even if it is only in our minds and not captured on celluloid – or digital as the case may be!
Back on the pontoon, we roll the suits off of us, dry off, grab our clothes from the Cat, then change for lunch. There is a great buffet onboard the Cat; salad, coleslaw, chicken legs, ham slices, buns, pita wraps and giant prawns! The prawns are the biggest we’ve ever seen! We each take 4 (sign says take only 4 so everyone can enjoy them – smart!) and head up to our little corner seats to enjoy the grub.
After lunch, we head back to the pontoon to take the glass bottom boat around the reef. Nice 30 minute ride around the lake with Emma, the resident marine biologist, giving us a tour and answering all our questions. Pictures aren’t that great – but in person – it was great!
Next, we board the Semi-Submersible sub – we’re down below in this viewing chamber so we can see the reef and the fish. Really cool – and not even claustrophobic, like I figured I’d be! Another 30 minute trip with Emma giving us way more info than we can absorb!
We head back to the Cat. After some minor delays (the boats go out for a last run, when we were all supposed to be aboard the Cat, and then the passenger count came up 8 short because of a late dive….it was about 20 minutes of confusion and making us stay in our seats for counts…but in the end, all was well, we left the pontoon with the same number we arrived!).
As we were leaving, two staff members wave to us from the pontoon. I ask one of the staff and find out that they actually stay on the pontoon for up to 1 month at a time, keeping it up, making sure everything is up to snuff. Can you imagine? Out there in the middle of the ocean – on the reef – with nothing and no one around for miles and miles? Wow! We spend the rest of the trip back to the ship just talking about how they live, how they can be evacuated in case of a cyclone, all the scenarios of which we can think. That’s a job all right!
We arrive safely, and smoothly, back to the mother ship. All aboard, showered and fresh in our cabin, watching another fantastic sunset over Airlie Beach.
We’re ready for another night and day at sea!
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