Day 3: Paradise Really Does Exist Beyond The Travel Brochure

Somewhere in the Great Barrier Reef – 8 January 2011 at 10pm
Kansas City, USA – January 8, 2011 at 6am

Woke up at 7:30am to the sound of rain hitting the little window in my cabin…I love the sound of rain. I love it even more when I’m on a boat in the Great Barrier Reef.

This boating life has really mellowed me out. 

Today we are going for another snorkel in a different area of the reef but near the same island (Lady Musgrave) and the guys will be underwater spear fishing to catch us some lunch. I know, right…these guys can do it all.

After brekky we loaded up the tender with all of the gear and headed out. We arrive at a location that looked good for fishing and dropped anchor. 

I’m sure the look on my face was priceless as I watched everyone strap a knife to their calf.

Spearing a fish will obviously attract other ‘big’ fish (i.e. sharks) because of the blood. So as a safety precaution they carry knives. Me, I’m left to fend for myself… (kidding, I was swimming up current so I was out of harms way...I think).

Side note for Katie’s Aunt Nancy: 

Don’t.   Freak.    Out. 

Katie asked me to note that she is wearing the knife in case we get tangled in nets or seaweed....are you buying it? Seriously….this is just a precaution… we should not be in any danger :) 

As I was telling Paul yesterday, since I didn’t grow up near the ocean, I don’t know much about it and because of that, I respect it and fear it. I love getting in the water and I love to swim but I do know my limits. I know that I cannot out swim any fish and I’m at the mercy of any sea creature that acknowledges my existence….or a big wave that wants to take me under or current that will take me away without warning. 

The dive under the water was once again beautiful but the weather above the water was not. It was raining again which made for an unusual sensation. I was looking at a tranquil and serene picture below while rain drops were pelting my back. (In the photo you can see the rain droplets on the surface of the water) It was still pretty cool though.

We hadn’t been in the water 10 minutes and we saw a giant manta ray…it was stunning. It was so smooth as it swam through the water. Katie had an underwater camera and dove down to swim with it for awhile…it was amazing to watch.

The more we swam the more we saw…4 or 5 sea turtles, 4 sharks, clown fish, eagle rays, a barracuda…again, the list goes on and on...it was all so fascinating. Paul was saying that this is not typical to see all of these things in one shot…most people never see some of the things we saw today and especially in the same dive. Not only am I seeing all these creatures but I’m receiving a firsthand biology lesson again. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Katie is a marine biologist and has been so helpful in pointing out things I might not have noticed and giving me the anatomy of each species. She is definitely in her element and exactly where she is meant to be. She has been a great teacher…very patient and willing to answer any questions I have about the marine life.

Saying thank you doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface as to how I’m feeling about all of this. It is beyond my wildest dreams to be on a boat in the Great Barrier Reef, snorkeling, eating fresh fish, sleeping in the finest accommodations and meeting such wonderful people…it is mind boggling…but I can assure you I am not taking this for granted. 

After we were back on the boat Katie and I were talking about our lives and the paths we have chosen to end up where we are today. I was telling her that if I would have come over to Australia when I thought the timing was right I would have never met her or any of the people I’m meeting along the way because I wouldn’t have met the key individuals back in the states who have connected me to each person over here….AND, the Aroona wouldn’t have been built! 

It just goes to show that even though life isn’t happening on the timetable you have laid out for yourself there is always a bigger reason and a bigger plan than you and what you want….and most of the time…its better! 

So, back to the spear fishing…no luck…we didn’t catch anything so we ate grilled panini’s for lunch.

After lunch we just hung out on the boat. The guys fished off the back and Katie and I read our books. Fishing was a success this time. We, by that I mean Paul, with the help of Ross, caught a mackerel for dinner.

After Ross cleaned and filleted the fish we loaded up in the tender again to walk around the island. We walked through the middle ‘forest’ checking out all the birds and little creatures running around…

We discovered a very large spider, poisonous but not deadly according to Paul and then ran into some campers along the way. Apparently you can take a large ferry out to the island and for only $4 AUD a night you can camp on the island. We chatted with them for a little while and then made our way around to watch the sunset. It was sheer paradise. It looked like a photo you would see in a travel magazine. One of those places that you only dream about visiting…but this time I was actually visiting.

We took some fun and crazy photos again with Ross’s camera (gopro.com) which is used for extreme sports and takes some amazing photos and then we headed back to the Aroona for dinner.

Ross cubed the filets and made a batter for what I termed ‘fish nuggets.” They were delicious. 

We ate outside on the back of the boat and had a great time laughing at the photos we had taken on the island. A little later our ‘boat neighbors’ Mike and Sue showed up to have a drink and hang out and then it was off to dream about another wonderful day.

Additional Photos: Day 3

Numbers at Random:

# of sharks: 4

# of barracudas: 1

# of manta rays: 1

# of eagle rays: 1

# of sea turtles: 4 or 5

# of sea cucumbers: hundreds

# of really big spiders: at least 4

# of times vomiting: ZERO!

# of fish caught: 1 (by Paul)

# of fish caught by me: zip...boooo