(well, god
or whoever or whatever creates those things in the world that are amazingly
beautiful)
So. One of
the must-do things for anyone who wants to have a complete trip to Australia, besides climbing Uluru and eating a
koala burger, must be a visit to the Great Barrier Reef.
And of course, far from wanting to be original, I was also longing for the
moment that I could put myself in contact with that amazing stuff I’ve seen on
the documentaries about these areas not
far from the Northeastern coast of Oz.
We arrived
in Cairns, and
once again, as budget conscious folk we are, we had to face the difficult
decision to leave part of our party behind. Tiffany had dived and snorkelled
the reef several times before, and Jett, though he likes snorkelling, wouldn’t
be necessarily interested in a full day superconcentrated experience. So it means that, again, I was left as the sole
ambassador of our group in the hostile waters of the Coral
Sea.
First of
all, it was important to choose a proper operator from the several thousands
that seem to offer day trips to the reef. The sight of those many multicolor
brochures depicting state of the art boats and happy girls in bikini patting
what seems to me to be the same fish is absolutely mind-blowing, and
personally, not knowing exactly what I was looking for, was rather confusing.
So finally I adopted the recommendation technique: in three different places,
including the helpful stuff of our The Serpent hostel, I was recommended the
same boat. So it infers they are good, or they pay the highest commission.
Or probably
both.
So I
followed the recommendations and I booked my reef adventure with Reef Trip, who
would bring me to my destination onboard the fast Osprey V.
The coast
off Cairns
looks gorgeous on a beautiful sunny day, but when it is cloudy and rainy,
doesn’t seem necessarily inviting. And that’s what happened that day. The free
shuttle bus from the hostel drove us to the Cairns Marina between clouds and
drops, just to meet all those other folks from all around the world looking for
the same experience as me, and sorting themselves in their own boats.
The Osprey
V is a nice boat, with a great sun deck (for when it is sunny), a great buffet
and a jokey staff. And it is very fast. They sell this as being a very good
thing to get to the reef fast and spend most of the day there instead of
sailing. And I suppose it is a good thing. But when the sea is rough and wavy,
and the one who is writing is not specially a sea wolf, this speed only helps
to shake everything violently, including one’s stomach.
A bit
disturbed in my digestive system, and with the rain respecting us for the
moment, we arrived at the first of our two spots in the reef: Saxons Reef.
There, finally the contact with the marvels of the underwold: infinite types of
colorful corals, inhabited by the most amazing shiny fish, absolutely happy to
see you. Also, and sadly, patches of dead coral, too delicate to receive the
impact of hundreds of visitors (most of them underwater newbies) every single
day.
But the
experience is incredible. All that you have seen in TV that many times before,
enhanced by the reality. Small fish, big fish, a peaceful turtle… all
absolutely fantastic. The time under the water passed fast, and soon it was
time to go for the all-you-can-eat lunch buffet, with lots of salads and
barbeque. Everything very good looking. But… oh! My stomach didn’t set up
properly after the shake before, and I was not able to eat much at all.
So
meanwhile I was seeing everybody eating passionately and returning to fill
their plates several times, I was thinking that there is no cruise option
without lunch. And it could be a good option for those who want something more
budgetty and are happy to bring a sandwich. Or, for some particular reason of
the moment, they are not able to eat much.
I felt a
bit sorry for myself, I must admit, for not being able to eat what seemed to be
quite yummy. But I am sure it is some sort of hidden reason for that.
Soon, when
everybody had finished their ingestions, we left Saxon Reef for Hastings Reef,
and man, the sea seemed rougher than ever, and the boat was savagely bouncing
on the waves. And man! My stomach, and my whole self, began to enter into the
red area of upsetting. And though I tried to content myself, when the digestive
system decides that is time for a noisy expulsion, you can’t do much to hold
it, so at one stage, I bended myself aesthetically overboard and I threw all
the minimal stuff that was sitting uncomfortably in my stomach. And, of course,
I felt much better after that J
It was not
nice at the moment, but is a good experience to explain. And I will certainly
put this throw-up in my personal gallery of throw-ups, right next to that one
when, being a teenager, I threw up from the balcony of a friend’s grandmother
house, a 5th storey.
Hastings
Reef was even more spectacular than the previous one, though we didn’t find
that big fish the happy girls in bikini used to pat. Bad for him.
The way
back, marking the end of our 8 hour trip, was much more peaceful, sitting in
the deck with the stomach pretty happy. However, I didn’t even try to eat any
of the cheese and cookies that the boat offered. (Now I can confess that I
picked up a couple for later! Sssshh!!). And soonish we were on sight of the port of Cairns, joining the many other boats
coming from their other destinations, full of adventurous blokes and sheelas
with satisfied faces.
And that
was that. An absolute incredible experience, blurred by the caprices of a naughty digestive system! But makes for a
good story, doesn’t it?
ps. The people of the boat took pictures of us and later they wanted to sell them to us for 15$. Lucky I went to drawing classes when I was a child and I can reproduce the scene in this brilliant sketch.
