It only took a short ride down to the beach, where we met some of the crew of the Rum Runner, our catamaran for the day. The larger boat wasn't functioning, so we had to take multiple rides on the smaller life boat to tender out to the catamaran. There were only about 20 of us on board that day, and once we were all on, the crew gave us an official welcome and run down of our itinerary. It would take us about 45 minutes to get out to our dive site. There, we would spend about two hours in the morning before coming back onboard to have lunch and do a talk about the Reef. Then we would spend another two hours in the afternoon at the same dive site. It was a perfect day: clear blue skies, warm air, almost no winds. The crew was excited to have no conditions to cater to during our day.
On our way out to the site, AJ and I gathered around Daz. He was doing the training and guiding the introduction dives. There were six of us who were interested in the intro dive, so the plan was that Daz would take the other four guys in the morning, and take me and AJ in the afternoon. Once the lessons had been complete, we were suited up in our wet suits and waited to anchor at Mackey Reef.
Once we pulled up to our spot, everyone grabbed their flippers, masks and snorkels, and headed to the back of the catamaran. From here, we sat on the edge and hoisted ourselves into the water. I've only ever truly snorkeled one other time when in Hawaii, so it took me a couple of minutes to get used to the gear. But once I was, I was ready to swim out and explore. It didn't take long to notice all of the amazing colors of the coral. There were bright greens, yellows and oranges. There were also bright blue star fish complementing all of the coral, along with all of the other schools of fish. Some of the fish were as small as a gold fish and others were as big as a cat. It was just amazing to watch this underwater world swim by; so different than our world above the sea.
My attention was drawn out of the water when I heard AJ calling my name. I looked up and he was pointing at a spot between us. He said, "Did you see the turtle?" Turtles are one of my favorite creatures (if not my favorite), so I excitedly popped my head back under water where I got my first glimpse of a large sea turtle. He was just hanging out next to some turtle, enjoying his morning swim. I couldn't take my eyes off of him because he was so beautiful!
The two hours of snorkeling went by very quickly, and before I knew it, it was time to get out for lunch. We gathered back on the catamaran, and enjoyed our food while retelling tales of everything we had seen below. And when we were done, we gathered around Gary, our skipper for the day. He gave us an informative chat about the history of the Reef and the different forms of life we had just seen. I thought about how cool it must be to have a job like his, spending his life on the water and introducing people everyday to the beauty of the Great Barrier Reef. I can't imagine it ever getting old! And after he was done talking, it was time to scuba dive!
Daz suited us up with our scuba gear. We sat down as he loaded us up with our oxygen tanks, and when we went to stand up, we quickly realized how heavy these tanks were outside of the water. Once we were in the water and holding on to the edge of the catamaran, we felt light as a feather, which was good since it was now time to concentrate on breathing through the apparatus. It's a bit of an odd adjustment to get used to breathing in and out from your mouth. I've never really realized how accustomed I am to breathing through my nose, and at first, I was having a hard time feeling like I was getting deep enough air. But, just like with snorkeling, once my body adjusted to that was of breathing, I was ready to go. We slowly began to descend to the bottom of the ocean, and Daz helped adjust our packs as we went so that we were less likely to float to the top. And once we were down, he had us link arms and he guided us from behind through the Reef.
It truly is another world down there. Again, the colors of everything are spectacular. One of the coolest sights were the giant clams that were partially opened. Inside, you could see the vibrant colors peeking out. Also, at one point, Daz stopped us on the bottom of the ocean and picked up a sea cucumber. He let us feel the top and the bottom of it. At another point, he just had us stop, kneel and watch the underwater world go by. It was great to watch all of the fish interacting and swimming through the coral.
I was said when our dive time was up. When we reached the catamaran, we climbed back on and rid ourselves of the gear. At that time, there were only about ten minutes before the others were called in from snorkeling, so we decided to take off our wet suits and lounge on the back of the catamaran. It was a beautiful ride back to the beach, with the rainforest serving as a backdrop. It definitely felt like a perfect way to spend a perfect day.
As we tendered back to shore, I was sad to say goodbye to the Rum Runner and the Reef, but I was definitely glad to have experienced it all. And as we made our way via bus back to Cairns that night, I was glad we had chosen to see the Reef from Cape Tribulation rather than Cairns because we had the whole site to ourselves, with no other tourists to spoil our view.
It all sounds so beautiful. I can't wait to get to L.A. and see all of your pics.
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