Finding Nemo

Since the first moment I learned of the existence of the Great Barrier Reef in school, I always knew I wanted to explore it. I finally got my chance. Unfortunately, the forces of nature did not converge to make the trip perfect.

My Australia plan was to arrive on the 22nd of February, then spend a couple of days in Sydney. After that, I would take a bus (hop-on, hop-off) up the coast, stopping in Brisbane, stopping in the Whitsundays, the Gold Coast, Cape Tribulation, the glass mountains, etc.

However, I realized the world-famous Mardi Gras parade was happening during my stay in Australia. (Mar 1) My original plan had me hundreds of kms up the coast by then, but I felt like I couldn't POSSIBLY miss the opportunity to see Mardi Gras in one of the places in the world most famous for it, so I stayed in Sydney long enough to see the big show.

Because of the time crunch, I had to fly to Cairns from Sydney... But I also saved some money: the bus trip from Sydney to Cairns was about $296AUD and it would have taken about 3 days in total. However, the flights from SYD to CNS were $82AUD. Incredible, eh?

I arrived in Cairns (It is pronounced "Cans") to a torrential downpour--it was coming down HARD. I called my hostel and I waited outside for it to arrive. Because the rain was wind-driven, my luggage and I got wet despite the rain cover over the bus stop. The bus picked me up and away we went to the Cairns Beach Hostel. (Inappropriately named--it is nowhere near the beach!).



I stayed at the Cairns Beach Hostel for 2 nights until my live-aboard trip started. I stayed on a boat called "Ocean Quest" and had 9 dives in 3 days and 2 nights. INCLUDING a night dive.

Despite the constant rain and wind, the rocking of the boat, and the poor visibility, it was a REALLY COOL experience!

On the morning of the 5th, I was picked up at the inappropriately named hostel and taken to the dock in the driving rain to board the SeaQuest catamaran. Aboard SeaQuest, about 1/3 of the passengers were sick from the rough seas. For a while I didn't feel very good either.

From the SeaQuest catamaran, we made two dives, then performed the transfer to the live-aboard boat, called OceanQuest, also a catamaran, a hull design which is ALLEGED to be more stable in stormy conditions. It was hard to tell!

Some of my dive-buddies: Susie (England), Dave (Scotland), and Alexandra (Germany), (Great Barrier Reef, Australia)

While on the live-aboard boat, I realized that I had purchased two books to read that had VERY SIMILAR cover photography... Cool, huh? (Cairns, Australia)

The first night dive was canceled because of 30-knot winds. The second night we did go. The horrible photo above (sorry!) shows some of the fear... The gray streaks are SHARKS. And yes, we did GET RIGHT IN and dive with them RIGHT THERE off the back of the boat. Nobody was hurt (neoprene doesn't taste very good to a shark!) (Great Barrier Reef, Australia)

One of the beautiful coral formations. Although this photo looks pretty clear, the stormy conditions swept a lot of sand up into the water, and the stormy skies reduced the available light. Luckily the camera had a flash! (Great Barrier Reef, Australia)

Although difficult to see in this photo, the little spirals (anyone reminded of Madonna in her Blonde Ambition tour??) are called "Christmas Tree Worms". They are really beautiful and fun to play with! Just waving your hand nearby creates a current which causes the worm to immediately disappear into its little tube, as if by magic! (Great Barrier Reef, Australia)

Although I REALLY DID FIND NEMO, this is as close a picture as I have to finding it. This is one of the many species of Clownfish (Great Barrier Reef, Australia)

This clam was about 1m across. THEY ARE HUGE!!!!! I'm sorry that the intense colors of this giant clam didn't come out, because they are this deep beautiful intense blue (Great Barrier Reef, Australia)


In the "oddly enough" category, my best picture of this type of clams came from JAPAN. Shortly after I arrived in Japan, I went to a pet shop which had some BEAUTIFUL clams for sale. I took a snap, and the colors in this photo are close to what I actually saw in the Great Barrier Reef. This photo was taken 2008 04 11 (Nara, Japan)

The trip was scheduled to have 11 dives. The 1st night dive was canceled, and I skipped one of the other dives because I had some problems with my ears descending on a prior dive. In all, I got in 9 dives. On those dives, I saw a huge variety of sea life (although the photo documentation is incomplete!) including: 5 sea turtles, 3 lion fish, 1 black and white lion fish (pterois), many parrotfish (it was possible to see them actually eating the coral! They actually make a lot of noise when they do it!!), many, many Bannerfish, Angelfish, Butterfly, Trigger, Clown, Blue spotted manta ray, Cuttlefish (one of my favorites!), Tervallies (big and quick-moving. At night, they are attracted by your torch-light and follow you around looking for any little fish you might find for them to munch!), Sea cucumbers, Wrasse, groupers, and blennies. And there's a lot more too. Here is a link to see more pictures: Link_One

Even though I did see a huge variety of fish and coral, I was a little disappointed about the trip: Because of the stormy skies, there wasn't much sun and hence not much light at depth. Also because of the storms and the rough seas, lots of sand was kicked up into the water, resulting in visibility that was at best 7m.

Although I am delighted to say that I have finally been to one of the places I have ALWAYS dreamed about seeing, I will definitely have to plan another trip here, hopefully when the conditions are better and I can see more. Even though I saw a lot, I feel like there is a lot more out there to see!

When I returned to Cairns, I went shopping at Woolworth's (equivalent to Safeway back in the States). While I was looking for my kangaroo steaks (they taste a LITTLE like beef liver!), I found these Japanese girls grabbing things from the meat case and taking pictures. They were amused at the SIZE of the hams. (apparently hams in Japan are tiny!)... They asked to take a picture with me. So, I found something in the meat case that amused me: CAT FOOD! It's called "Fussy Cat", and it sits in the meat case right next to the hamburger and kangaroo steaks! (Cairns, Australia)

In Cairns, there is this beautiful lagoon right on the beach to swim in. It's beautiful. The only sad thing is that they HAD to put a lagoon in on the beach because you usually cannot swim in the ocean water: there are very frequently crocodiles and box jellyfish. (The box jelly is one of the most venomous creatures on this earth!!) (Cairns, Australia)

Goodbye, Cairns! Goodbye Australia! (Cairns, NSW, Australia)