Saturday, 18 July 2015

Onward to the Great Barrier Reef

After re-uniting with Mary-Ellen and a good night's sleep, we marched in the darkness down to the waterfront. Meandering between the posh hotels we were greeted by the cackling calls of some flying mammals. Clear shadows of bat shapes swooped above us, wingspans around a metre in length. These spectacled flying foxes were a rare treat that we were not expecting and with time ticking away to meet up with the boat, we left them for another day.


On the dock side in the early morning light we waited to board the charter that would be our home for the next day and a half. Docked next to a semi-submersible ship was our lovely motoring-sailing vessel, the Rum-Runner. The deck was adorned with scuba gear which only fueled our excitement for what was to come. After a brief introduction and taking care of paperwork and payment, we found ourselves motoring out of the marina with the sun rising in east and the city of Cairns fading in the west behind us.





In the sunlight and clear blue skies, the waters shifted from murky green to the clear blue. Shortly after this transition, while soaking up the warm weather, we were surprised again by a visit from another unexpected creature. Two humpback whales playing in the winter waters; splashing, breaching, and tail slapping. The video on this one is a bit too long but suffice it to say, they put on a spectacular show.



Eventually we left the whales behind and continued onward to our destination. After about three and a half hours of traveling, we arrived at the crystal clear waters of Thetford Reef. The only indication of its existing from above was the breaking of waves on the outer edge and the light beige-green patches dotting around us. These patches are where the reef reaches high out of the water to gather light that feeds their algal symbiotes. The divers prepared for their first venture while Mary-Ellen and I donned our wetsuits and immersed ourselves into the water which houses the largest animal made structure in the world. From the boat to reef, the deep waters gave way to the grand structure of coral, built up over eons to create massive pinnacles reaching up to nearly the surface of the sea. Schools of small banded sergeant majors and black triggerfish floated around the coral heads and through the deep gullies. Colourful wrasses and butterfly fishes darted around individual corals, nibbling at the very habitat that houses them. But as exciting and overwhelming as the fish life was, the coral itself was far too much for the eyes, not knowing where to focus. Colours were mixed with textures in an overlapping mosaic of life.




Pure wonder filled both Mary-Ellen and I as we swam around pointing and yelling through our snorkels at each and everything we saw. Branches, shelves, brains, and all sorts of shapes of corals predominated in a delicate balance. For myself, this was a dream come true, visiting one of the most renown marine habitats in the world and it did not disappoint in any way. Words can hardly describe my feelings at the time so I will just let the pictures say it for me.






It was such an extraordinary experience and I was so happy to be able to share it with my wife. I felt like a little child again, floating through a marine wonderland. Fish I had seen only through television and documentary were swimming below me over one of the most incredible habitats in the world.





Although there was so much going on in this busy world, we did pick out a few extraordinary critters. A huge humphead wrasse munched the coral heads indiscriminately. The purple mantle of the endangered giant clam lay embedded in the coral head. Anemone fish poked their heads out of large anemones among the cracks in the coral. A pair of foxface rabbitfish played over a  protruding group of corals.





Mary-Ellen put it very clearly when she said that it was much like the Grand Canyon in that it was difficult to put it into scale, no matter where you looked you could never see all of it. How true it was, we had visibility up to twenty-five metres and despite this we could only see so much of the reef around us, which was only a small portion of the Thetford Reef, which again was only a small reef in a chain of reefs spanning over 1000 kilometres.



With a growing sense of cold growing in our bodies eventually overcoming our sense of excitement, we returned to the boat to warm up and reminisce on the sights of the snorkeling. I also began to prepare for my next venture onto the reef where I would get my first chance to dive and get up close with this fantastic world.



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