Day 286: The Great Barrier Reef!!
We were up and out early this morning to catch our snorkeling boat out of Port Douglas — we were going to spend the day on the Great Barrier Reef!
As we were driving there, we remarked — as we have about so many big sights this half of the adventure — that under any other circumstances, a day snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef would be the single most exciting thing we’d do all year. We would have plotted and planned and read up and gotten the kids excited and counted down the days, etc.
Instead, we were 30% kinda looking forward to it and 70% wishing we could just hang out at the Botanical Ark and read. It made me think of this Bill Bryson quote I’d seen:
“Which was worse, to lead a life so boring that you are easily enchanted, or a life so full of stimulus that you are easily bored.”
Of course, like most things, it turned out to be fabulous and memorable and — I can’t believe I even have to type this — we’re so glad we did it.
The Port Douglas marina is swanky and beautiful and new.
On board the Calypso, we endured 30 minutes of overkill-style safety lectures and demonstrations.
The absurdity of getting this kind of briefing on such a new, huge and safe boat made us chuckle when we compared it to Indonesia, where, on those chipped and teetering wooden boats — which looked like they’d spring a leak any second — we’d had to proactively ask the crew: “Where do you keep the life jackets. Y’know, just in case?”
Btw, if you were wondering, chauvinism is alive and well here in Australia! We thought Asia was the worst…but the “meat stick” (Teddy language for a “bro”) named Rick who gave us the safety speech reassured us loudly and clearly that #metoo hasn’t made it to his world yet. Too many “jokes” to list. *Eyeroll*
One of “the girls” (Rick-speak for female crew members) was American! Jody from Idaho, a twenty-something who’s worked here for two years. What a fun gig she has (if she can tolerate Rick The Meat Stick). Living abroad before/during/after college is the best — I lived it and I believe it more strongly than ever.
We rode 1.5 hours out to the reef, then had three different snorkel stops about 10 minutes’ ride apart before heading back again.
The reef water is electric turquoise. We had a few false starts on places to anchor — the crew would start readying everything only to realize the current was too strong, and they’d move on. The three spots we ultimately picked were calm and easy to enjoy.
This would be our seventh and final snorkeling outing of the year. Brazil was a total bust — the kids had never tried masks before and hated them/didn’t “get” the whole mouth breathing thing. Plus there wasn’t much to see.
Mozambique was very rough open-ocean swell — I look back on it and shudder that we even had them out there snorkeling at all. Way too rough, and they lasted about 3 minutes.
Indonesia was calm and easy — and they enjoyed going in with their own goggles. On our last stop they used the life preservers pulled by our boat captain, which helped.
All that to say we didn’t have high hopes for this excursion.
But once again proving that you don’t know your own children, no matter how much you think you do (even when you spend every waking minute with them for 10.5 months) — James and Willa both nonchalantly used the masks and snorkels and casually went out for long stretches at each stop, like, “what? We do this all the time.”
Very impressive.
The snorkeling itself was great, even for a fish-hater like me. We’d go out in pairs, perched on a single noodle float — a great system for kids. Willa and my favorite were the large pink parrot fish with bright blue beaks.
We’d heard from Chris Peun that the GBR was “sad.” He’s a diver who knows his stuff, so our expectations were really low.
I think basically, for know-nothings like us it’s still fantastic, but perhaps not as jaw-dropping as it once was? And if the ocean warms even just a little bit more, which it will, most of what’s left will die off. Coral is resilient and can adapt to new temps, but not that quickly. So I think Willa and James’s (kids?) might be the last generation to really enjoy this place?
Interestingly, that’s not the speech we got from the boat people. They assured us the GBR wasn’t going anywhere, that it was in perfect health, etc. This was puzzling because it was literally the exact opposite of everything else you hear about the reef. We asked Alan about these unusual talking points that evening and he rolled his eyes — said that was the official party line of the tourism industry. If they say the reef’s threatened/dying, tourists won’t come. Got it.
We wrapped a great day back at the harbor by buying Willa and new bathing suit — a long-sleeved bike shorts set that she liked. Why not! Her old gear, which we’d bought in South Africa, was threadbare after so much use this year.
We got back home in time for sunset baseball and stick-throwing with Gaia.
Another casual home-cooked dinner and early bedtime.
MISC:
As for chapter books we’re reading at night, we just finished Mr. Popper’s Penguins and now we’re reading The Chocolate Touch. Next up: Babe The Gallant Pig.
James didn’t just have a snorkeling breakthrough this week. He’s also had a big-time reading breakthrough. He’s gone from his recent lurching, out-loud reading with Teddy during school (level 1 superhero books), to curled up by himself reading Dogman comic books. Voraciously. Teddy should be very proud of himself!!!! Took James from zero at the beginning of the year to reading on his own/loving books. I’m in awe.
James also came up with some new jokes:
Q: What’s an ostrich’s favorite country? A: Ost-ralia!
Q: What’s pee pee’s favorite place? A: Ur-ope! (“get it? Like urin’p!”)
