My Poor Attempt to Describe the Indescribable.

So the day we had been anticipating arrived and we set off to the Port Douglas Marina to catch our ride out to the platform on the great barrier reef , so we could see what all the fuss is all about.

Was it worth the wait, the reading up on it, the choosing of how we go see it and what we planned to do--- well I guess that would be a resounding yes to all of that.

Anyone who knows me knows I love swimming but the sites that we saw underwater where everything we have ever seen in the Mediterranean over 30 years all rolled up into one small piece of Australian coastline.

 This is our route in to Port Douglas and below is the high street in town --- very clean and pretty--- no high rise here.

 A great shot of the harbour with a few sailing boats  moored up

 

This is the beast that we went out to the platform on the reef in -- it is an Aluminium boat ( probably mixed with something to reduce corrosion ---

 

So this is a shot from the platform of my impression of a swimmer going out for a snorkel-- the suit is to stop A) the sun and B) stop the stinging jelly fish which were out there in their droves.

 

 Yo can tell its me below with the head shining through--

 

The one thing I would say is that the current , when I was out to the far end of the roped area , which was a decent distance, the current was pretty damn strong and I forget how long it was since I swam last year-- at least 5 months ago, so it was a tough call getting back in. However , while out there the images were amazing.

 

 

There were many shots but these were a pretty good representation. On the way back in I was met by this chappy and his mates, although after one of the lectures He could just as easily be a She.

 

 

So this comes to the very proud moment I had with Lynda agreeing to do the helmet walk , which I personally wouldn't have missed for the world but which I wasn't sure that she would do -- but she did and she can now say that she got to the next best thing from Scuba Diving--- never thought I would have heard that but here is the proof-----

 

 

I think there was a B movie in the 60's called "Lost In Space " and these helmets look like that's where they came from, but they are good.

 

 

Quite amazing that we were able to actually touch some of the larger fish without displacing its scales.

 

Saw some incredible things from the windows of the underwater sub like the Turtle above, but shooting through the Perspex isn't that great as with the stripy critters below---

There was the odd predator swimming around that you had to take care of---

But all in all a great day which was rounded off beautifully with Dinner, Beer and Ice-cream with these wonderful folk.

We hope fate crosses our paths again in the future----

 

Oh , and to the Australian ( and World ) Governments-- please protect the reef , it is amazing & we would like our grandchildren to be able to still see it in the future.

Thanks