Well, at least since we had the delayed take off from L.A. Time flies when you spend at least a half week trying to figure out what day it is. And you happen to be having a great time.
And an aside out the Apple iPad. I entered all of the dates and times for flights and tours for this trip, so we could have reminders just in case we lost our itinerary, to have little beeps go off to make sure we were moving along. It works like a charm. If we were on Central Daylight Time in St. Louis. So, as I was writing this blog at 9:00 p.m. in Port Douglas, I got the two hour reminder prior to the pick up time (8:00 a.m., uh, in Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia) for our tour to the Great Barrier Reef. One word to describe how well that works. Awesome, that sarcastic, bad awesome, the exact opposite of the good awesome for the headphones.
I mentioned that we are staying by the Peninsula Hotel. It is family owned by Sheryn and Phil Blundstone. And Sharon and Phil go the extra mile for their customers. When we checked in, Phil asked if we had any tours scheduled. We did, and even though our travel agent, Wes Lipe, would tell us in the itinerary he prepared whether we needed to call and confirm or not. For this tour, we didn't need to check in. But Phil did that for us anyway, and we appreciated his help. I didn't know how much until this morning.
This morning, Sheryn called again to confirm our tour group was coming. And when they were 20 minutes late, she called the transport service the tour guides used by the tour service and fond out that our tour group canceled on us without bothering to tell anyone. That group was even more on the bad awesome scale than that pesky little iPad.
So, as our day was about to be ruined, Sheryn sprang into action. She contacted another family owned local business, Calypso Snorkel and Dive, who was already in route to take its group snorkeling and diving, to see if they could pick us up, while Sheryn worked out the transfer of the credit. In less than 10 minutes, we were on the bus to take our tour. This takes the awesome rating back to where it started and for what it really means. It also means good awesome has now evened the game with bad awesome. I cannot say how much we appreciate what Sheryn did for us.
And, as we were leaving, Sheryn told us that since we were able to get on the tour, this would be a win for us. Well, we don't exactly know, but the reason Phil had called Saturday was that the same group canceled on some other guests who were staying at the Peninsula that morning. So, we learned a new Aussie term today, "dodgey", meaning unreliable. I won't bother you with who the failures are that were going to get our money. I'll just recommend Calypso if you ever go to Port Douglas. And stay at the Peninsula Hotel.
We set out with Captain Lisa at the helm. She was originally from New Zealand and looked like she was about 22 years old. After putting her through withering cross-examination (hardly), she is older than that, but not much older. The education and practical training to operate a vessel that will carry 100 people, it pretty extensive, and this part of the South Pacific headed to the Coral Sea isn't exactly calm.
We went out to the outer banks of the Great Barrier Reef, which is not some type of monolithic reef, but rather a series of over 2,900 reefs stretching over 2,000 kilometers from Bundaberg to Cape York. That reef itself is relatively young, about 8,000 years old. The Australian Parliament established the Great Barrier Reef Marine Authority in 1975. The reef is basically a marine park. It is a natural wonder.
The trip out was about 50 kilometers from the mainland out to the Opal Reef. Once there, we got the two minute lesson in snorkeling, which was helpful and necessary, and with a noodle to go along with your snorkeling gear, not nearly as disorienting as trying to drive on the left side of the road from the passenger's seat of a car that has the turn signals reversed with the windshield wipers and a GPS that won't speak up when it needs to. I only damn near drowned once - not really, just swallowed about a quart of salt water when I would stick my head in too far or when I first jumped in. The water was a "balmy" 26 degrees centigrade which translates into that shock you get when you ease into the water, which we were doing, instead of jumping right in when the water is a little chilly. Could have worn a wet suit, but that is for sissies.
Rene was reluctant at first, but was happy she snorkeled. There is so much to see. And, like seeing the koalas, kangaroos, and emus in the wild last Wednesday, it is really special to see the marine life in its own habitat.
We stopped at three places along the reef. One more spectacular than the next. We saw thousands of fish of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Someone in our party saw a shark and another a turtle, but it was predominantly all these fish doing their business at the reef. The coral was beautiful. Our favorite was the clam shell coral. We saw dozens of those. The coral wasn't as colorful as what you might see on a TV special or books since we don't have the lights to show the colors (the water filters a lot of the brighter colors out). Nevertheless, the reef was spectacular and our guides know the ecosystem incredibly well.
We ended the day with dinner at the Hi Tide at our hotel. Sharyn was finishing her day's work and she and Phil sat at the table next to us.
This is a special place. And awesome. The good awesome.
To the Outback tomorrow. Sheryn has already called our tour guide and confirmed our pick up time, which she arranged to come 30 minutes later though it won't affect the length of the tour. So we have more time to enjoy the complimentary breakfast. Of course.
The clouds have cleared. Time to make sure the cross is still there. It is.
Cheers!
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