Day 20 Port Douglas and the Great Barrier Reef
Another amazing day…. We were collected by coach and drove
an hour north to the tourist town of Port Douglas where we boarded our
Quicksilver boat for the 90 minute cruise through a bay of the Coral Sea to the
outer reef. Specifically, we
visited Agincourt 3 Reef – where a
pontoon is permanently moored – and where, only 500 metres away, the
continental shelf ends and the sea floor drops to several thousand metres. To keep us entertained on the way, there were
refreshments, talks by the guides and fantastic scenery as we passed first the
Low Isles and then Snapper Island before reaching the reef area where the sea
was streaked with varying shades of turquoise.
We had booked a snorkelling experience with a marine
biologist guide to get the most out of our time at the reef…and once squeezed
into our lycra suits, masks and fins, we plunged off the dive platform and
spent over an hour exploring this underwater world. Our guide, it turned out, was English – from London…She had
studied marine biology in Liverpool of all places, but she came out to Cairns
on a holiday and….Well, it’s that same old story again….
The snorkelling was quite spectacular. We saw at least 5
different types of coral – some bright blue from the algae it attracted - a
giant clam – that dutifully closed when touched by our guide-, a ‘cleaning
station’ under some plate coral - where tiny fish ate the parasites from large
groupers-, damsel fish, butterfly fish, young barracudas, strange blue worms –
and several ‘Nemo’ clown fish living in anemone. We learned about each of the fish we saw….’Finding Nemo’ has a
few inaccuracies, it seems. Apparently, there is always just one female in a
group – and if she dies, the largest male changes sex into a female….so, when
Nemo’s mum was eaten, his dad should have become his mum….oh, never mind – it
was Disney…and a cute story…
We also learned about a kind of coral – mushroom coral –
that produces sunscreen of above SPF 50, some fish that change colour chameleon-like
to match their surroundings – and when the lead fish changes, the whole school
changes to match. (The school we saw was blue, though there was a rogue
yellow/orange one in there – the marine biologist thought it must be from a
different group and got lost!) One of
the most amazing fish, though, was a very territorial sandy-coloured fish that
actually ‘farmed’ algae on the seabed.
Our guide found a broken bit of coral and placed it on the fish’s ‘farm’
of algae and the fish darted straight for the coral, picked it up and moved it
off the algae, to be sure that the algae got enough sunlight. Quite amazing!
After our swim, we had a wonderful buffet lunch and then
went out in the semi-submersible submarine that ventures further towards the
edge of the continental shelf – where the white-tipped sharks and sea turtles
tend to swim. One of each appeared on
cue….this company clearly has the marine life well-trained… It was fun, but not nearly as satisfying as
the snorkelling and I’m not sure I’d try it if I were very
claustrophobic….. The pontoon also has
an underwater observatory – we did go and have a look – but it was clearly
intended for people who didn’t want to get their feet wet and the view was
mostly of snorkellers getting in and our of the water….
Afternoon coffee and tea was served as we set off for
the return journey - - and as well as the view, there was a DVD of creatures of
the Great Barrier Reef to entertain us.
It was hard to keep our eyes open on the coach back via Trinity Beach
Resort….We’ll sleep well again tonight…
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