Diving in the Great Barrier Reef
Day 1: 2020-Feb-06
One day earlier we were in New Zealand exploring Akaroa, a little quaint town known for its French heritage. It was our last day in New Zealand. With the exception of a flight from Sydney to Hobart one week later, we had nothing planned for our next destination - Australia. The Great Barrier Reef seemed like a place not to be missed and perhaps our only chance to see it before climate change takes its toll. Recent studies forecast that the reef might disappear by 2050. In the last two decades there were several mass bleaching events caused by unusually warm sea surface temperatures. Mass bleaching events in 2016 and 2017 affected two thirds of the Great Barrier Reef and were well documented via aerial surveys. So we set to visit this fleeting natural wonder of the world.
We surely could take a train or public bus from Brisbane, our entry point in Australia, right? Not only is the train and long-distance public transportation lacking in Australia, we underestimated the size of the Great Barrier Reef and Australia in general. Cairns, the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, is 1700 km or 2+ hours’ flight North from Brisbane. We knew it was the largest coral reef structure in the world, however, the mere fact that its area stretches 2300 km off the Eastern coast of Australia and spans 344,400 sq. km still took us a minute to grasp. To put into perspective, the Great Barrier Reef is roughly the size of 70 million football fields or the same area as Japan, Germany, Malaysia and Italy combined. Since we only had one week to explore mainland Australia before heading to Tasmania our only option was a domestic flight from Brisbane to Cairns. Unlike more environmentally friendly transportation options, domestic flight routes in Australia are well established and are rather affordable.
Nico booked a roundtrip flight for the evening of Feb 5th, the date of our arrival to Brisbane, and back on the 9th. I proactively booked a hostel from Feb-6 to Feb-9 to ensure a place to stay upon arrival… We arrived in Cairns past midnight on Feb 6th and got to our hostel shortly after 1 am. The host opened the door and asked if we had booked our stay since he didn’t expect anyone checking-in that night?! I did notify the hostel about our early arrival… for the following night. It took a few minutes to settle the confusion. Our half-asleep and confused host took us to our room just to interrupt someone else’s sleep there. Being new to the reservation system, which he mentioned a few times to us and then to himself, he could not promise he would be able to help us. We were about to get stranded on our first night in Australia. Luckily after pocking for several minutes with the reservation system he was able to find an empty room for us.
We woke up early and still half asleep were on our way to book a boat tour. It didn’t take long before we were reminded that we were in Australia and that it is indeed wild. As soon as we left our hostel we stumbled upon a big tree with a colony of flying foxes. The creatures were restlessly hanging from all over the tree. We heard them before we could see them. People around us were going about their daily lives without showing a slight interest in the colony. In fact, as we learnt later there is an ongoing grassroots movement to remove the colony from the city center.
As we discovered there was no official or state-run visitor center and multiple tourist organizations were not locally owned. Multiple visitor centers and an overwhelming number of options didn’t make it easy to select the right tour. We finally settled on booking an overnight boat tour with a local tour agency who promised us the best experience for the best price.
We had time to explore Cairns and the surrounding area. We booked a car for a day and headed to the Mossman Gorge. The visitor center and the park trails are run by the local aboriginal community - Kuku Yalanji people - who are also the owners of the land. The drive along the coast to the Gorge offered breathtaking views of the ocean. There we registered for the aboriginal cultural tour. The Gorge itself is worth a visit. It is known as one of the best local swimming spots and more importantly as a pristine freshwater source.
The tour was not only educational but culturally immersive. We spent almost three hours with our guide Tom Creek. He shared his culture with us and showed a different way to experience marrdja (forest): via legends, dubuji (forest spirits) and the natural powers of its fauna and flora. We learned about traditional medicine, washed our hands with the leaves from soapbush (re: Acacia holosericea) and painted with local clay. We learned to say “Yalada” in yalanji language - Thank you. On the way back to Cairns we stopped at Palm Cove, recommended by a local as a place for a nice beach walk and dinner.
Day 2: Feb-7-2020
At 7 am we boarded the boat of Reef Encounters. Among people who were on the boat were those going on a day dive and those staying overnight and longer. After breakfast and filling our all the paperwork, we got a detailed rundown of our day schedule. Day boat brings overnight passengers to an agreed upon dive site where it picks up the divers to were scheduled to go back to Cairns and drops off the new batch of divers. Overnight passengers then enjoy two day dives and one night dive following by three more dives the following day or more if they stay more than one night on the boat. Those who purchased a five-dives prepaid package and are new to diving are usually surprised to learn that the actual number of dives is usually restricted by their flight schedule. Neither was the night dive included in the package. To avoid being disappointed it’s important to do the homework ahead of time. We didn’t. However, we didn’t purchase a prepaid package either. After talking to the instructor and divemasters on the boat we were persuaded that the night dive was a must. How could we miss the chance to swim with sharks and groupers, who were told to be in the big numbers during the dive attracted by the torch light? We had to do a day dive as a prerequisite. Warm water and multitude of colorful reefs and marine life made it very easy to enjoy the experience and triggered the desire for more. It is an addictive activity. The more experience you gain, the more you want to dive. It is also special in that it is built upon common sense and defiance of gravity. Colorful corals and beautiful harmless fish during the day transformed into dark grayish void filled with big fish searching for food at night: sharks (white, black-tip and gray reef sharks), cod, giant trevally and others. They were following human divers with torch lights lazily looking for food illuminated by curious us. Surprisingly yet, with a touch of light the corals are as a vivid and more as during the day. It .would have been a more fulfilling experience if I were comfortable to dive independently. Perhaps an Advanced Open Water Diver certification?.. Stunning views today and unforgettable experience snorkeling and diving. We decided to do a 6:30 morning dive the next day and two sessions of snorkeling. Not only we were limited by our upcoming flight the following day but try-dives were fairly expensive.
Day 3: Feb-8-2020
We woke up right before the sunrise and made our way to the upper deck to see the first morning sun. The sky was in full morning glory sprinkled with patches of yellow and pink. A brown booby was relaxing on the boat rail and enjoying the serenity of the morning. He looked at me with little curiosity and let me come close enough to say hello. Spotting boobies in a wild is always magical.
Few minutes later it was time for a morning dive at The Fingers. It’s a magical time to be in the water. Little colorful fish just woken up start feeding and playing in the corals while sharks and their other nocturnal friends have not yet fallen asleep. The water is crystal clear blue, morning sunshine penetrates the depth of the water, the temperature is pleasant and enjoyable to the body. We put our diving gear on and got ready for our last dive. Tomorrow we are flying to Brisbane and no diving is allowed 24 hours before the flight to avoid potentially fatal Decompression sickness disease (DCD). The schools of fish and lonely adventurers surrounded us from all sides: trout, sweetlips, parrotfish, butterfly fish, cardinal fish. They mostly seemed to be ignorant of us and continued their breakfast followed by hide and seek game. At times I had an indispensable desire to be part of the school, to attract their attention, to have them play with me… in vain. The colors of the corals ranged from ionic teal to deep purple to orange to pink, making up every single color and more of the color pallet in a modern paint shop. They resembled a fairytale like the garden from Alice in Wonderland. A white-tip reef shark seemingly asleep woke up and started scanning for the last final meal of the day. She did not care much about us, divers. Few minutes later eel in a mesmerizing serpentine movement swam below me. Seeing the creature in the water is absolutely stunning. We continued swimming with the multitude of fish among the corals very carefully not to disturb their world. Corals are slow growing and long-lived sea animals. They grow only meager few inches per year, and even a slight damage means years of growth lost. If left not damaged they can greet visitors for the next 800 years! When you get to know them you want to protect them and their fragile ecosystem.
Today we have two more snorkeling sessions and then back to land full of tropical birds and flying-foxes. For the final snorkeling sessions the boat relocated to the Twin Peaks area. The name triggered nostalgic emotions of being away from home. Great Barrier Reef’s Twins Peaks as its, likely more famous San Francisco cousins, did not disappoint. There we spotted a curious and timid clown fish peeking from its coral.
The last snorkeling session was quite short as we were about to transfer to the day boat for our return trip to Cairns.
The overnight reef tours are run in a fairly ingenious way and highly flexible way. One can stay as many days as they wish on the boat, provided there is availability. Daily the day boat drops-off and picks up the passengers. The overnight boat offers a hostee program, which can be a great bargain for young travelers with time and little budget to stay on the boat longer. Any passenger who stays on a boat as a customer for the first night can become a hostee for the consequent one to several nights. A hostee helps with boat upkeep like washing the dishes, doing laundry and etc. and in return he or she can stay without a charge and enjoy at minimum one dive per day. Those lucky few who visiting during the low season and calm sunny weather get the most of the offer.
Once back in Cairns we spent some time exploring the galleries that featured aboriginal arts. Northern Queensland has a sizable aboriginal community 4.4% (221,400 as of 2018) and is a great place to learn more about the First Nations people of Australia. I wish we had more time to explore and learn. In the evening we headed back to the flying foxes colony. Being nocturnal, they fly away in search for food with the sunset. Looking closely in the binoculars we could see them waking up, spreading their wings, jumping between the branches. Around 6 pm the first foxes started to fly away. As the sun was getting lower more foxes were up in the sky, at first circling around the tree and then flying away into the city and into the void of the horizon. With sunset the sky was turning darker more so from the thousands of flying foxes rather than the lack of light. The full moon amplified the surreality of the scenery and elevated the feelings of superiority of the nature over humans. It was, perhaps, the most majestic manifestation of the power of nature I have experienced so far on our trip. The creatures, however, incredible and mesmerizing to watch, are loud and contribute to pollution of the water tanks with drinking water. It is no wonder that they get a lot of complaints from the locals. Yet, they are an important element of the local eco-system and serve as principal pollinators of variety of plants. Without them the eco-system might not survive. I hope flying foxes continue their symbiotic relationship with the residents and tourists alike.
Useful links:
Reef Encounters: we loved our diving experience with this company. It’s locally owned and offers different rate options.
PADI: though try diving has been an amazing experience, I highly recommend getting certified. The experience is exponentially better if you are comfortable under the water and much more affordable.
Freedom Hostels Cairns: is centrally located and deluxe rooms are quite nice. Basic windowless option is somewhat meh.
Spectacled Flying-Foxes: these special creatures deserve few minutes of an additional read.
