Days 35 & 36: Overnight on the Barrier Reef

So I had booked on an overnight snorkeling trip that sounded fantastic. It actually was fantastic, but not in ways that I expected as I shall reveal. Early in the morning one of my Air BNB hosts gave me a lift to the harbor. Instead of heading out on the boat upon which my smallish group would be spending the night, we were on an enormous vessel, holding a couple of hundred people. Again it was a long way out to the reef and again there was a buffet lunch on board the boat. But all snorkeling and diving was done from a permanent pontoon, and it was crowded!

The women's changing room was very small and very wet; before struggling my way into my damp stinger suit I did a round in the semi-submersible. It was very like the submarine ride at Disneyland, except we saw real fish! The windows were not too clear, but the images were a bit more colourful than they look here! (But my underwater photos are even more colourful; keep scrolling if you're bored...)

My first bit of snorkelling was rather unimpressive. The current was extremely strong - I was holding on to ropes a lot of the time - and the water was not that clear. And it was so crowded! On my snorkelling trip up north I think the boat held 50 people maximum. This pontoon hosted 300! Of course not everybody was in the water at the same time, and some didn't go in at all, but I didn't stay in long.

I got out and went back to the boat to have lunch. The boat remained at the pontoon for about four hours in all. It was blissful when everyone apart from the overnighters had to leave. We were free to go back in the water for as long as we wanted. I actually waited a while, because even though I knew it wasn't going to be crowded, I was expecting the same murkiness. What a pleasant surprise to find the following! And have it all to myself!

So that was all good... My next complaint was that the description had said that we had a choice of bunking down in a cabin or in a swag under the stars. It turned out that there was one cabin in total, on a different pontoon altogether, and only available by special arrangement, not that I would have qualified anyway, being on my own. (It had been hard enough obtaining the information about this excursion I had booked through STA at the time I purchased my round the world flight; after countless phone calls, emails and walk-ins - for some reason the STA in either Auckland or Melbourne could not give one any information about an excursion that they were selling themselves from the same brochure, even though I could show proof that I had purchased it!)

At least the five other females and myself had the tiny, wet and smelly changing cabin to ourselves, as well as the underwater observation chamber (photos coming up), but otherwise one was totally exposed to the elements at all times. And it was unbelievably windy! Almost like camping on the edge of a hurricane... You had to make sure your belongings were weighted or tied down at all times.

Still, a fabulous sunset, and a delicious BBQ dinner prepared by our guide followed.

Here's a photo from the underwater observation room. Three of our party went for a night dive and we watched them from there. (But it was too dark to take any photos!)

After dark, there wasn't much else to do. We sat on deck for a while but it was so windy. Might as well try to have an early night! Our swags had been set up for us on the top deck. I believe they had a zipper so that you could look up at the stars, but it was too dark and windy to figure that out. And not at all peaceful; it was extremely noisy, like trying to sleep in a wind tunnel and it really felt like the tent was going to be blown away at any second!

So I didn't get much sleep, but was happy to rise in the morning to a cooked breakfast and another private snorkeling session...

I stayed in the water until the boat returned, with another group of day trippers. I was spoiled by then, so did not bother having another snorkel with the crowds. I had forgotten to take a photo of the upper deck with our swags but I took a few shots of the pontoon (you can see the other one in the distance in this first shot) and the environs before we had to say farewell and go back on the boat.

This is where I spent the windy night.

Here is our group - from the USA, Spain, Germany and Norway; our guide/cook in the blue shirt. Once we got back to Airlie Beach I went for a meal with the four on the left.

Back at the Air BNB my hosts were away so I had the flat to myself. There was a nice pool there but I never used it; I think I was spoiled by the ocean!