Out to the outer Great Barrier Reef! We packed up in the morning and had breakfast with the silvereyes and rails, one last time. After checking out of the hotel at 10, we took one last stroll around the island before boarding the 11:15 boat to the outer reef. The company that runs the hotel on the island also maintains a permanent pontoon on Norman Reef, about an hour by boat due north of Green Island.
The ocean was a bit choppy, making the boat ride fairly rough, but I didn't want to take Dramamine because I was worried that it would make me to drowsy to swim. Turns out that this was a bit of a mistake since I was a feeling a little icky when we got to the pontoon, but I gamely suited up anyway and hit the water. At first, it was disappointing compared to the island. We were swimming right off of the pontoon, and we could see a few fish, but no corals. And the choppy water was making swimming difficult and getting water into my snorkel. Between that and the coldness of the water and the fact that my stomach was still a little upset, I decided to get out and take a break after 20 minutes or so of paddling around. Michael got back in without me and came back terribly excited after a few minutes to get me back into the water --- he'd found the reef.
Just a few meters away from the pontoon, and away from everyone else launching into the water as well, was the reef. It was magnificent, and well worth getting back into the cold, choppy water. The water was much deeper than around the island, but still no more than 20 feet or so, and all the way from the surface to the sea floor there were hundreds of different kinds of coral: flat table corals, hard corals, soft corals...I don't even know what to call most of them, but the view was like something out of a movie. And the fish! There were the same ones that we'd seen back at the island, but more of them, and bigger, and in bigger schools. There was even a gigantic Maori wrasse swimming near the launching platform, close enough to touch (this probably had something to do with the fact that one of the boat staff was dropping bits of shrimp from the buffet into the water. That's cheating!).
I spent about another half an hour in the water, looking at fish and bobbing on the surface like a cork, then I got out and dried off and sat in a patch of sun to warm up. Michael came out with me and had some lunch from the buffet (fairly yucky and bland vegetarian curry; I only had some fruit since my stomach was still a little precarious), and the he got back in the water to explore further. We'd bought a disposable underwater camera that morning from one of the shops at the resort, which Michael had with him, and I can't wait to get the photos developed. Hopefully some of them will come out without being too blurry. This is the one thing that I miss a little bit about traditional film cameras: With digital, you can see right away what the photo will look like, but having to get the photos developed adds an element of suspense. Once we get to Canberra, we'll try to get the photos developed onto a disc so that I can post them, if they're any good.
The boat was due to depart the pontoon and head back to Green Island at 3:30, which gave us only about 3 hours total at the outer reef. Michael came out and dried off around 3:15, and joined me for a few minutes in the underwater observatory off the pontoon before we got back on the boat to go back. We stopped first at Green Island to let off the guests staying there and to pick up the day-trippers, and then continued on to Cairns. Our luggage had been shipped ahead of us, so we picked it up at the ferry terminal before going to our hotel, 201 Lake Street. They'd upgraded us into a one-room apartment, which was very chic --- the sort of thing you'd pay a good half-million dollars for as a vacation home. Unfortunately, it had been shut up for a while and smelled a bit mildewy, but once we exchanged the towels and opened all the windows and turned on all the fans, it wasn't bad at all.
After all our exertions, we were both craving Italian food. We went down to the main pedestrian mall and ate at La Fettuccina, which we'd expected to be barely a half step up from The Olive Garden, but which actually turned out to have some very thoughtfully prepared dishes. No canned, pre-made sauces here, and the pasta was cooked perfectly. The food wasn't brilliant, but it was good. On the way back to the hotel, we walked along the Esplanade beside the water, but couldn't see too much since it was dark. More exploring is warranted tomorrow.
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