I forgot to mention that yesterday afternoon I stopped by a
great Asian Market, with all the fancy stuff that one could expect in Shanghai
or Taipei. I was considering getting a nice fish for dinner, when I spotted a
package of crocodile meat. Oh, the allure of something exotic. I picked one
package after the other trying to make my mind up. But all of them had big
ribbons of fat, and that got me wondering that crocs eat all sorts of rotten
fish and meat. At the end I didn’t buy it and settled for a local restaurant,
where I had a Mexican pizza (with jalapeňos, red bell peppers, and spicy
salami) and a nice cold beer.
Today at 7:30 am I boarded the sailboat Coral Sea Dreaming, together with eleven other adventurers, for a
snorkeling trip to the outer fringe of the Great Barrier Reef. I am so excited!
We started by motoring out for maybe an hour, and just as we
were getting ready to leave the quiet water of the bay the crew set up the sails
and Captain Jan warned us that the sea might get a bit rough. OMG, he was not
kidding. We were going at an angle to a swell of maybe 4 m in height, so sometimes
the boat would pitch and rise, and other times she would roll left and right,
and finally she would do both at the same time. Rock and roll!
Four hours later the wind had picked up to maybe 30 knots,
just as we were reaching the outer fringe of the Milln Reef, due east of Cairns
(the spot named The Whale). The Great Barrier Reef is not one solid reef
platform, but is formed by discrete reef mounds separated by deep sea
corridors, and we were now in the quiet zone behind Milln Reef. I did suffer stuffing
myself inside a number 6 wet suit (which I was trying to put on inside out). It
didn’t happen, and I had just accepted the fact that a gordito like me was not
meant to be inside a tight rubber suit when Alba, our hostess/cook/scuba
instructor, came up with a size 8 that actually worked for me.
The reef was fantastic! It was overcast above us, so the initial
impression was a dull brownish green, but as one got closer the kaleidoscope of
colors burst forth. How can one describe the variety of fish patterns and
colors? Neon blue jumps out of every corner of the reef, where a great variety
of fish wearing pajamas lazily get out of the way. Parrot fish scratch at the
reef, while small green fish try to hide by backing out into the crevices of a
big branch coral. I saw a Marvin fish, a school of Scarface fish, and even a Dory
fish! The corals themselves have a bewildering variety, ranging from massive
and rounded “brain” corals to delicate fan corals, and from wavy ruffles where
the mouths of the tiny polyps shimmer as the current moves over them to bundles
of “sticks” (staghorn corals) that for whatever reason from time to time
collapse and spread their “sticks” all over the reef sandy floor. Perhaps it is
storm damage?
After a great swim we were treated to a delicious lunch, and
afterward got ready for a second swim. That is when weak stomachs started
showing themselves. People started noticing that they were cold, they were
tired, and their stomach was acting up. So of 12 original explorers only three
of us went back in the drink. My efforts were rewarded by sights of two enormous
groupers (maybe 1 m long and half a meter tall) and another rainbow of colorful
fish. So far no sharks, whales, or marine turtles.
No comments:
Post a Comment