Back to Australia October 2014 | OMG it's aMAZing down there!

Update: the pill, the sleep and the rocking boat. It was a sloshy trip across to where we are now moored and by most accounts a sleepless night onboard. I managed without the pill, but didn’t get a lot of sleep after 1 am. Seems the middle section—probably out in open water—was the rockiest, but I figured out which way to straddle the bed so as not to fall out (just kidding) and imagined myself a baby in a rocker. Everything starts early here in North Queensland I assume because it gets so hot by mid-day that anything strenuous needs to be done and over with by noon. I had real fresh cooked oatmeal for breakfast this morning; not something out of a paper tub, and more fatty bacon, and boned ham (not the deli kind) and passion fruit and watermelon, and eggs, and …. oooh, it was delicious. Not that I was hungry. We are very well fed!

We spent today on and about Lizard Island. It was hit by a cyclone in April and the damage to the land is quite evident but the reef was not significantly damaged. The only resort on the island—Lizard Island Resort—is closed until repairs can be done and four of the guests on board are on this boat after being bumped. It can’t be all that bad.

You can see  Lizard Island here before the cyclone, and this is what the island looks like today.

We spent the morning in Turtle Bay, snorkelling and it is AMAZING. I don’t know what else to say and I’m not taking photos underwater so you will just have to believe me. My big aha moment was when I figured out that Nemo is an anemone. Get it? There are tonnes (!) of them. It’s teeming with fish, every colour of the rainbow and then some, and every possible size and shape, some as tiny as a sliver and others the size of a good walleye. So far I’ve not seen any of BIG FISH!

Our glass bottom boat that gets us back and forth from ship to shore on Lizard Island.

 The water is about 25 degrees but I did wear my snorkelling suit today. Thank you Margaret for this gift. Although I rarely have opportunity to wear it, in this environment it can be a life saver. Stinger season begins this Friday and we are on guard for stinging jelly fish, one very large and boxy, and one much smaller and harder to detect. Most snorkelers are wearing some type of protection—they rent/sell stinger suits—and I am cozy and comfortable in mine. So for the am, ship to shore, snorkelling, tea on shore, shore to ship, clean up a wee bit, lunch, and a bit of sun on the deck.

I took in the dive orientation this morning and this afternoon practiced all the skills off Wilson Beach so I’m set to go tomorrow, assuming I get up the nerve. EJ is a patient teacher, and there are only three of us at this level so should be fun. ONLY down to 10 metres. She’s promising a feast down there, on Ribbon Reef #3. Today, the big siting was the giant clams, huge things, with big mouth holes hidden under a ridge of bright colour—blue, green, purple, yellow, sometimes all mixed in beautiful ribbons that gently open and close. I have no idea how big these ones were because it’s under water and so very hard to tell, but they grow old (100 years) and by then can be over a metre in size and 200 kg in weight. Someone claimed to see a white tip shark, but I missed it while working on my scuba skills. I’m wishing I’d found time to do that at home before I left.

We’ve just had the call to drink on the sundeck, and it’s barbeque night, so more kangaroo I’m sure. It’s good wild meat, very rare, and when marinated in something tasty and tender. I think it’s naturally tough though, so we’ll see how our captain does on the barbe tonight.

Sunset off Lizard Island. We have some company here in the harbour, but we head out and sail overnight anyway.