9 Jan 2014

I actually managed to convince myself to get up for Pilates despite not going to bed until almost midnight! Afterwards I did some laps in the lagoon with the rest of the old folks who get up way too early. Getting in shape Aussie grandma style! My swimsuit bottoms couldn’t even handle staying on during a moderate freestyle. Seriously time for new ones.

Then I went to the geocache I couldn’t find yesterday. It’s actually under the boardwalk. After seeing the giant Beware of Crocodiles sign and weighing my options I decided I didn’t want it that bad. Though the 6 travel bugs inside made it very hard to resist.. So I went to the muscle man workout area and looked for the cache there. It was less crowded at early, so I was able to conduct a thorough search of the equipment and surrounds. No luck. At that point I figured the playground one would be crawling with children so I decided to give up.

Due to a severe salt shortage in the hostel I’ve been forced to eat my eggs with cheese for breakfast. Pro Tip: For any admirers planning on making me breakfast, I HATE eggs with cheese. I don’t even know who I am anymore.

I attempted to go use the hostel computer but the hostel guy saw me trying to unplug the keyboard USB in the back of the computer to plug in my camera. Luckily he thought I was just trying to use the USB in the front and told me it didn’t work. I decide that only the less visible computer in the corner was good for illicit picture uploads.

That evening I attended the free body sculpt class. It was a lot more intense than Pilates. It involved running. WTF. I just wanted to pretend to exercise to feel good about myself. My abs were toast by the end. I was also pretty sweaty so I went into the lagoon to cool off and wait for hostel dinner time. I left the lagoon when some dude threw his spawn right next to me, then gave me a very half hearted apology. My book was all wet.

10 Jan 2014

I realized that I was wearing all my free bin stuff, hat, bag, and long beachy shirt. Super fashion forward.

It was Great Barrier Reef day! I arrived at the cruise terminal right at 730, a bit sweaty because I was power walking so as not to be late. I should have known they’d be planning on the tourists being late, especially in laid-back Cairns. I was one of the first people there. And all I was doing was checking in and getting my ticket. Boarding didn’t happen until 8. Some little old Asian lady talked to me and told me her granddaughter, who was sitting quietly nearby, was scuba diving that day. I realized when we were boarding that the old lady wasn’t coming. I think she was trying to make friends for her granddaughter before she left for her big scary alone adventure. The granddaughter mostly seemed embarrassed. We didn’t talk for the entire trip.

The winds were pretty strong so they advised seasick medication for anyone prone to seasickness. I bought some. Pro Tip: Bring sea sickness meds. They will charge you the price of a whole pack for just one on the boat. The ride out had some pretty massive waves. I tried to take a picture of the giant wake we were creating but I’m not sure it did it justice. The inside was pretty plush, as I had booked the fancy outer-reef, rich-people tour., but I stayed outside. I told myself I wanted to watch things go by, but really I tend to get less sick if I’m outside.

We got a nice snorkeling tutorial from the tiny Asian instructor guy. He was pretty funny, intentionally, not just because he was Asian. He did keep saying we could see “leemos”. I wasn’t sure what he was saying. Maybe lemur? That didn’t sound right. I’ve never heard of reef lemurs. I finally figured out he was saying “Nemos”. As in Clownfish. That made a lot more sense. Apparently they’re one of the main things people want to see despite them being in every dentist office ever (including in the movie).

I was hoping for octopuses, turtles, cuttlefish, and maybe non threatening sharks. I did not care about Nemos. I did end up with some Nemo pictures.

We reached the first site and put on our sting suits, aka the Blue Man audition suits. Pro Tip: Sting suits are meant to protect from jellyfish AND also the prevent sunburns. You’re floating in the water for over two hours. Wear one. I swam around a bunch and took lots of pictures. The most notable creature in the first site was a giant clam. Which wasn’t even giant compared to the next site’s giant clam. Other than that lots of colorful fishies. I like the parrotfish because their color range so widely. Unlike other fish that all tend to look alike. They can be purple,blue,yellow,orange,spotty,stripey,solid, or ugly brown. Or any combination of those.

The second site was the best. Because I bolted down lunch I had almost an hour and a half of snorkeling. I found the sandy patch full of giant clams. Then I found yet truly giant clam. I took a video of it closing up as I waved my hand over it, they’re very sensitive to changes in lighting. Then I accidentally, literally, ran into another snorkeler. She ask if I had see the turtles. I hadn’t. Apparently they had gone right by me as I was fixating on the clam. Damn it.

So I tried to not think about it and just look at all the other majesty. There were neat sea cucumbers and things to see. Then I saw a turtle! I followed it around for a solid 20 minutes taking videos and pictures. They are completely unconcerned with people following them unless you move too quickly. It was just eating algae off the coral. But very cutely. I was trying to catch it coming up for air but it turns out they can hold their breath a long-ass time. The boat horn blew, signaling us to come back before he needed to breathe.

The next site was the last. It was right near the continental shelf. There was a guided snorkel tour but after the very first thing, bringing up a sea cucumber for us to pet, it was pretty boring. Pro Tip: Guided snorkel tours aren’t worth it if you’ve ever seen a fish before. His little talks were over before most of the people caught up with him. Anyway he did find a shark and then promptly went down and pinched its tail. Which made it swim away. Not sure why he did that I’m sure people were trying to get pictures. Seemed like a douche move, him just trying to show off. I didn’t mind because I went off to follow the other one that no one else had seen.

That reef was supposed to be the best, but was the worst in my opinion. It was too deep. It was probably the best for the divers, but for us it was a lot less exciting. I’m pretty good at holding my breath and going pretty deep, the giant giant clam definitely was down there, but this was beyond me. So I just kinda went around the small portion that was shallower. I saw a blue spotted ray, but I had seen one at the first sight and videoed it. I didn’t feel like diving again. I was starting to get seasick. Yes, seasick while swimming. The waves a bit rougher near the shelf because the reef isn’t shallow enough to disrupt them.

I started taking pictures of the pretty corals because I thought they deserved some love too. I didn’t want to ignore them just because they don’t move. I take pictures of trees, after all. Apparently I missed the horn to go back to the boat. Because the lifeguard lady came by on a smaller craft to ask if i was ok. I said I was and headed back in. Back on board I went for my second dose of motion sickness mess.

We got back around 5. I decided to sit in the park and read since I had time to kill before dinner. I don’t like sitting around the hostel. It feels lazy and awkward. The the Zumba class started up right in front of me. I figured I had to join.