Spring Break Installment 2

September 20-21

Monday the 20th Chris and I were scheduled to go snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef, something I had dreamed of doing since my childhood. The dive center told us it was to be the calmest day (in terms of wind and waves) of the month, according to weather predictions. This equated to a glassy, undisturbed surface that would make viewing the reef even better. We staggered to the marina and Finger C in the morning, not in the best of shape from the night before. Chris was quoted saying, "I hope I don't puke on the fish." It took a couple hours to get out to our destination on the outer reef, where amidst the never-ending sea of blue some light green and olive patches appeared. Although these were small fragments, it's worth mentioning that the GBR is the only living thing visible from space. The current coral remains date back about 8,000 years, but the structure was formed about 500,000 years ago. What we see when we look at a coral reef are actually dead calcium carbonate formations left by the coral, while the live creatures live on the outer surfaces where light reaches. Coral itself consists of a mutualism between coral polyps and photosynthetic zooxanthellae, and these mutualisms, among others, are what make such a diverse and lively ecosystem in very nutrient poor waters. Anyway, enough nerdy stuff.

We hooked up to a larger overnight vessel that was stationed just off of our reef and suited up in flippers, wetsuits and snorkels. While Chris did an introductory dive, I swam off to the reef to explore. What I found was just as I had imagined, only more. The reef was incredibly complex, and just when I thought I had seen everything there was to see, something new would appear, or I would discover another niche in the reef or a new school of fish. I can't come anywhere close to identifying all of the fish I saw, but they include multiple species of clownfish, parrotfish, angelfish, butterfly fish, damselfish, wrasses, snapper, groupers, and a small (say 4 feet) reef shark. The reef was covered in sponges, clams and sea squirts. The dive instructor also brought up a large red sea cucumber from the ocean floor. In the afternoon dive session, we rented an underwater camera, which I took full advantage of. However, while putzing around with the camera I neglected to pay attention to my surroundings, and I floated over the reef. As I kicked my flippers to propel myself forward with the camera, I whacked my leg against the coral. Bad news. Coral is related to jellyfish and sea anemones, which almost all have poisons to kill or stun their pray. The coral formations are also limestone, which is razor sharp. This meant I scraped my leg up pretty good and also ended up in a health clinic a few days later with a nasty infection. Totally worth the battle wounds though.

The following day, we set out in the morning on a chartered fishing trip in the estuary. For the first part, we watched as our guide (rather unsuccessfully) caught a bunch of live bet with a hand-thrown net. The actual fishing turned out to be rather disappointing, with only Hughesy landing a good-sized Grunter. The rest of us landed a handful of fish that weren't much bigger than hand-size. Still, it was cool to spend some time out around the mangroves, although it would have been nice to see a saltwater croc.