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| Day 6 - Saturday, October 6th, 2001 Port Douglas - Sunny 29°C | ||
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After a one-hour ride out to the reef, we arrived at the Quicksilver platform. A fleet of catering vessels services this huge, exclusive two-deck complex anchored in a dedicated area of the reef. It features copious amounts of snorkeling area with supplied equipment and with or without instruction, professional SCUBA instructors and equipment, glass bottomed touring semi-submarines, a helipad for aerial tours (cha-ching!), onsite nature specialists, and a large galley complete with a full bar. Not wanting to dilly-dally, we immediately selected our snorkeling equipment and headed for the water. It is difficult to put into words the beauty and diversity of the reef, but suffice it to say we will never forget it. A full spectrum of colours and a diversity of wildlife were all around us. The pictures we took do it no justice at all, catching only a small glimpse of what we witnessed. After having already used up all the film in our cameras within the first ten minutes of being in the water, we spent another fifty minutes simply enjoying the warm water and the sites from one end to the other of the large area. We exited just in time for lunch, which we ate quickly, then proceeded to the underwater observation area. An interesting set-up, but after having snorkeled and seen most of it up close, it paled in comparison. We decided to take a trip on one of the glass bottom submarines that was just about ready to depart. Taking us to a different area of the reef, we saw a coral shark and a ray, as well a many diverse schools of fish. Once we returned to the platform, we headed back to the snorkeling area for another dip. We purchased two more underwater cameras and then spent another forty-five minutes in the water. After the boarding call sounded, we quickly gathered our things and once again headed to the upper deck for the return trip. We arrived in port around 16:30 and then walked back to the hotel. We quickly went out again to drop off them underwater film to be developed, then purchased some postcards and stamps to send home. Not being very hungry, we had some small sandwiches for dinner then relaxed and filled out the postcards until we felt tired enough to sleep. |
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ne of our most anxiously awaited moments of the trip was our experience at the Great Barrier Reef, and we were not disappointed. We stopped in to a local store to purchase some underwater cameras, and then made our way to the marina for our 09:30 boarding call. We proceeded to the upper outdoors deck of the Quicksilver VII, a three-deck catamaran that holds three hundred and twenty five passengers and ten crew. We were underway by 10:00 and quickly reached our maximum speed of thirty-one knots. What a ride!
