Hamilton Island Marina

We spent two nights at Hamilton Island. Met up with several other boats we were cruising with, and enjoyed sharing sea stories with Gary and Lynn Schmidt from Meshugah. I hiked to the lookout at One Tree Hill overlooking the Fitzalan Passage.

Hill Inlet

 
We hiked up to the lookout from Tongue Bay. The Hill Inlet is magnificent! Whitehaven beach is adjacent and is 5km of pure white sand.

Whitehaven Beach

 
WE departed Cid Harbor at 9:05am, timing the tides through first the Fitzalan Passage (south side), then past Frith Rock in into Soloway Passage at 11:05am. Whirlpools were visible as we approached the point. It was a pretty windy trip with 25kt winds from the SE. Arrived at Whitehaven at 11:30am. Took a stroll on the beach; they were playing beach cricket!

Cid Harbor

We arrived in Cid Harbor at 10:00am today. We anchored in the southern corner. It was a much better anchorage than last night - very quiet and calm. It was rainy and overcast. Maddie found this Goanna. We had cocktails with Lady Elizabeth II, Bloody Mary and Rum & Coke (a catamaran). Maddie made a nice salad for dinner. We watched Holiday on the DVD player.

Langford Island, Maureen's Cove

We stopped for lunch at Langford Island about 12:30. We had some troubles with the mooring, and I had to make an unscheduled swim. Had lunch and a shower.

We proceeded around Black Island and around the point to the north coast of Hook Island.

We picked up the last mooring in Maureen's Cove because all of the moorings were taken at Butterfly Bay. It was rather lumpy.

Nara Inlet

We departed Abel Point Marina at 1:20pm after our briefing, and loading the boat. We arrived at Nara Inlet at 3:20pm, and were anchored in time for our radio schedule at 4:00pm. We visited with Peter and Julie (and their three kids Alex, Arcadia and Luke) on Stealing Beauty. The Southern Cross is amazing when viewed away from the city lights.

Long drive to Airlie Beach

 
We decided to go sailing earlier than planned. It was a long drive (on thye wrong side of the road) from Port Douglas to Airlie Beach. We started at 6:30am and didn't arrive until 5:00pm. Our boat "Serenity" was ready for the morning, but we had a lot of shopping to do to get provisions for the week.

Port Douglas/ Dainree

We explored the Port Douglas Area today. We had "Lunch with the Lorikeets" at The Rainforest Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary. It was a bit over rated - who wants birds competing for your food? (Not to mention the other thing they are good at)

Geat Barrier Reef, Saxon/Sandra

We decided to skip the 6:00am dive, but had two incredible dives at Norman/Sandra today. We saw a fantastic turtle (about 4 feet in size) and all kinds of fish. This was the best spot yet!

After lunch, we headed back to Cairns on the smaller catamaran. We had a great dinner at Captain Jacks with the Morley's, Celine & Cedric, Jennifer and Barbara. The Barramundi was fabulous.

I have uploaded more
Great Barrier Reef photos to PicasaWeb.

Great Barrier Reef - Norman

Wake up at 5:50am. We hit the water at sunrise at 6:30am for a 45 minute dive to 17 meters at Norman/Playground. We practiced CESA (controlled emergency swimming ascent), and the spent some time playing with sea cucumbers and a large clam. We also saw a lion fish which is rather poisonous. The water is a lovely 85 degrees with 50 foot visibility.



When Madison and I walked up to the bridge to watch maneuvers to the next spot on the reef, captain Greg gave Madison the helm and directed this 105 foot vessel to withing 30 feet of the reef - 10 degrees port rudder, ahead one third on the starboard engine. Maddie was nervous, but we picked up the mooring perfectly at Norman/Caves!

Our next dive was at 9:00 am at Norman/Caves. Forty minutes later, after practising underwater compass navigation, we passed our PADI "Open Water" diving certification.

We were then allowed to dive on our own (with buddies of course). At 11:00am, four of us from the class did our first dive without an instructor.



The final dive for the day was a night dive with the sharks. We had watched in horror the night before when the shined a bright light into the water, and dozens of sharks up to 10 feet long circled. After many assurances that they had only lost a few divers (well actually none) to the sharks, we boldly jumped in with our flashlights. Swimming up the side of the ship in our scuba gear in moderate seas with black flashlights, it seamed more like a commando raid. As promised, nobody was eaten, but we now have great bragging rights!

First day on the Great Barrier Reef

Today we were taken to the reef on a large catamaran (tidbit: the captain said the engines consumed 5 liters per mile - each!). The reef that we went to "Norman/Sandra" was an hour and a half out of Cairns at 23 knots. We did two dives with out instructor Emily. The first dive we did cramp removal, tired diver tow, snorkel/regulator exchange, remove/replace scuba, and remove/replace weights at 12 meters depth (23 minutes of bottom time). We saw a huge wrasse. An hour and a half later, we did another dive, and saw bat fish and many others (including the local favorite "Wally").

We were then taken to the Ocean Quest - our home for the next two days. It is a 35 meter catamaran "floating hotel" that stays on the reef 10 weeks at a time (returning only to quench its 400 liter/day diesel thirst). It moves twice a day to new dive locations and was very comfortable. The crew and diving staff were great, and so was the food. Dive times are called five times a day starting at 6:00am.

Second day in the pool. Progressively more difficult feats underwater. The afternoon was spent with dive tables, residual nitrogen, surface intervals, and the written exam. We picked up a rental underwater camera from "Digital Diver". It was a 10 megapixel Canon in an underwater housing. We were given great tips on how to get good pictures. We then attended "Reef Teach", a 2 hour review by marine biologists (one of which who taught at CIMI on Catalina Island) on the reef, the many species of fish and corals, and of course the ones with potent venom. Madison decided she wasn't going to touch anything! The basic rules is, "if it is brightly colored and pretty, it is poisonous."
Afterwards, we had dinner with Celene and Cedrik (Celine is a PhD in soil science, and her husband is working on his).

Deep Sea Divers Den - First Day

In he morning we started with a medical exam, and intensive classroom study. We had lunch across the street at the deli, and then it was straight to the pool. In increasingly hard steps, we went through all the basics ... take your mask off for 60 seconds under water, then put it back on and clear the water from it, getting air from your buddy.

Maddie and I found it easy. (I actually had a PADI certificate from 25 years ago) But we lost our first classmate (of 6), a girl from England that just couldn't handle it. Our instructor Emily is from New Zealand. All words have long 'Eeeees' in them. For example 'head' is pronounced 'heeeed'. It takes a couple of tries sometimes to understand her. One of the women in the class is French, and her English is actually easier to understand.

We got up at the crack of dawn for a 7am Virgin Blue flight to Cairns (2 hours, about 850 mi north of Brisbane), and a gateway for the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree National Forest.

It was a quick easy flight. Virgin Blue does some smart things, such as boarding from both the front and rear doors, free Wifi at the gate - and the staff are very friendly.

When trying to orient oneself, a major twist is that the sun is in the northern part of the sky (southern latitudes - Brisbane is about 27 degrees south, and Cairns is only 17 degrees south of the equator).

It is winter here, and the "dry" season; Cairns averages 78 inches of rain per year!

We checked into the Rydges Tradewinds. It was descent, but we had to switch rooms to find a room whose internet access was working.

Maddie and I walked around town, and found good spots for food and coffee.

Our diving course starts in the morning.

Even Denny got to hold a Koala

Lone Pine Koala Preserve

What an amazing day. We just got back from a wonderful day at Lone Pine Koala Preserve. Madison was a "Keeper for a Day". Rebecca took us all around Lone Pine. We collected leaves for the Koalas, fed them, and of course ... Maddie got to hug her Koala! I got great photos and video!

Same for kangaroos, wombats, and possums. She was in hog heaven. We also saw a great sheep dog show using border collies herding sheep.

Finally home (to the McElligott's) for pumpkin soup, followed by award winning lattes, and guitar hero playoff between Madison, Adrian, and nephew Russell.

A little detour on the way to Australia

I tried to get window/aisle seats for Madison and myself, but Qantas claimed the plane was full, so we sat in separate sides of the plane. By an incredible stroke of fate, no one sat next to me ... or in the aisle and I was able to sleep 3 seats across!

What do you do if you are 75% of the way across the Pacific Ocean on the way to Brisbane, and the airport is closed due to fog? Oh, and BTW, so are the neighboring airports, and you don't have enough fuel to get to Sydney...

Well, you land in Fiji at 3am!

Now, how do you notify your friend Adrian, how is planning to meet you at 6am at Brisbane airport? My cell had no service, but I found someone that had successfully sent a text message. After some trouble struggling with an incomprehensible user interface we managed key "3 HR DELAY DENNY" into the phone.

Fortunately Adrian did get the message and got a few more hours of sleep.

Anyway, we met of with Adrian when the plane got in around 10am, after 19 hours on the plane.

Packing for Austalia

Got my Australian visa, found passports, and starting packing. How am I going to take all this electronics?

Had a water fight with Ryan. Noticed my toe is hurting (sprained, broken?). The only thing I can think of, is we were loading 8' tables after the graduation party today. Bummer - hope I am OK diving...