Jon Lin Blog

After spending two months in Melbourne, I figure I’d get out and see the rest of Australia. Michelle and I (along with my other fellow imported workers Lindsay and Ruby) went to Cairns in Queensland.

Cairns (Australians pronounce this as “Caans”… the ‘i’ and ‘r’ is silent) is a little tropical wonder in Australia. Its amazing how Australians can go from a cold, rainy and depressing winter to a hot and humid winter with beautiful oceans and beaches, simply by taking a 3 hour flight. Cairns is home of the Great Barrier Reef, coined the “largest living organism in the world”. While I personally dispute this claim, as scattered coral across the shore shouldn’t qualify as one continuous living thing, its still amazing.

We opted for a snorkelling tour on the Ocean Freedom – as one of the more expensive tours, it came fully loaded with an enthusiastic tour group, full-on snorkelling equipment (and optional diving equipment), a generous buffet lunch and lots of little educational tidbits both on the main cruiser and a little glass-bottom-boat that tagged along. We were first ferried out to the Upolu Cay on the Great Barrier Reef, where we experienced our first snorkel ever.

Snorkelling is enjoyable, but it takes a bit of effort to make the experience comfortable and worthwhile. We first spat into our snorkelling goggles, rubbed the spit around the lenses, and rinsed out the excess. While it sounds a bit uncivilized, it actually prevents the goggles from fogging up (feel free to educate me on the science how-to). Tighten that mask up, and then attach the breathing tube to the goggles frame. Make sure that tube end sticks behind your head, and clench the mouthpiece between your teeth and lips. More amusingly, you can make a “two!” sound quickly and spit out any sea water that happens to leak into your mouth. You can choose to enter with a bodysuit, a lifejacket, or for those more adventurous and fit, nothing at all. Laziness and a lack of jellyfish contributed to my choice of a lifejacket. Don some rubber flippers and you’re ready to go.

Then, you jump in. And for those who have never done any snorkelling before, its a bit of a shock.

You’re restricted to only using your mouth to breathe, and any sort of facial expression will only result in a salty mouth. A bit of apprehensiveness sets in, where you feel like you’re not getting enough oxygen into your brain, all because of a ridiculously undersized breathing tube. The only thing that saves you from complete panic is that lifejacket.

Once you get your bearings and realize that your nose is no longer an option for basic survival, then you swim your way over to a dark patch of blue in the turquoise ocean, which is a small bit of coral. Then flatten out, stay still, and be amazed.

Shortly after staying still, the fish that you scared away when you (more specifically, me) were flapping wildly, begin to emerge from the oddly elephant-ear-shaped coral. All sorts of shapes, sizes and colour of fish start to pop out. The giant clams begin to relax, and open and close their mouths again. That black long tube on the bottom by the bright blue starfish is a sea cucumber, breathing and filtering out the nutrients in the ocean. Those fish that you scared away now venture close to you, exploring and curious to see the unexpected guest who dropped by. Some fish simply don’t care have the time pay attention – we saw two fish dancing in a circle, chasing one another, perhaps in a mating ritual. I was consistently amazed as we went from coral to coral, experiencing a different school of fish, rainbow of colours and new life every time.

Unfortunately, you will likely become exhausted before you see everything you want – the reduced oxygen flow, the frustrations of salt-coated mouths, and your lower leg muscles will all take a toll on your stamina. So you swim back, climb on deck, take off all the gear you meticulously put on, and drag yourself upstairs to dry off and sunbake, knowing you’ve just saw a coral reef that was not in a fish tank.

Some lessons learned:

• Do not get the disposable underwater cameras. Opt for some cheaper housing (DiCAPac clear plastic pouches) are perfect for snorkelling since you won’t even approach below 2 meters, and they are rated for 10 meters. If you have money to splurge, then by all means get the official waterproof housing for your camera. I advise against the disposable cameras so much that I’d recommend even renting a digital waterproof camera over the disposables – the disposables just have abysmal photo quality, and film scanning adds to the cost and pain. Two disposable cameras with development and burning to CD is the same price as a two-day rental of the camera.
• Always eat the sea sickness pills. Even if you don’t think you’ll have sea sickness. Just do it, and right away – they take a while to kick in, and its a small price to make sure that sickness won’t ruin a part of your day.
• Stay still when snorkelling! Michelle and I stayed a spot for a few minutes and fish came to nibble on my toe, and all the fish were just hanging around us.
• Try to find an area to go with the waves and current, as it will make your legs a break and you can coast right over some coral effortlessly.
• Get sunscreen – you’ll be reapplying excessively often, and coming home as a rock lobster doesn’t earn you any cool cred. Aerosol sunscreens makes reapplication easy and convenient, but they’re also prohibited on a flight!

Tags: australia, cairns, fish, great barrier reef