At 7 am this morning I was collected along with about 14 other Big 4 campers to board a coach for Abel Point Marina, with one stop along the way to collect some more adventures.
It didn’t take long to get to the Marina; we had awhile to wait for more passengers to arrive so I went and bought myself a very ordinary cappuccino to keep me going after an early breakfast. There was another cruise, a sailing vessel called the “Camira” going out – a beautiful craft. My tour was on the “Seaflight” a 37 metre catamaran. We departed around 7.45 am and had about 2 ½ - 3 hours cruising out to a Pontoon at Knuckle Reef Lagoon. We stopped near Daydream Island to take on some more passengers who were brought out on another launch. 
During the cruise the large TV monitors played beautiful scenes of the Reef. The crew briefed us on all the activities one could do in the 4 hours we were to spend out there. One could take a helicopter flight around the Reef. Seeing we did a flight in a plane back in about 1999 from Lindeman Island that wasn’t on my agenda – I wanted to explore what was beneath the water, so snorkeling was on my mind. But then the crew started talking about scuba diving and made it sound so easy and inviting I thought why not! So I signed up and we were given a briefing on board and told the dive signals one uses. My dive time was 12.20 – one of the later dives for the day.
So upon arrival at the Pontoon I geared up for snorkeling – flippers, stinger suit and face mask with snorkel. The wind had gotten up so it was pretty cool – forecast temperature for the day was 19 degrees – too cool for my liking! But along with everyone else I braved it. Well what an experience it was looking down at the coral and the fish – this really wet my appetite for what was to come. After about ¾ of an hour I decided I was cold enough and had better get dry and warm up then get ready for my dive. So I found a spot out of the wind and warmed up enough until I had to put my wet stinger suit on again. I joined the dive crew area and got kitted up with a wet suit to go over the top of the stinger suit by this time the wind had really gotten up and I was shivering - was it cold or fear? Then a dive bet with weights put on then the tank. We did some practise on a platform below the pontoon, needed more weights to keep me down as I’m so buoyant! Each instructor had two novices with them, so with another lady we joined our instructor. He just holds your hand and guides you along, giving hand signals along the way. I had some problems with water entering my mask, but I managed pretty well. The sights were wonderful, fish so colourful – around 200 different types and over 150 different types of coral. This was certainly better than the snorkelling; it’s another world down there.
An underwater photographer came along and took photos of us – one with this giant fish. I’m sure he is trained to be there on cue (I did notice that the photographer did feed it!). After my dive I quickly changed had a quick bite of lunch back on “Seaflight” then it was a dash to catch the last trip on a semi-submersible submarine. But that wasn’t as good as the scuba dive to really appreciate the beauty down there – even my photos in the sub weren’t good.
Independent scientific surveys show that 80% of the seabed in the snorkeling area is covered by hard corals (which are the most spectacular and colourful ones) and there is a further 10% covered in soft corals. Many other commercial sites in Queensland now only have 5 – 10% hard coral cover!
At about 2.45 we prepared for our return trip which was pretty rough when we left the reef area and crossed the shipping channel, many folk weren’t feeling well, but for me I was ok still living on a high from my experience. I’m sure if the opportunity arises I’ll go scuba diving again.
We made good time and were back by 5 – the coach was waiting to take us back to the caravan park. At least I had a couple of the photos from the professional photographer to show Duncan that I actually did go snorkeling and scuba diving! They are wonderful memories for me – what a shame I can’t add them to this blog.
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