Underwater Adventure - Trip to Australia, Part II

Sunset at Port Douglas

To me, and Kirk too, I think, the most memorable part of our trip to Australia was the time we spent in Port Douglas, and in exploring the Great Barrier Reef in particular.  Port Douglas, a small seaside town with a population of about 1500, not counting tourists, is located on a peninsula off the northeastern coast of Queensland.  Amid swaying palms and a lively tourist crowd, with a busy marina on one end and a four-mile stretch of sandy beach on the other, Port Douglas reminds me of the towns in Florida Keys.  

Happy as a clam

We spent two whole days exploring the Outer Barrier Reef and the Low Isles aboard the Quicksilver catamaran and sail boat respectively.  True to the Aussie "no worries" attitude, we were taken down 10 meters (about 33 feet) deep, in full scuba diving gear, by a couple of diving instructors with hardly any preliminaries.  Having done one scuba-diving lesson in an indoor pool beforehand turned out to be crucial; two people who signed up for the dive but had not had any diving experience backed out at the last moment after taking a dip into the abyss.  My brief 30-minute underwater adventure seemed like a dream to me at the time; I was so distracted by all the creatures I saw down there that I forgot to feel any fear or anxiety.  My snorkeling experience in open water, however, was less successful; still not confident in my swimming ability, I was worried that I might be carried too far away by the current and wouldn't be able to make it back to the beach.  Kirk made the most of the time allotted to us on the open water by taking two scuba dives and numerous snorkeling trips and took some amazing underwater pictures.   

            

            

Quicksilver catamaran

piercing the waves

QS Wavedancer

full speed ahead 

Our underwater adventure was captured in the video below:

05.25.2012

P.S.: I forgot to include a picture of some seafood dishes we had at a restaurant in Port Douglas called 2Fish.  There were so many restaurants there, all seemed to be crowded at night, that our picking this one out among the rest was a stroke of luck.  The food was quite good and well-presented that we ate there two nights in a row.  At the top of the picture below is a crusted "baby" barramundi.   

Baby Barramundi & Sashimi