Airlie Beach, Australia (Great Barrier Reef) or “At Least We Didn’t Barf”

Airlie Beach is the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef. I imagine it is an extremely beautiful place if you aren’t there in the middle of a huge storm. Almost all of the shore excursions offered here were cancelled. Ours, however, was still on. We were taking a high speed catamaran on a 2 hour ride out to the Great Barrier Reef. The boat had about 150 passengers and, not long after we headed out, people started getting seasick. The barf bags were being well used over the course of the next two hours. I had taken Bonine before we headed out just in case and, boy, am I glad I did! Neither Brian nor I were sick, but it wasn’t a pleasant ride out.

When we got to the reef the water was still a bit choppy, but not too bad. Lots of sea birds (along with their accompanying smells) and the pontoons that were being used to access the reef were in the distance.

Once on the pontoon, Brian had to put on a stinger suit this time to snorkel. That would protect him from jellyfish stings.

While Brian snorkeled, I returned to our catamaran where there were comfortable seats (not covered in bird droppings) and air conditioning. I enjoyed reading a new book, so I was quite content. Before Brian came back to report on his snorkeling, the catamaran crew put out a lovely lunch buffet which I decided not to partake of since we had to sail back over the same ocean we came out on. Not everyone made the same choice, and it came back to haunt them later.

Brian returned very happy to have snorkeled in the Great Barrier Reef even though the water was murky and choppy. This was our small window of opportunity to have this experience and you grab the opportunity when you can.

I thought I’d share my view of the reef.

During our ride back to our ship, I decided to stay in the lower level of the catamaran where the ride should be, in theory, smoother and the air conditioning worked. It had been very hot on the ride over. Brian returned upstairs to sit in the fresh air.

I sat next to some college age kids traveling with family. They had met on the cruise and became fast friends. The two hours passed quickly as I enjoyed their company. They were playing Harry Potter Uno and I watched and laughed with them. Again, lots of other folks were not having such a good time. I can’t say enough about how hard the young crew on board worked taking care of all the sick tourists. They were so kind to everyone and it could not have been the best work day they had ever had.

Everyone seemed to be quite happy to be back on the cruise ship. There were lots of disappointed people that the Barrier Reef experience hadn’t been what they’d hoped it would be. I know it wasn’t how we had imagined it. However, we were there and the Great Barrier Reef was something we never thought we would experience. And experience it we did!