Finding Nemo

Today I have visited a wonder of the world. And found Nemo! We went with Poseidon Tours and visited three different dive sites. The Agincourt Ribbon reefs are on the edge of the Outer Barrier Reef and take an hour and a half to get to by boat. Normally sea-sick, I maximized on the overpriced sea-sickness pills the boat was offering, but they worked, so I was hardly going to complain.

The day began in the glorious sunshine of Port Douglas Harbour, where we were asked to take our shoes off. I had no problem with this, although did wonder what was going to happen to them… there were quite a few pair of blue flip-flops that day! On the boat, we were offered ‘morning tea’ which was great, although the terminology still interests me- is there a different afternoon tea? The calmness of Port Douglas Harbour was a little deceptive, as once we cleared the headland, the winds picked up and I was very grateful for my travel pills.

We were given a tute into how to snorkel…I hadn’t realized it was particularly complicated, but as I hadn’t snorkeled before, the guide wanted me to used a foam cylinder as a buoyancy aide. Using flippers was something new and different, and it took me a while to get my head around the concept of not doing the breaststroke! And not breathing through my nose when under water!

The Agincourt Ribbon Reefs are long and narrow and are flushed out at every tide by water welling up from the Coral Sea Trench, which apparently provides an ideal environment for coral. The reef is greyer than anticipated, and the water uninvitingly cold for the first five minutes!

The first dive site was probably my favourite, just because it was my first time of seeing an underwater environment like that. I lost all concept of time and space, just floating with my weird buoyancy aid. I was thrilled to see angel fish and clams and sharks and so many weird and wonderful forms of coral. I ended up drifting off, so was chased down by one of the guides who pointed out just how far I had gone from the boat….oops.

The second dive site was fun because it was more spread out, and the tide had gone out, so I could get a really good impression of the layout of the reef. Again the view from the boat was oddly underwhelming, but once under the surface I was again enthralled. The water was definitely colder this time and I think I glared at the underwater photographer because he wanted me to stay still for too long. I didn’t buy the photo in the end anyway!

The lunch provided on the boat was good- cold meats and salads etc, and all-in-all the service provided by the crew was outstanding. We returned to Port via the Low Isles, where apparently they have turtles, but I think that might have to be left for another trip!