After a pleasant night off Hook Island (with no sight of Peter Pan or Tinkerbell) we ventured northward and through a narrow pass to Luncheon Bay – the first of our dive/snorkeling spots for the day. Jen and Fraser joined the first dive owing to their previous experience while I took the kids into shore for some snorkeling around the reef. The water was about 25 degrees Celsius, so not too frigid and while Aidan and Cole independently swam around gawking at the amazing fish and coloured corals, I helped Piper. She is lacking in insulation though and it wasn’t long before she was chilly and clamboured on my back for a shuttle to shore. In tag team fashion, Fraser and Jen came to shore and I jumped back in, joining the dive master and three others for an introductory dive. I was a little nervous to start due to all this hoopla around asthmatics and diving but the chest was feeling good so I knew it wasn’t going to be an issue. Given you’re reading this now and I’m the author I obviously survived the dive and enjoyed it thoroughly. You’d think snorkeling around and seeing essentially the same things from above would suffice but actually getting down to the bottom and being able to swim with the adjacent sea-life was a phenomenal experience. The only issue I had was with my frontal sinuses which seemed to have difficulty decompressing as I went down causing a rather sharp headache just above my eyes. It did settle somewhat so I didn’t miss out on anything and kept up with the group. Back at the boat we were fed and then pointed the helm northward again to a spot called Blue Pearl Bay for another snorkeling/dive experience. I opted to take the kids this time while Jen and Fraser had another go. It was here that we caught up with Lady Gaga and hundreds of other fish which seem to congregate due to the free tucker supplied by the ships’ crew. The cheeky Irish-chap feeding the fish would throw the fish-food directly into our vicinity causing the water to erupt with fish trying to get their share. It was almost scary as they would virtually be swimming and banging into your mask. Cole spent a good portion of his time trying to reach out and touch as many with his hands as possible. On the shore, Aidan felt compelled to climb some of the rocks which rose up into a cliff over the water and I followed in suit to keep an eye on him. Cole joined us once he’d finished traumatizing the sea-life. Back on the boat again, the Captain steered us back around Hook Island to a sheltered area called Morena Inlet and anchored for the evening. While Jen and I enjoyed the Coral Sea trout, Fraser and the kids hoovered down the steak – seemingly famished from the day’s escapades. While the kids settled with a movie, Jen, Fraser, myself and an Israeli tourist popped open the Scrabble board for a game. Meanwhile the chef entered the galley carrying two full pints of water placed with the openings facing one another and then balanced over two pens on top of a jug below. He offered an extension to happy hour if we as a group were able to figure out how to get the water from the upper cup into the jug without touching the apparatus, using only a twenty-dollar bill. Our gay comrade Glynn from Newscorp International in the U.K. solved the puzzle and cheap drinks reigned for another hour or so. The human puzzle was the next challenge, involving two pieces of thin rope with wrist loops. Criss-crossed and then applied to the two lucky puzzle solvers it became an exercise in problem solving and body contortions. Jen and Fraser had a go and with much twisting and turning managed to remain attached. The organizers eventually caved in and provided the solution but not until it had been through the ranks with more gymnastic trials. Finally, Glynn and his companion Steve challenged us to a team ‘noodle’ lowering task where two groups of 5 had to hold up a swimming noodle (flotation device) with the backs of our index and middle fingers and lower it en masse to the ground – an exercise in interpersonal communication and the physical failure thereof. It was near impossible to get started and if anything we only seemed to raise the bar rather than make any progress towards the ground. It wasn’t until we decided to slide all of our fingers together at opposite ends before we were able to somehow communicate to lower it – good fun. In the end Fraser prevailed at Scrabble and we virtually collapsed in our beds full of good cheer, tasty food and drink.
Day 3 greeted us with a bit of blustery winds and a drop in temperature yet the program had to go on and off we trekked to a peak overlooking Whitehaven Beach, touted to be one of the finest beaches in the world. The sand is 90% silica and, as we were told on multiple occasions, some of it was used to make the glass for the Hubble telescope. After a rather wet dinghy ride in we, like about a hundred other tourists, made our way up a short track to the look out and gazed upon the turquoise blue tones framing the beach in all its glory down below. Back on the boat we powered to the south end of the beach and took the dinghy in to enjoy an afternoon playing in the sand and enjoying the sheltered waters. The beach sand has resulted from millions of years of erosion from rocks formed from the earth’s mantle. Millenniums ago this area used to be the Alps of Australia but after a couple Ice Ages and tectonic movements it has been relegated into a chain of beautiful and virtually untouched islands. Having dammed some beach-going waters and run ourselves silly on the beach we headed back to the boat to head back up to Hook Island and another sheltered inlet for the night. Dinner again was superb and while the kids quickly settled after a busy day, we hit the Scrabble board again with Jen taking the honours this time. We had but one day to go and we were in no hurry for this dreamy escape to end but alas every good thing has to and we toddled off to bed a bit sheepish, realizing that we’d be back in our tin can very soon.
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