Probably one of the most beautiful places on planet earth. It’s just the true power of the sea, how alive, how magnificent, how deep, how mysterious, how colorful, how close. A complete world that hides underneath the surface. No words will do justice. I won’t even try.
The only disappointment is the human footprint and damage. The ocean can get so hot and so cold at the same time, within seconds apart. Reefs are changing colors and as they do, they bleach. They die one by one. Even worse, they cry out loud that dying with bright warning tones. Eye opening and definitely a heartbreaking experience! You are watching it live!
For us, going to the Great Barrier Reef was a must. We read about different possibilities and researched an incredible amount of tours. We finally reserved the one that was supposed to be the best bang for our buck: Reef Experience. They advertise hard on Google and have created a pretty wonderful website. Easy to chat and reserve. They charge $205 for a full day that includes free shuttle from Cairns, breakfast, a marine biology presentation, a free intro scuba dive lesson, glass bottom boat tours, lunch, snacks, sunscreen and the all the gear. Sounds great, right?
Well, we really had no complaint until we actually got there. We showed at the time that was specified and we found a huge line that took no less than 45 minutes. They started to check in people late and they had to provide forms (liability) and take the pricy picture before boarding the boat.
After we got through the line, we filled the forms. There were a bunch! They did provide pens. Yay! We finished fast, but guess what? We still had to wait until everybody got in.
The good news is that the chef had breakfast ready (one BBQ bacon & egg roll per person) and he served it as soon as the boat sailed out. The bad news is that because of the rush they forgot to give us a band that made them aware about the type of tour we had paid for (meals included or not). Well, we had to go and get it before grabbing a bit!
We were very fortunate. We had a small breakfast at the loud and nasty hotel we stayed at just in case. It was well worth. The bacon egg roll was delicious but you couldn’t take another piece unless there were leftovers. Yeah! exactly: after everybody ate and they were all cold! How fun!
No worries. This was just a bad start. After breakfast a very knowledgeable marine biologist went ahead with her presentation about the reef and the species we were about to see. Very interesting! Is that even true? Wow!
Immediately after, one of the scuba dive instructors jumped ahead and did a presentation for the people that wanted to take the introductory lesson. Remember? It was included.
Turned out that she had split some family members into different diving groups. The reason? They turned in the forms too late, so she spread people around. That was odd!
Then she started instructing on the equipment and procedures to dive in. After her speech, we were supposed to be experts. Perfectly trained to know how to dive in and know what to do in case the mask fell out. Uh? Very odd, again.
Wet suits were given and we all started to gear up. They reminded us to spit on the mask so it wouldn’t fog up. Ugh! That sounds disgusting. It doesn’t matter its needs to be done fast. The first stop was right ahead of us.
We all had memorized our groups because we were going to be called not by name but by number. Meanwhile, we were free to snorkel.
My number was 3. The last group was 5. Uh? Not sure what to do. Yeah sure, we snorkeled for like 5 minutes and then got called in. We went into the platform and a bunch of staff in a rush started to put on the heavy tanks.
All of the sudden, I got split from my husband. I was actually put right next to a complete stranger that wanted to chit chat. Why? My husband is heavier than me so they took him to the other side. Eh? Not really. No fun!
Well, right after that the one instructor was going to try to test my skills. The ones I learned 5 seconds ago during the introductory talk. Remember those three things that the girl mention to survive? Three simple processes. Uh? Not really.
It didn’t matter. The instructor called us one by one. As soon as I got into the water he pushed me down. I guess he was expecting me to show him what I learned. To be honest, I didn’t remember. I was feeling overwhelmed and disgusted. I have never done this in my life!
The instructor pushed me up and then immediately back down. Again. What was he waiting for? This time I went up by myself and asked what did he wanted from me. I couldn’t remember and he was definitely not being very helpful.
He explained the three things as if it was so easy for me to understand. Then, he pushed me back down and then pulled my mask out of my mouth. What to do then? Yeah, I just panicked and went back up.
I could just see what was about to happen. I was going to dive with an inconsiderate instructor that was not even going to care if in the middle of the tour I wanted to go up. I signed the liability forms so no harm, no fault. Right?
Well, no thank you. I said I was not going and you could see the smile on the instructor face. Yeah! He was just waiting for that. You could tell how desperate he felt in the previous three attempts when he pushed me down. Yes1 I was not going to keep wasting his precious time!
The tank was pulled of my back and the staff wanted me out. Oh! But I was not leaving without signing the form that said that I did agree on not taking the free lesson. Fun, and more fun!
Well my husband got a totally different experience. He did actually go on the dive. While he was out I went back to snorkeling and actually could see him go down.
Well, on his return I did ask him about his experience and as expected he didn’t really enjoyed it, just suffered all the time.
He said he did try to signal the instructor to go up and he was ignored several times. He just hoping all the time for the tour to end. He said I didn’t miss much and that snorkeling was a thousand times better. He did see Nemo (clown fish) but that was about it! How disappointing!
At the end, the hit was for me. I felt like I failed. I failed to myself because I wanted to dive. Whatever! I picked myself out and decided to make the most of the day.
After diving came lunch. A very long line to get a buffet style. Eh? Not really, they offered either a small piece beef or some spicy chicken and a variety of salads. Oh! And one piece of bread. No drinks unless you paid like $3 a bottle. Just keeps getting better!
Right after lunch, we got to our second snorkeling spot. More options were offered at the time, of course for an extra price. The first one was a private tour with the marine biologist to go a little further into the deep ocean and discover exclusive species. This one was for 45 minutes and the price was $25. The second option was another dive, with the same instructors!
I think people had enough at that time. I didn’t see anybody signing up. My husband and I did go with the marine biologist. She was the only respectable member of the staff.
The tour was as good as it could. Going further away from the boat into cold sea can get a little challenging. First because its harder to snorkel, its harder to follow the instructor, its hard to figure out what the instructor is pointing at and then its hard to hear clearly when waves are all around. Regardless of all the cons, we did have a good time.
After the experience, the only thing left was to sail back. The staff did put out some cheese and fruit that people simply devoured. The rest is history. We did pay extra for the tour and for the Go Pro camera (8 pixels) that we rented so we could take some pictures while we were snorkeling out on the sea. This is what we got.
Don’t get me wrong. The place is marvelous, its majestic, its magnificent. Indescribably beautiful. The bad news are just the poor quality tours and hotels that want to get as much as they can.
Wookitu 