Photos from 2002 October 04
Today was another snorkeling trip out to the reef, and this was worlds better than the first one. I really wish I had brought an underwater camera on this one. This was our boat, the >Falla<. Although it was primarily motor-driven, it did have sails, and they were unfurled. I presume to save fuel and assist the motor. It might have been fun to go under just wind-power, but it took two hours to get out to the reef as it was.	Here's a shot of the mizzenmast from the front of the ship as we were getting ready to go. (The full photo shows a lot more than the thumbnail does.)	Our first snorkeling spot. We anchored in this horseshoe-shaped bay in the coral, and thus could snorkel around the ship in a big loop. It was great. I saw giant clams galore, and worked up the nerve to touch them. The clam itself is very smooth and velvety. They do, naturally, get nervous when you touch them, and will pull their bodies as far back in the shall as they can, and if you persist, they will snap shut. That was pretty neat to see. I also saw tons of fish as well as a sting ray!	Later, we'll be making our way over to this island. More on that later.
Another shot of the coral bay.	Here we are arriving at the island. This was as close as you could get to the island in the big boat. They took a bunch of the passangers over there in a small motorboat, but some of us snorkeled over. That was a real challenge. It got extremely shallow, and you didn't want to swim *over* the coral, because a wave might lift you up and then smash you down on it, so the sea became a maze you had to find your way through. I got stuck a couple of times and had to backtrack. But I did get there eventually.	Here's a close-up of the island. It's relatively young; a couple thousand years. It's really just a pile of sand. 360 degrees of beach. Apparently ilands here go through several stages: first they're just piles of sand, then birds start hanging out on them. Birds bring seeds and fertilizer in their droppings, and plants start to grow. Eventually you get a full-fledged island. So, if a hurricane doesn't blow this one away, in a few thousand years there might well be trees here. You can see the patches of dark water; that's the coral. The light green is sand. That's where I could swim. So the maze was to find my way between the dark bits to the island.	Here we are getting ready to head back to the mainland.
This is Sara and Kara, two exchange students from Iowa State University. It was interesting to get their perspective on how different the schools were between here and the States. I also met some Germans on the Falla. I swear I'm speaking as much German here as English! I helped the one guy translate the legalese of the document that waived his right to sue the Falla people in the event of an injury or death while he was scuba diving. :-)	Full speed for home.	On the way back, the captain let one of the dive instructors steer the boat. I think his name was Dallas. The guy on the right was another dive instructor, I never did catch his name.	This is my homage to a Freeman Patterson photograph. He did something similar with a bedsheet, drying on a clothesline. The effect is somewhat diminished in this photograph by the boom and the rope. Maybe I should digitally remove them. :-)
Here's the crew of the Falla. Dallas, Captain Eric, George (or Georgia -- I could have sworn she said George, but Georgia would make more sense), and the guy whose name I didn't catch. And that was the snorkeling trip in Cairns. Tomorrow its off to Port Douglas!!!!
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