Cairns: Australian diving Nirvana
Queensland, Northeast Australia. It's a vast, vast area covering over 2.000 kilometers of coastline. We left on an old Suzuki from Sidney not sure how long we would take to reach our end point: Cairns, diver's paradise. I had talked about the huge barrier reef that adorns the bottom of a clear sea. The largest and most spectacular in the world. In Sidney, where everything works with Swiss precision, I seemed to be in a city somewhat boring and plastic; I could not find a hint of adventure among so modern and educated people looking British. Once seen the Opera House and adjacent marinas, was time to leave for the north.
Outside Sydney, modern roads and remained perfectly asphalted. Otherwise we would not have been able to travel the nearly 3.000 kilometers to Cairns. Looking at an old map of crumpled paper (I did this trip so many years before was google maps, google images y los gps) I saw that we would soon stumbled upon a place called Brisbane, surfer's paradise. I began to imagine a beach type I had seen on TV farmed Elvis playing guitar, en Hawaii, and burly surfers strutting about colored surfboards catching waves and foam plump… That was when the sides of the road began to appear fifty stories of buildings horrifying. We had come to Brisbane to The Gold Coast. This seemed Torremolinos in the middle of August! We left and follow road honking northward.
We had come to Brisbane to The Gold Coast. This seemed Torremolinos in the middle of August! We left whistling
A few miles later we saw a big bus stopped. Dropped him lots of Japanese, heavy loading cameras. Suddenly, without notice, began to take pictures and photos to a hideous building shaped pineapple. We stopped to see what was so interesting that these tourists photographing excited. We entered the plastic pineapple. Inside was a diner. It turned out that every few kilometers have been built giant plastic fruits or vegetables. Where is cultivated tomato, because a giant tomato with its restaurant and souvenir shop inside; same thing where they grow bananas or leeks… We went back to get out to the race and hoping not to meet again with busloads of tourists. When night fell, stopped to rest near Proserpine.
The next day we went back to get the car and get going. We still had almost two thousand kilometers of road. We passed through lonely villages of a single street where all we had was a bar and hair balls as giant dust circling the soft mud pushed by the wind. A men's bar lacked only spurs on the boots and the horse at the door to look like we were in the American West. The temperature did not lose 40 degrees.
A men's bar lacked only spurs on the boots and the horse at the door to look like we were in the West
Closer to the coast, beaches, drenched Pacific ocean, were now endless fine sandy. Gone were the flashy buildings.
At last we reached Cairns. Several streets in disorderly offering cheap accommodation and boat trips to the reef. Posters with different travel deals and various parts of the barrier looked everywhere. We rested one night and the next morning we boarded a small boat that sailed about ten tourists heading to sea. On the road, a man was giving us directions on how to hang the bottles and belts; how to breathe with the plastic stuck between teeth; how to draw water from the glasses under the sea and what signs do to communicate underwater. If we felt that something was wrong, put your finger on OK signal in reverse and we would remove them from there.
He also advised us that we would see many sharks, but not because we were not dangerous preocupásemos. There I began to wonder if I really wanted to descend to the depths of the sea or whether it would be more prudent to snorkel and view them from above happily. Luckily, had not yet been filmed that terrifying movie, Blue Waters, based on a true story where two American tourists are forgotten by the boat in the sea, right there, in Cairns.
Advised us that we would see many sharks. I began to wonder if I really wanted to descend to the depths of the sea
We passed several atolls, sand pieces poking the tops. Then the boat stopped and had to jump into the water, backward. I could not back out now, After touring 19.000 km by plane and over 5.000 drive. The coral reef is not very deep sea, fortunately, since corals can not survive beyond a certain depth. So with heart in mouth, I launched al mar.
What I saw then has remained in my memory forever. It's hard to find the right words to describe a feeling so special. Diving is flying below ground. Move effortlessly and in slow motion in a world completely unknown, where you are a guest in a world of goldfish, sand walls, water winds.
Diving is flying below ground, move effortlessly and in slow motion in a world completely unknown
A world full of mysteries unfolded before my eyes, they did not know where to look good or, because each side was a new shade, a family of yellow fish, green, quiet moving roses, almost touching my. A fish blanket out from under a rock and fell to fly, a sea serpent in the sand, an oyster covered with a giant purple velvet robe with red speckles. Suddenly a deep valley. Within seconds you flying down, reraise with little effort, no gravity, fleets in the world of colors. The silence is total, interrupted only by your own breathing.
The world in which we live is great, extensive and mysterious, but he that is in the deep sea, a lot more. Hopefully still for millennia.
Comments (6)
Alicia
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Mayte, brilliant , as always taking us to wonderful places.
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Ita
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Again wrap us in your stories, regards
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Txiki
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Very good.
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Maria
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Bucear en volar bajo tierra, si que encontraste las palabras justas. Estuve allí y desde chica que hago snorkel, y sempre tuve esa sensación es como volar , en el agua, buceas, hacer snorkel, empaparse con el aire controlado y vivir un momento que estada grabado en mi memoria.
thanks.
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Elvira
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Hello Mayte. ¡Me ha encantado leerte!
Mi familia y yo llevamos ya unos años planificando poco a poco un viaje a través del continente australiano como hicimos por Estados Unidos y, by chance, buscando algo de información sobre uno de los destinos clave que teníamos en mente (Cairns), me encontré con tu publicación. Finalmente parece que los astros se están alineando y conseguiremos hacerlo realidad para este verano (invierno en Australia). Después de leer lo que escribes, si por mi fuera, te asaetearía a preguntas con todas las dudas que tengo, pero dado que no nos conocemos voy a evitar que te lleves una primera impresión acertada sobre mí, y sólo te consultaré una cosa. Well, soy buceadora aficionada, con un título internacional y todo (aunque cualquier animal del desierto bucearía mejor que yo), así que no creo que me pongan problemas para poder bucear con botella allí. Me gustaría que mi hermano bajase conmigo (intentarlo con mis padres ya es una batalla perdida), pero él, como fue tu caso por lo que entiendo de tu relato, nunca ha buceado. Mi pregunta es si me puedes contar un poquito tu experiencia o lo que sepas de qué requisitos piden (si los pidiesen), cómo funciona y que información dan para poder bucear (con botella, no con tubo de snorkel) a quienes no tengan ninguna experiencia. (También te acepto sugerencias en cuanto a los puntos de inmersión jeje).
Muchas gracias de antemano y disculpas por contarte mi vida. Sufro de diarrea verbal. ;D
Greetings. Elvira
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Mayte
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Hola Elvira,
gracias por leerme y me alegro que te haya gustado el relato!
Pues te cuento que yo estuve en Cairns ya hace mucho años pero por lo que se no ha cambiado mucho. En cuanto te vas acercando a la ciudad verás un montón de compañías que te ofrecen sus servicios para bucear, la mayoría ofrecen excursiones de un día. Te montas en el barco y ahí mismo, de camino a los arrecifes te van indicando como ponerte las botellas, como respirar… y lo que hay que hacer una vez en el fondo. Normalmente se baja en grupos pequeños, about 45 minutes. Se tira uno desde el barco o va bajando poco a poco desde algún islote, depende de donde encalle el barco. Pero hay miles de empresas que lo organizan.
Well, espero que te haya servido de algo, un abrazo y que disfruteis!!! es la mejor barrera de coral del mundo y es realmente espectacular!
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