Life Outside the Trenches
A Perfect Day at Knuckle Reef Lagoon
April 27, 2010
Ok, now I feel I am really dreaming. Instead of a normal day in the trenches, where I’m vying for attention with clients who have no resources to cover their over-extended budgets and programs today I wake up in Hayman Island and it’s Knuckle Reef Lagoon day. What this means is that I’m going to rise in a very leisurely fashion, fix myself fresh French Press coffee at my wet bar and slip outside to my balcony to sip this aromatic brew while I greet the morning Hayman style—staring at a half-crescent bay as perfect as a scene from “South Pacific”. The sun is shining and there’s not one cloud in the sky. You can have the trenches—I’m moving to Hayman Island!
When I tire of this activity I will go inside, locate my bathing suit, cover-up, flip-flops, hat, sunscreen and camera and get ready for my day. It takes but a few minutes and then I am headed over to Azure Restaurant for more delicious coffee and the fabulous buffet complete with visits from the local denizens which today are the clever yellow and white cockatiels and friendly ducks who like bacon from the chafing dish. I feed them when the chef and wait staff aren’t looking.
Then we take a quick jog by hotel shuttle to the Hayman Marina. We are lucky indeed. Cruise Whitsundays’ vessel, Seaflight makes their last stop at Hayman after picking up passengers at Abel Point Marina on the mainland, Daydream Island Resort, Long Island Resort, and Koala Adventure Island. Then the 125 foot catamaran heads out on the open seas for a two hour commute to a very spectacular Barrier Reef site–a permanent pontoon and marine base on the Knuckle Reef Lagoon. Along the way, we munch on fresh sweet rolls, fruit and by now, no more coffee, thank you, just water.
The Seaflight is a modern and very large catamaran which ensures a completely smooth ride there and back. It was like sailing on a pond. Of course, as I mentioned, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the ocean was an endless deep aquamarine blue. Along the way we are offered options by the very professional Cruise Whitsundays staff. We can snorkel, take the glass bottom boat, and even take a beginner’s scuba lesson. I decline the scuba lesson but definitely opt for snorkeling.
Once at the pontoon, we do a bit of exploring. There’s a sundeck, a Subsea adventure, a glass bottom boat, paddle pool for the babies, changing rooms, fresh water showers and of course lots and lots of snorkeling. We opt to start our adventure with the glass bottom boat ride. This is a good introduction for what’s in store for the rest of the day. We sit comfortably in a shaded boat while it cruises very slowly around Knuckle Reef. A guide tells us more as we glide. Coral is actually a living organism. They take on color and shape based on what they consume. Knuckle Reef lagoon is very much a living coral lagoon with 80% of the coral being the hard type—which is more colorful. There are over 150 different types of coral and 200 different kinds of fish. In the span of 45 minutes we see most of the types of coral on the reef in shades of brown, green, blue, pink, red and lots of other shades too. Some are dozens of feet in length and at least as wide. I have the feeling I am floating in the middle of someone’s very expensive and expansive salt water aquarium—it’s that perfect.
When we finish with the boat ride the next adventure is to select a lycra wetsuit for protection against the jelly fish and hit the water. You can access the reef from any side of the pontoon so we opt to go in from the stern of the structure. We start our tour. What I’m seeing is absolutely amazing. Now I am next to the coral, gliding over the coral, paddling around the coral. The water is a perfect 80 degrees. Fish of every color and size swim next to me and laze around, picking at their favorite type of coral. I can’t get enough. After about an hour, we come in for a break to dry off and have a buffet lunch back on the Seaflight. Then back out to the reef, this time with Peter, the director and we have our own reef tour guide. He is carrying a four-sided white plastic inner tube structure and tells us to just hang on, and put our faces in the water. For the next hour he takes us around the reef, describing every coral we encounter and why this one or that one is so important. I knew I was experiencing something very special.
But too soon, we have to come in and take off our wetsuits for the last time. It’s time to board the catamaran and head back to another form of paradise, Hayman Island Resort. Tonight is our last night on the island and we are in for a treat. We have our own feet in the sand beach party with a crab and fish cookout on Hayman’s Coconut Beach. The delicious food is of course washed down with more perfect Australian wines. For desert, I lay back and try to count stars, which is impossible because there are so many. And everything is upside down because we are in the southern hemisphere. Besides, I’m distracted by the sight of the Milky Way which you will never see in Southern California because of the pollution and then I spot the Southern Cross, which is my very favorite constellation. I remember how I felt the first time I saw it back in the 80’s when I was on Bora Bora. I was beside myself then and again now. Maybe it’s the wine and jet lag and tropical sun, but it’s also having a chance to experience something so very different. We are outside our daily routine in the trenches. That is why travel is the ultimate reward. Experience some for yourself. Go to Hayman Island.
