Last Updated Sunday June 10, 2007
The boat Reef Encounter anchored on the Great Barrier Reef was our home for three days. It's a live-aboard dive boat that stays on the reef. We were ferried out on a smaller boat called the Compass.
We had our own head and shower, but were limited to 3 minutes per day of shower because the boat had limited fresh water generation capability. Those showers felt good after being in the salt water all day.
With all the exercise of snorkeling we looked forward to meals in the salon. Pim (the crazy Dutchman) and Luke the dive master) joined us for breakfast where they served Rice Bubbles (Rice Crispies) and Vegemite (no translation...yuck!) in a convenient single serving package like jelly.
This is Dale, one of several young "hosties" who were on-board free in exchange for doing cleaning and other work around the boat. She is an exchange student from Princeton enjoying the last of her six month visa in Australia.
Piloting the boat takes skilled feet. This must be the way it's done down under because all the boat skippers seemed to do it this way.
Pim casts off the tender and leaves us with instructions for living the rest of our lives after dropping us off on the Compass for the trip home. Where he found an orange hat on the boat confounded everyone.