Beached On a Deserted Island

I arrived on Lizard Island (Click Here) five days ago after spending two tedious days in Cairns tending to logistical stuff such as attaining a Queensland Speed Boat License. To get this license I had to sit through a six-hour course with several Aussie red necks that continually diverged into lengthy conversations about engine size, flag color and safety violations. I have never been so bored in my life. My braking point was during lunch when I was asked what I had watched on the plane ride over from the states and eagerly replied, “The Chasers: War on Everything,” expecting them to show excitement over the fact I chose to watch Australian programming. Instead they angrily replied that Chaz and crew should be put in jail for their APEC stunt, (Click Here). The Casers are brilliant and if you are not acquainted, I highly recommend checking some of their stuff out on YouTube.

Now in order to get from Cairns to Lizard Island, one must fly in on a small chartered plane. As I flew in on Wednesday, the plane circled past the research station making its way around the island towards the small airstrip in the middle. A couple of hundred feet from the shore and no higher in altitude, I looked down into the water and saw five huge sea turtles and a medium sized whale shark (approximately 10-15 meters). WOW, A WHALE SHARK!!! There was no mistaking it. It was feeding at the surface and I could see its spots and everything. It was absolutely incredible. They are not common here so immediately upon landing everyone grabbed snorkel gear and we went out in four vessels to unsuccessfully searching for it. That night over dinner and copious amounts of Toohey’s and Victoria Bitter (NOT FOSTERS) beers, I was ridiculed.

Whatever, I saw my jaguar shark.

After that fiasco, my first two days on the island consisted solely of introduction and orientation. I didn’t go in the ocean at all; partly due to the hectic nature of arriving on a small island and meeting the half dozen researchers I will be spending the next three months with and partly due to the healing my body still needed from all the bumps, scrapes and bruises I received in Maui.

My third day on island, I went in the water. I first had a snorkel and later a couple of dives. However, these did not compare to my fourth day. Yesterday (Day 4), the directors of the research station took us to the outer reef. This is a remote area. We are on a remote island and it takes a good hour on a fast boat to reach these reefs. They are the reefs at the edge of the actual continent of Australia. It was incredible!!!

The first dive was at a spot called “Cod Hole.” It is called this because there are giant, +200 lbs Potato Cod that frequent the area. However, the cod were only a slight distraction to the numerous sharks and other large fish in the area. It is perhaps the most amazing place I have ever seen. The visibility was superb and the density and diversity of the fish populations was unreal. I felt like I was occupying a dream as I let my body be dragged by the current over coral mesas, valleys, ravines, cliffs and towers. The Technicolor display of life in the sea was mind boggling. I was able to film much of it and can’t wait to show you the videos, especially one of me following a shark up a coral ravine.

The second dive rivaled the first in terms of fish density, diversity and color. It was a site called “Wall of Fish.” Given, it is not a very creative name, but you get the picture. We swam along a huge coral wall checking out the millions of fish, coral and fans reaching into the deep blue that was to our backs. This was truly the end of the continent of Australia. Below sloped down into +2,000 feet of the unknown. Though the site was littered with thousands of organisms, I saw no sharks around until the end.

After most people were back on board the boat, I decided to take a leisurely swim along the reefs edge. I dumped my wetsuit, fins and gloves in the boat and headed off in swimsuit, mask and snorkel. A couple of hundred meters away from the boat, I looked back and realized I could only see our vessel at the peak of a wave passing by, so figured it was a good time to head back. I turned and began swimming. After a short 10 or 15 meters I passed over a crevice that I had already swam past. It was about five feet wide, ten feet deep and led right into the deep blue expanse.

I hadn’t noticed the first time I swam by, but this time in this crevice lay the largest shark I have seen while diving. My heart burst through my chest. Here I was so far from the boat that I had to be several feet in the air to see it. Sharks can sense fear, right? I started swimming back towards the boat. The current was not strong, but it was against me. Stay calm, I thought. Don’t kick too hard. Did I wake it? Is it behind me? Could it be circling me? Don’t look back, just swim.

As I got within ten meters of the boat I saw Anne, the research station director, snorkeling alone and taking photos. “Anne, Anne,” I shouted. “I just swam over the largest shark I have ever seen. It’s in a ravine a couple hundred meters down.” I said this not sure if she would want to investigate or get herself back on board. She chose the former.

As we swam down along the reefs edge, beautiful electric colors to our left and rich, deep blue to our right, I started to doubt myself. Perhaps I mistook a rock for a shark. What if I can’t find the correct ravine? Why did I make the director go for this long swim? And then, boom, below, there it was. As long and bulky as I remembered. I felt like the Road Runner digging my heels into a screeching stop. I began to paddle back towards Anne and I indicated with my finger, down in there.

I watched Anne’s reaction intently as she reluctantly peered slightly over the edge into the ten-foot pit that washed into the deep blue. She swam around to the other side, peered in again and then swam to me. “It’s not a scary one. Scary one’s usually don’t rest on the bottom,” she said as she treaded above water. I watched as she made a couple of swoops partially down into the crevice and took photos. “It is a huge one though,” she said bobbing her head back out of water, “I think we’re the last out, reckon we should head back to the boat?”

Anne began to swim off. I turned to follow, but then got the impulse to dive down into the crevice and get a closer view. A few feet from the beast it didn’t seem quite as big as on the surface, but it was a good eight or nine feet long. What made it so intimidating was its bulk. It must have been three or four feet across its widest point and its pectoral fins extended out a couple more feet. The shark was massive and elegant. I surfaced, took a breath from my snorkel and swam quickly after Anne, back towards the boat, heart still racing.