Lat: 14 38.846′ S
Lon: 145 27.253′ E

Well, this place is nothing short of amazing. As Dallas mentioned, the snorkeling at Normans was the best yet, and the scuba dive today was definitely among our top 5. Before I get to that, let me mention what it was like getting from point A to B.

We had a lazy morning yesterday as we let a couple of squalls pass by. By the time we left the mooring, the sun was shining and our spirits were high as we began to sail north. Our destination was the Cod Hole dive site about 110 miles away, and we decided to sail offshore rather than stay inside the reef to save time. Perhaps we would have decided differently if we had anticipated the 10′ seas and 40 knot winds that were awaiting us offshore, but probably not. We’re experienced now, and it takes more than that to scare us off. However, it takes less than that to make us uncomfortable, and we were both lethargic again. I managed to make some chili and felt much better after eating. (Dallas didn’t, but he liked the chili so much that he had some again for breakfast! Eew!) We listened to an audio book since we didn’t feel like reading, and before long, Dallas was in his usual state of slumber.

I was enjoying myself listening to music and didn’t wake him until quite late. Then it was my turn to pass out. Around 3:30, he awoke me for my watch and let me know that we were just a few miles from the reef but didn’t want to turn into it until daylight. I took this under advisement, pleased that he trusted me at the helm in such conditions, but I was pretty tired and didn’t reef the jib as soon as I should have. By the time I did, we were parallel to our destination, it was still dark, and we were still going 8 knots on only half of the jib! No harm done, though. We just had to tack back into the reef once the sun came up using only a quarter of the jib.

In such strong winds, it came as no surprise that the public mooring was available. It was kind of comical to be picking up a mooring so close to the reef in 40 knot winds, but we did it and eventually mustered up the energy to get our scuba gear on and take a look. According to our dive atlas, the Cod Hole is the "signature dive" of the GBR and is well known for large potato cod that are used to being fed and will bite at and possibly choke on your gloves if you have them on. The atlas advised not to wear gloves for this reason, but Dallas was not having that. He was not about to lose a finger to a cod just so that it would not choke on his glove!

Moored along the edge of the reef

As it turned out, we saw a few of the large buggers, and it was obvious that they are used to being fed. One of largest ones (probably 4′ long and 200 pounds) was stalking us for quite a while and was not even phased by a gentle kick to the head from Dallas’ fin. Watching the way that Dallas kept his hands concealed under his arms when Mr. Potato Head was around had me cracking up. I’ve never laughed so hard into my regulator!

Turns out that the lens was fogged up, but you get the idea

Give me food!

Besides the cod, there was an abundance of other marine life. Instead of there being one large "bommie" (coral head) like we dove on yesterday, it was just a patch of one after another, and each of them had gorgeous coral of all shapes and pastel colors and a healthy supply of fish. They were only 15-20′ underwater, so the visibility was great, and we had a nice, long dive. There were so many coral heads that I lost Dallas at one point, and it felt like we were playing Hide and Seek underwater. Dallas was off taking pictures at the time and was able to capture some nice ones that we will post when we can, probably from Darwin. (For the record, Dallas reminds me that the reason we became separated is because we came around a corner, and I got surprised by a Potato Head that was awaiting and darted off in front of it.)

One of the many varieties of soft coral

The clown anemone fish hanging out in their host anemone

From Cod Hole, we sailed 15 miles to Lizard Island and now find ourselves in a beautiful little bay full of bommies with a white sandy beach. We are getting ready to head ashore for a great view and a romantic dinner. Did I mention we have the bay and beach all to ourselves?

Dallas is preparing to make some pasta for dinner. He just needs to know: 1) where the pressure cooker is stored, 2) how much water to put in, 3) where the pasta is located, 4) how much pasta to use, and 5) which sauce to use! (For the record, he decided to make his own sauce.) Each day aboard Pura Vida is an opportunity for learning something new. ;-)