Reef Memories

Two years ago we spent a winter week up North, in the tropical paradise of Australia called Queensland. We stayed for one week in Port Douglas, just North of Cairns. The hotel was within 100 steps from the beach, which was one of the most private public beaches I have ever seen. This is the miracle of Australia, that relative to the US and Europe is so less populated, an 8-mile beach may seem private if you use just your fingers, and toes maybe, to count the people you encounter on the beach. One day we booked a Great Barrier Reef tour and snorkled in three parts of the reef, one hour away from Port Douglas. Leaning on a noodle and swimming in circles above the reefs for 30-40 min at a time, I could not remove my face from the water. Underneath me was a world of forms and color and if you peeked carefully, the density of life was growing continuously, as you could not stop counting one more coral and one more fish every second. But if we swam and snorkled in warm water, shallow, light blue, just half way to the horizon was "the big drop," the place were the continental shelf ends and the "real" ocean starts! The deep water is separated by furious waves and it is so dark blue, it feels solid. As usual in my life, whenever I am happy, very happy, I must find something that reminds me of why I should be happy and what is the opposite of happiness. It's again a sunny-rain "thing"...