The Eco Lodge

lunch spot

We had two warm sunny days and two overcast cooler days at the resort. After breakfast, every day except Sunday, the guests were invited to go on a boat outing of some kind. Our first day we were dropped at one spot and picked up a couple of hours later after having hiked a good trail with one other couple. Then we were whisked off to another island for lunch. We were intrigued by their Sealegs craft which was a small amphibious boat with retractable wheels!

Our second day, we were the only guests and had a different boat and John the skipper to ourselves! It was an incredible day. We traveled some 40 miles in all even though the wind was strong and we had 3-4 ft. swells in the larger open water passages. At those times, we felt like we were surfing. John was a masterful skipper and I could only think of how much the boaters in our family--Doug, Mark P., Lane, Adam--would have enjoyed the ride. I was able to enjoy with the help of a little Meclizine!

the spit

John took us to a lovely spit and two different snorkel spots. The first snorkel spot he dropped us on a deserted beach where we could snorkel right off the beach. The coral was not as impressive as it had been on the GBR out from Cairns but the fish were wonderful. We swam through large schools of blue and yellow fusiliers, saw a batfish and lots of parrotfish, and were thrilled to chase a school of cuttlefish (funny looking cousins to the squid and octopus). After 45 minutes or so, we clambered back onto the sunny beach and ravenously ate our packed gourmet lunch.

John circled back to pick us up and take us to the next snorkel spot. As we were going he looked out and drew our attention to an odd looking boat in the distance with almost a submarine-like silhouette. He asked our permission to go take a look. Long story short, a 36-40 ft. sailing catamaran had flipped completely over in the strong winds. We arrived in time to help rescue a man, two women, and a small boy (no life jackets) and take them to a nearby anchored sailboat. We then went back to the cat and waited for a larger, more powerful towboat to arrive.

yellow towboat arrives

Mercy mission accomplished, John buzzed us over to our next snorkel spot which by then was crowded with snorkelers. It was a popular spot being home to several giant Maori wrasse. Mark and I had gotten a bit chilled and so had removed our wetsuits thinking we wouldn‘t snorkel again, however, when we arrived and John started luring the fish over to us with bits of chicken left from our lunches, I couldn’t stand it and slipped back in the water. Albert, the largest Maori wrasse was a yard long and weighed about 60 pounds. He would swim right by me and I could run my hands along his blue wet velvet sides. There were lots of smaller fish and also a good sized trevally (large sport fish). Too fun!

One other day, Mark and I had an abbreviated windy and wavy kayak outing and yet another day was spent on a windy and wet boat outing with five other guests (pic is hanging cloths out to dry at lunchtime). The other guests were interesting and interactive, the staff incredibly helpful, and the food divine. It was the perfect end to our travels.

We left the island at 1:30 PM on Tuesday, June 15 and arrived home in Olympia at 11:30 PM on Tuesday, June 15--only 10 hours later! Huh? Of course, during that time we had one ten minute helicopter ride to Hamilton Island, a 1.5 hour airplane flight to Sydney, a 13 hour flight to Los Angeles, a 2.5 hour flight to Seattle, and an hour’s drive home to Olympia. We were met at the airport by Michael who also produced a container of our homegrown, fresh picked strawberries.  How sweet is that??  This will be my last blog entry……..thanks to any and all who read it along the way……IT IS GOOD TO BE HOME!