Chapter 21: The Barrier Reef

Sunday Week 8

Straight after having a quick breakfast, they drove down to the wharf, found a parking spot and headed to catch their Sunlover's Reef Cruise, which departed at 9:30am.

The Fastcat headed to tropical Fitzroy Island for a one hour guided rainforest appreciation tour. This turned out to be almost unexpectedly interesting, being shown so many little things that would normally be overlooked on the forest floor. There was even an opportunity to taste a honey ant for those who were game enough to bite into the small insect while it was still alive, which didn't include them. But those that did agreed that they could taste the honey flavour.

Morning tea was served as the Fastcat continued out to the Great Barrier Reef, where it anchored at Moore Reef. On the way, there was an on-board presentation by a marine naturalist. At the reef, there was guided coral viewing from semi-submersible craft as well as rides on glass bottom boats. The highlight for them all, though, was the theatre style underwater observatory featuring an informative fish feeding presentation.

For those who didn't suffer from seasickness, which a number of the tourist did, there was a delicious buffet lunch with hot and cold seafood, fresh salads and tropical fruits. Fortunately the three of them were able to get stuck into the food, feeling no affect from the motion of the boat or the floating platform.

After lunch the three of them changed into their swimmers, grabbed the free snorkelling equipment available and dived in. Initially they did the guided snorkelling tour, before swimming around in the protected area by themselves.

The colours of the various fish and the coral they saw that day in the different boat rides and presentations as well as their own snorkelling left them amazed by the natural beauty. Personally, Dave though that looking at Jill in her brief bikini underwater was pretty amazing as well.

On the way back from the pontoon, the weather got a bit windy and the seas quite choppy. Dave went up to the top deck as he loved the motion of the boat. The other two were less sure and stayed on the deck below. Dave was the only person up on the top and sat on the first row of seats just after he came up the ladder, right next to the rail, enjoying the wind and spray as the catamaran jetted along.

About ten minutes later he couldn't help but notice a pretty young girl, probably only 16 or 17 years old he thought, in a very brief bikini with a pair of rubber thongs on her feet, not the best footwear for walking on the damp deck of a fast moving boat, he thought.

The girl climbed up the ladder onto the deck and just as she stepped onto the deck, the boat rolled one way, which threw her a bit off balance and one foot came out of a thong. The boat then rolled the other way and she was quite unprepared, as she had been concentrating on the thong that had come off.

The next moment, the poor girl, totally lost her balance and was hurtling towards the side, unable to stop her momentum. She was virtually running towards the side and was clearly going overboard. At the speed the boat was going, if she did go over the side, it would take quite a while to firstly get the captains attention, before the boat could slow down and turn around and then try to find her in the rough seas. Most likely falling from that height would have knocked her unconscious as well, so the odds are she would have drowned and in any event, it would have been hard to spot her amongst those waves.

All of this Dave thought of later. Instinctively his arm shot out and his hand grabbed her. Fortunately he was able to get a grip on her and she tumbled onto his lap rather than plunging over the side railing. It took several moments for them to both to realise that Dave was holding her by her boob, the part of her anatomy that Dave had been able to grab as he saved her from falling.

Dave pulled his hand away, a little reluctantly he thought to himself later, as she had a very good figure, apologising for grabbing her like that. Of course, that breast had come out of her bikini bra and Dave's hand had actually been on her bare boob, but, not surprisingly, the girl hadn't noticed that, being in a state of shock, as she realised what had almost happened to her.

The girl slowly got up off Dave's lap where she had landed, quickly reassuring Dave that she was alright and thanked him profusely knowing that Dave had probably saved her life. As she started to stand up, she gave him a quick kiss, thanking him again.

Trying not to embarrass her, Dave let her know by looking down at her breast and up again, that one breast was still uncovered. She became even more embarrassed, covering her breast up, as Dave asked if she was OK.

Once she had stood up fully she almost collapsed back onto Dave's lap again. She realised that her legs were a bit wobbly and her head was spinning a bit from the emotions of her close call. Dave helped her to sit down next to him while she recovered, but she assured him that nothing was broken and she would be alright soon, if he didn't mind her sitting there for a few moments.

A little while later, she stood up, thanked Dave again with a little kiss and went back down below, with a story to tell her girlfriends, Dave thought.

It had been a most enjoyable and, for Dave, eventful day. The three of them bubbling and chatting as they drove back to the RV, with Dave telling them about his experience with the girl on the top deck.

On the drive back to the RV, because it was getting a bit late and they were all tired from their day on the water, Dave suggested getting some Chinese take-away, something he rarely had, but didn't mind on occasions. Peter and Jill were happy to have something easy for dinner, too.

"Sorry guys, we're going to have to put our love life on hold for the next four days. Unfortunately it's that time of the month again. At least you can recharge your batteries" Jill said quietly after dinner. "Hope you've got another good movie for us Dave."

So Dave decided to get a movie with little or no sex in it to watch that might. That way it wouldn't make them miss as much what they couldn't have and suggested they watch Independence Day. But they all enjoyed the action, even if it was a little bit implausible.

Monday Week 9

After breakfast Peter and Jill asked if it was possible for them to borrow the car for a few hours, if Dave didn't need it, as there were some things in the city both needed to do. Dave was happy to catch up on emails and read for a while, so readily agreed.

"Will you fill up the car with petrol while you are in town?" he asked, giving them some money to pay for the petrol.