Szilárd VAJDA's blog

I do not really know how to start. Probably this entry will be a quite an enthusiastic one. I am planning to describe my snorkeling experience at Low Isles, a wonderful island in the Pacific surrounded by corals, fishes, turtles and a nice blue water. We sailed away from the harbor early in the morning with the ship Sailaway IV with Steve the skipper and two lovely ladies. Sunshine, nice weather and good company. There were about 20 people on the boat. For more details about the boat and the family business of Steve look their website. Just in order to have a rough idea about this site, Low Isles is near to Port Douglas a lovely touristic city.

After sailing in the sunlight about 1h we arrived near to Low Isles this small paradise in the middle of the ocean. You can walk trough in 5 minutes and you can make a tour in 8 minutes. So you can imagine about the size. The island is part of the Great Barrier Reef where all those lovely creatures live near to the surface. After some safety regulations and some basic sign language course we started to explore the nearby of this island. Can you imagine? Corals everywhere, different type of fish and you listening how you are breading trough your mask. Amazing. Total freedom. You and the nature and nothing else.

You are snorkeling on the water surface, looking right, looking left and discovering new wonders all over. There was none of uninterested spots. I discovered a huge turtle and I followed him/her. Simply amazing and I had this feeling of total freedom. You, the water, the corals the underwater animals and the abyss. I have not experienced such a feeling before. Amazing, wonderful, lovely! I was always in love with the ocean but from now on this love is getting more intense.

After the lunch we started the second snorkeling session but that one was on open water not on the island anymore. It was a bit scary as near the boat we spotted some huge fishes and some sharks. Yes, there were sharks in the water, reef sharks. Of course these sharks are harmless. Everybody lost the enthusiasm but it was not my case. I just let my instincts to guide me trough the water. I have to admit for a couple of seconds I have been in the same water perimeter with those reef sharks but they just disappeared in the abyss. I was swimming near to the shore and I have had the most beautiful lifetime experience. I found a huge turtle and that huge and lovely creature was swimming calmly beneath and we shared this nice company for a couple of minutes. The turtle was like a guide for me. Honestly, I do not know about the turtle, but for me it was something amazing. Nobody was there, just the turtle and me, the corals and the ocean.

Of course I was the last one coming on board but I could have stayed for hours and explore the reef. It is not my first snorkeling experience but definitely it was the magic one. I decided to go for diving next time I am back in Australia.

Ps. Special thanks should go to Steve and the other crew members for this amazing lifetime experience. I hope some day I can come back to Port Douglas and Low Isle and meet those lovely people again.