Snorkeling :-)

The one thing I definitely wanted to do while here in Australia was snorkel. The weather is starting to turn a bit colder here (we are now entering Autumn) and I knew that the window of opportunity was closing. Thus, after the book sale with Brett on Wednesday (3/16), Jon, Katie and I headed off to the best snorkeling spot in Adelaide--Port Noarlunga.

Why did I want to snorkel so badly? Because you can't really snorkel too well in the middle of southern Michigan. If you dove into one of the many lakes near where I live, all you would see is lake weed and mud. That doesn't bother me too much. I own a snorkel and I still use it as often as I can in Michigan, as I just love seeing the life that exists beneath you when you're swimming. I was really eager to do this in Australia though, where you can actually SEE something. I was not disappointed.

Adelaide is in the south of Australia. The water here is colder than it is in the north (closer to the equator). As such, there is not a lot of coral or things of that nature. In other words, this was not the colorful and amazing world of the Great Barrier Reef. There were, however, some amazing critters--fish, sea stars, urchins, etc.

As I said, we went to Port Noarlunga. This is a really interesting beach. About a hundred meters out from shore there is rock ledge, creating a natural reef. A jetty (or pier) extends out to this rocky area. At the end of a pier is a ladder to climb down into the ocean. Swim out a bit from the pier and you are on top of the rocks and looking at some of the most gorgeous fish I have ever seen. They congregate around the rocks, of course, for protection. The rocks provide a nice wave breaker too, so the swim is a pleasant one (if not a bit cold!).

I was terrified to jump into the water at first. I am petrified about the sharks in and around the waters of Adelaide. Jon told me not to worry, that if I stayed on the inside of the rocky ledge I would be fine. If worse came to worse, he said I could jump on top of the rocks! (For the record: Such advice is not comforting.) I eventually "took the plunge" and had an amazing time in the water. Jon ended up getting out of the water long before I did, as I was just so fascinated by the world underneath me. God is so great! He makes such beautiful things for us to enjoy. I snapped quite a few pictures with an underwater camera I had borrowed from Jon and Katie. I won't soon forget this experience!

After awhile though, the cold caught up to me and I had to get out. Back on shore Jon wanted to teach me how to skim board. Skim boarding is quite the odd activity. I can honestly say that I am not too great at it. Let me try to explain: A skim board looks a lot like a boogie board. A skim boarder stands on the beach and waits for a wave to wash ashore. Once the wave has started to recede back towards the ocean, the boarder throws the board into the vanishing water, giving it some speed. He then runs, jumps aboard and rides it down the water line into the ocean. Thus, the skim boarder is skimming across the little bit of water left by each wave. The trick to this process is, of course, staying on the board :-). This was the hard part for me. I did great waiting for a wave to wash on shore. I did alright throwing the board down into the receding water. I was quite good at running toward the moving board and even jumping onto it. But the staying on part....not so much. I did do alright a couple of times. Most of my attempts involved me falling onto the surprising hard sand. Jon says skim boarding can be quite dangerous and that people often break bones. I guess falling on the sand is a bit worse than falling into the water. Luckily nothing was damaged but my pride. Maybe I will try again someday. Katie captured a picture of my best attempt (haha!).

It was a good day the beach. Later, I discovered that Port Noarlunga is one of the shark attack "hot spots" of Adelaide, with more sightings and attacks than most other areas of the coastline. Of course, Jon neglected to tell me this (though he knew it!). I am thankful though, as it would have been much harder to get in the water had I known. In this case, what I didn't know COULD hurt me!

Regardless, I had more adventures to come that evening. I will start another post about them.

In Christ,

Chris