Summer Spawn Time

Its that time of year again when we are all excited by the activities on the the reef. Firstly, we finally have summer conditions: Calm Seas ! 

When considering a snorkeling trip, most folks naturally assume sunshine and blue skies make for a good day. However, wind strength is what defines the entire day; firstly the potential of sea-sickness on the way out, then the degree of difficulty snorkeling with wave size, followed by the amount of current to fight against, then how stirred up or clear the water is and finally, how cold one becomes with the chill effect once out of the water.

Here at Wavelength, we show our guests incredible underwater scenery and life at our unmatched collection of mooring sites. This is true even when pouring with rain with black skies !

The video above shows that rainfall itself does NOT mean the sea is rough and frightening. In fact, in the Summer, this is usually the opposite, low pressure rainy days are usually this calm.

Ordinary October Blues

There seems to be a pattern emerging. Each time we post we first have to apologise for our slack approach to our Blog.

So, apologies for the long delay in posting !

Much joyous celebration occurred recently with the ending of the howling winter winds just before the last of the whales (see previous post) departed for the Antarctic. It is this time of year (summer) that we all wait for because of the lack of wind. In fact, we often term the October-November period as "brochure days" as it is the time of year all the boats take photos for next season's brochure.

Unfortunately, call it bad luck, call it the weather gods or call it Climate Change, but this has been a very Ordinary October with strong, very winter-like winds. It is a cause of great distress to us because we will not take our guests out into those smashing waves as it would be a tough call to give anyone a good day in those conditions. Consequently, we have not gone to the reef in 4 days.

Anyway, before these winds arrived, we did squeeze in some typically amazing summer days including one day of crazy turtle action at our premiere site "Turtle Bay".

Included in the top of this post (just to get your attention you see) are a few of the photos of the crazy turtle day - up to 8 turtles were seen by guests including both common species of sea turtle and even both species swimming side by side.

Hope to see you here soon, in the summer, when these winds have finally gone, so we can show you our amazing exclusive sites.

Cheers,

Wavelength Team.

Baby Whales

Wow ! The whales are still out there despite the typical winter conditions and lately we have been seeing lots of babys !

Seen here is a mother and calf that actually approached Wavelength III within a few metres !

We all agree that mum was teaching baby about boats and friendly humans.

Wavelength Gets a Makeover

Well as promised everyone, here are some photos that show what the new Waves III looks like after her major overhaul.

Looking in from her stern you can see the huge main working deck offering plenty of space for our small groups.


From this angle you can also see all the new tarpaulin covers and clear windows.

Moving onto the back deck and looking forward you can see the shine on all the stainless work and the cool blue theme of the seats and carpet.

The lunch table in the middle is stowed away when not in use so even more deck space is available.

You can also see in the distance, the new galley !

Here it is, the new Galley. Heaps of dry storage space for guests bags and dry clothes.

Lockers for our educational material and spare snorkel equipment.

New sink, taps, benches and just out of sight the new stainless steel fridge.

Just for completeness, here is a shot of the upper deck and captains helm.

Notice again the shiny stainless, cool blue theme and transparent sides all around.

So there you have her. The new and improved Wavelength III.

Hope to see you on-board soon !

Whales Whales Whales

Apologies again for being so late for this blog. We are so busy now in peak season that none of us have had the time.

Anyway, enough of that. Whales ! Yes we are well and truly into the Humpback Whale season. The short and sweet Dwarf Minke Whale season has all but gone so now it is up to the bigger Humpbacks to put on a show.

Wavelength has been encountering thse 15 metre long cetaceans most days except for the windy days when rough seas hide the big mammals in a sea of white caps.

Finishing touches are still being made to Waves III after the massive refurbishment earlier this year. Lately we have replaced ALL snorkeling equipment with brand new, high quality masks, snorkels, fins and wetsuits for all sizes !

If you are interested in both an educational reef snorkeling experience AND a good chance of whale watching, you still have several weeks left to come out and try your luck. Look for a day with the lowest wind and/or the lowest tide, remember to book in advance because it is our peak season and hopefully we will see you soon.

The big REFIT

Apologies for the blog being a little (!) overdue, but it has been madness and mayhem up here in Port Douglas! Wavelength has not been travelling to the Great Barrier Reef since April 10th!
The management team of Wavelength Marine Charters decided to bring forward some major refurbishment plans that they had planned for May/June.
Eciting happenings! The boat is being repainted, new clears are being put on, the galley is being remodelled, basically Wavelength will be almost brand new again!
When we have some images I will post them.
Our poor crew are having major withdrawal symptoms from the reef!

Great Barrier Reef Gorgeous Weather

From the Office

Hi all! Back to the lovely weather at last. FINALLY

We had three weeks or so of extremely high winds- 35 to 45 knots in fact. There were a number of days where we decided that owing to the high winds and massive tides; that the conditions were not suitable for snorkelling! We had some very big tides, with a significant difference between the high and low tides, (potential for strong currents) and we also had many days where the highest point of the tide was right in the middle of the day(no protection from the swell). Combine this with gale force winds and the conditions can be pretty ugly for snorkellers.

Weather like this also highlights the importance of good sea sickness prevention tips..

1. Don't eat a massive greasy breakfast. A light brekki is better than too much or no brekki!

2. Dont sit upstairs on the vessel, sit downstairs in the middle of the boat where it is the most stable.

3.Take the seasickness tablets BEFORE you start feeling ill.

4.Avoid confined spaces like toilets.

5. Get plenty of fresh air on your face.

6.Watch the horizon.

Now however it is a different story. Today it is a much awaited 10 knots, the sun is shining and the boat is very busy- booking out 4 days in advance. The weather is looking great...finally

A number of people have been coming into the shop wanting to book our boat for the next day...but we are fully booked out 4 days in advance!

The best bet is to make an online reservation before you get here, that way you can still change your dates if the weather is really really bad AS LONG as you give us 24 hours notice!

From the Crew

Lots of schooling steepheads lately a pretty amazing sight considering that these fish are around a meter long! Imagine seeing 30 or 40 of them at once. They look a bit scary but rest assured...these guys eat coral not people!

A nice photo of a turtle from Fluffy our gifted Marine Biologist... he really is a turtle whisperer !

From the Fan Club

A really lovely email this week that we thought we would share with you.

This one from Stuart Morgan

"Please feel free to put this one the website: it's the highest recommendation I can give you guys. My family and I had a fantastic day on the boat back in Aug 2007. We toured 5-weeks around Queensland, NT and Sydney. The tour was one of the best days of all: what a fantastic crew. You get a real team-spirit among the other tourists and it makes it so special. My brother from Sydney came with us and he agrees - and he has done like 90+ dives all round the world. Miles better than a later one we took off Airlie Beach. And we even met up with some other guys on the trip by accident down the coast a couple of weeks later. If you want a top-notch cruise with what feels like family, whales, shark, turtles ... and the best/most informed, friendly and entertaining darn crew in Queensland, choose these guys first. The time of your life! Go Wavelength!"

And a great video from some of our guests who actually went out on one of the rougher days...

Click here to watch the Video from the O'Farrell family and many thanks to you for sharing this with us.

That's all for this week,

Cheers

Wavelength

Mmmmmmm Monsoonish

A gorgeous nudibranch


From the office
Wet wet wet...loads of rain over the weekend, absolutely torrential. True monsoon time in the tropics. Green tree frogs in the bathroom and the only way to dry clothes is in the clothes dryer. The humidity has been very extreme. Today the rain has stopped hopefully for a few days and the wind has dropped right down to 5 knots for the next three days. This means perfect conditions for the Great Barrier Reef. Life would be so much easier if it was 5 knots out on the reef permanently!
From the Crew
On Sunday Wavelength took out a Korean Film Crew who were doing a documentary on the Irukandji and Box Jellyfish that are prevalent during the summer months in the tropics. Steve spotted some box jellies in the duckpond, much to the delight of the producer. The documentary makers were very interested in the preventative measures the reef tour operators use to ensure that passengers are protected against the likelihood of a marine sting. They interviewed our marine biologist "Fluffy" and all in all had a great day.


From the Fan Club


Another awesome thankyou letter from Wavelength Guests


"Hi WavelengthI'm back in cold Melbourne and dreaming of our recent holiday, especially the day out on the reef with Fluffy, Steve and Jee(?). I just have to thank you all for the experience. As we have a flat up in Port Douglas we are frequent visitors and had travelled on all the reef tours over the years except Wavelength (not sure why). Wavelength was absolutely outstanding and we will see you again every time we visit. We will also tell all our friends who go to Port Douglas about you.Firstly the sites you took us to were the best we had ever seen. The most beautiful coral gardens ever, particularly the spot on north opal reef (can't remember the name) and the shallow lagoon on opal ? reef. The wind made it a bit choppy and we were told it was an unusual direction but didn't worry us. The crew seemed very adept at tying the boat up and made us feel safe.The biologist Fluffy was fantastic with his enthusiasm and information all day. He seemed to always be there showing us fish and corals and animals. We learned so much more in one day than we had on all the other tours put together. We have a great photo (the first) of us snorkelling amongst the coral. We will treasure that DVD with all the photos for a long time.Steve the skipper was also a wealth of information and extremely professional and helpful when I gulped some water and had a small panic. Thank you.The lunch was great and the attention by the relaxed friendly and enthusiastic crew just made the day our best reef trip ever. Many thanks again"


Meg and Colin McRae

Wet Season Weather

From the office

Well... the weather this week has been typical of wet season in that we have had some dramatically foul weather followed by some fantastic weather 2 days later!

Monday was particularly bad- 30-40 knots- even the biggest boats in Port Douglas turned back after starting the journey to the reef! Wavelength cancelled the run, because in our opinion it was way too rough for snorkelling- what with the gale force winds, the high tide in the middle of the day and torrential rain squalls!

Yesterday however the wind dropped right out and it was a mild 10 knots with sunny skies out on the reef. The forecast for the next three days is superb.

It is really hard to pick the weather during wet season, so we advise all our guests to call us a day before they arrive in Port Douglas so that we can book the very best weather day for their Great Barrier Reef tour.

From the Crew

Our resident super photographer Chris Jones (AKA Fluffy) has been taking some great snaps for our CD of the Day. The photos on this blog today were taken last week. (In case anyone was wondering what the reef is like to snorkel in wet season) As you can see our sites are free from Diver damage to the coral and very healthy.

The turtle pic at the top of the page was taken at our exclusive use mooring "Turtle Bay" The turtles at this reef site are pretty calm as they see us Wavelength folk quite regularly. That's why we get so many good photos of Turtles!

From the Fan Club

Recently published to Trip Advisor were these two fantastic reviews from some happy snorkellers. Great information on the day we offer and the sites we visit from some Wavelength guests:

From Allentown in PA

"This trip was the highlight of our time in Australia. When we planned our holiday, seeing the Great Barrier Reef was paramount to us. But both myself and my wife had both done diving (scuba) outings before, and since we are not certified divers, we agreed that the added expense and hassle of a dive trip were not what we wanted. Add to this the fact that after researching the topography of the reef before our trip, we realized that almost everything you could hope to see is in 30 feet of water or less, we both felt snorkelling was the way to go. Further research showed that the big boats going out to the reef took up to 300 people at a time, and carried both snorkellers and divers. We certainly didn't want our once-in-a-lifetime chance to see this natural wonder to be ruined by going out on a boat that had to please divers by stopping at sites that were too deep for snorkellers to enjoy, or by being crowded or using equipment that might not be in good shape. This eventually led us to Wavelength.Let me describe our day on Wavelength to help show why bigger isn't always better. First, the captain of the boat picked us up at our hotel in the morning. We thought that was nice. He's a great fellow named Aaron who we got along with right off the bat. We arrived at the marina where we met Kenny, the marine biologist on the boat. Another cool guy. We got on board, and took off for the reef. It took about 90 minutes to get to our first site on the reef, and during the trip Kenny fitted everyone with nice, new equipment, and explained how to use it to get the best experience while out there. We had tea and cookies on the way out. Kenny gave out seasickness meds to anyone who was interested. We were taught about what we would be seeing, where to look to see the absolute most we could and given real attention if we had questions regarding anything at all. I forgot to mention there were 13 people on our trip. We spent about an hour and a half at the first site, which got everyone used to the gear. I cannot begin to describe how stunningly beautiful it was.Kenny swam with everybody for awhile to make sure they were comfortable. When it was time to leave for the next site, Kenny gave us a little marine biology lesson on the way. More tea and cookies and we were at our second site. Kenny told us there would be totally different stuff to see here, and he led those interested on a guided tour of the location, stopping every couple of minutes to check on everyone or point out some fascinating marine creature. When it was time to leave this site, we got on the boat and Aaron had prepared a wonderful lunch for us, with unique Aussie specialities and lots of nice big prawns. On to our last site called turtle bay. Lots of beautiful green turtles here and we swam with schools of giant humphead wrasses that were 5-6 feet long. It was just the most awesome experience.On our ride back to port they even provided us with wonderfully fragrant wet towels to wipe the salt off ourselves.When we got back to the marina, we all went into Wavlength's gift shop to look for souvenirs. The nice ladies working there even gave the people who didn't buy anything free postcards to send home! Everyone told stories of the wonders they had seen, and you could tell as you watched the faces of the staff and crew, that they were genuinely interested in what we all had to say. I think it was such interaction that just put the Wavelength experience in a class by itself. If you are looking for a very personalized experience on the Great Barrier Reef, I cannot recommend Wavelength highly enough. It is an experience of a lifetime, and the people at Wavelength make it even more enjoyable.If you book a trip with these guys, which I hope you do, make sure to purchase their photo CD. Not only does it have awesome photos of spectacular marine creatures, but the guys will be happy to take lots of pictures of you and your friends while you're in paradise. Happy reef day!!"

From Blumpkin in New York

"I had only gone snorkeling once before, and had a terrible experience, so was very nervous about trying it again. However, on the recommendation of a friend, I went snorkeling in Port Douglas with Wavelength, and had an amazing time. First off, being that it was a smaller boat, we received a lot more personal attention. We snorkeled at 3 separate sites, and on all 3, a marine biologist was diving with us so that he could answer questions about anything we saw on the reef. On the second site, he led us on a 45 minute tour of his favorite parts of one particular reef which was great. Not only did I learn a lot, but he pointed out many things I otherwise would have overlooked. Then on the third site, we went to a place called turtle bay, and he took the whole group out together to ensure that we would all be able to see turtles while snorkeling. Not only did the smaller boat allow for us to have more personal attention, but a smaller boat allowed for us to go to parts of the reef that bigger boats could not reach. I think for anyone, getting personal attention is important, but especially for beginner snorkelers. I loved my first time so much I went out again two days later. Again, I relished the fact that I could be on a small boat and have close contact with a marine biologist. On the first site we dove at, most of the people were getting acquainted with snorkeling, so the dive leader took me out for 10 minutes to a distant part of the reef where we were snorkeling in search of schools of fish and sharks, as he knew from when we spoke on my first trip that I really wanted to see a shark on the trip. Lastly, the fact that it was a snorkle only boat was great, as everyone on the boat was able to snorkel together and get the same attention from the trip leaders. All and all it was an amazing experience, and would tell anyone going to Port Douglas to do snorkeling on this boat, and avoid the massive tour boats"

As good as it gets! Feb 2008

From The Office

A big hello from Wavelength here in Port Douglas!

We get lots of questions about the weather and Great Barrier Reef conditions during wet season...so here is some information for the curious cats.

SO FAR February is looking to be a marvellous month weather wise, we are currently blessed with 10 knot or under winds...for those not in the know, this is as good as it gets! Glassy conditions, no swell and fantastic visibility.

The crew have been cheerfully taking movies on their mobile phones to send to me in the office- just so I know what I am missing out on! Thanks SOOO much.

Here is what it was like yesterday.

Visibility is also spectacular- averaging 25 to 30 meters.

We have also been getting a little bit of rain overnight, but the last couple of days no rain and clear blue sunny skies.

It is only early days yet, traditionally February and March are our wettest months... but it is not all bad news. When it rains, our favorite photographer grabs his cameraas and heads out for photos. Coral flouresce under UV light. ACT (according to Fluffy) when there is bright sun, there is more infra red light. When there is cloud there is more UV light. Hence on a "dull rainy day" the coral actually glow and make for much better photographic opportunities.

Boat Crew

A couple of crew members have returned to us here at Wavelength after working on other local boats.

We are very happy to have Bretto our favorite kite surfer dude back at the helm.

We also have one of our favorite biologists and photographers back with us... Chris Jones.

He will be replacing the almost irreplaceable Nicki Rumney, who is off to travel Mexico for a year.

Now Nicki if you must dive with the HUMBOLDT SQUID in the Gulf of Mexico at least make sure that you wear the chain mail suit!

Some of our old crew are off having adventures delivering a yacht.

Geoff and White Pete have also got a blog going, tales of their adventures make for interesting reading, so be sure to check it out. Last time we heard from Geoff he was in the Southern Ocean chasing illegal Patagonian Toothfish Fishermen with customs, so he really has changed the pace of his life.

General News

I found a quote from our fearless leader Steve Simpson the other day. It was taken from an interview about ecotourism in the Sydney Morning Herald. It got me thinking about why Wavelength is such a unique product... it is the ethic that comes from the top.

"My basic philosophy is that by taking people out to the reef, telling them about the reef and our concerns for the reef; they actually become aware of the issues and go and talk to other people. The more people know about it, the more they are likely to put their hands up and rant and rave about it. If it is locked away and untouched, no one really knows or cares about it"

Nice one Steve!

Fanmail

Finally from the office some fan mail... I love letters like these!

To the Staff:
We have lived in the Port Douglas area for 22 years, and in that time we have been out on The Wavelength many, many times. During these past years we have also been on most of the boats out of Port Douglas, many out of Cairns, even Townsville and the Whitsunday's. I can honestly say not one of them compares to the Wavelength.Starting with the booking office,
the quality of the sites you visit and the time you get to spend there, the on board staff from the Capitan, Marine Biologist, deck hands, the great lunch.
It is just a wonderful, unforgettable experience. As we have in the past, we will continue to recommend the Wavelength to any and everyone. Thank you for many memorable experiences
Anita and Mike McGoldrick

That about wraps it up from us here at the office, bear with us if this blog isnt perfect... it is our first one!

We will be adding a few more entries with photos and sightings of note in the near future...so stay tuned!

Cheers

Office Crew