Nov 9, 2005 - Elan Update Part 4: The Great Barrier Reef
by Scott and Wendy Bannerot

	Ryan and his buddy Maffy show off a nice brown marbled grouper Ryan caught at an outer reef anchorage. Maffy was fishing aboard Saltaire in the marlin tournament. They released the fish unharmed moments after this photo by Alain Bouvier.

Life has been full of surprises of late, the latest being a spinal fluid leak from Wendy's newly-installed interthecal pain pump that at the last minute prevented her return from Mooloolaba to the mothership Odyssey 2 in Cairns. We were literally walking out the door to the airport when the doctor called to order her back for urgent surgery and a complete re-installation of the pump and another 15 days in the hospital. Ryan and I went on to Cairns as planned and within 48 hours were cruising some 140 or so nautical miles north to Lizard Island, the base for Nomad Sportfishing's 2005 giant black marlin charters. Our job was to deliver the mothership to the island, and subsequently to various reefs within a 50-mile radius depending on where the marlin were biting for the month of October. We pulled in to the anchorage just in time for the early evening opening festivities of the Lizard Island Black Marlin Classic, an all-release tournament that had this year attracted a record 46 boats.

When you hit a magical place while cruising, whether on a professional gig or on your own, you know it right away. This was certainly the case with Lizard Island. No sooner did we come tight on the hook and turn on our specially-designed underwater hull lights when the water came alive with brassy trevally, eating small baitfish and other tiny creatures attracted to the glow. The entire area is off-limits to fishing, and consequently it's absolutely packed with everything from these smaller species to 100-pound giant trevally, and several Pacific giant grouper to 500 pounds. Vibrant hard and soft corals cluster inshore of the sandy shallow anchorage. Fourteen miles to the east the gin-clear waves of the Coral Sea lap over the outer reef crests, places like the Ribbon Reefs and Day, Hicks, Cormorant, and Yonge Reefs.

That's Ryan and me at the scenic overlook, Lizard Island anchorage. Photo by Alain Bouvier.

We serviced and supported two game boats for the month, Nomad's 34-foot Kevlacat Nomad and Capt. Simon Wood's 36-foot Saltaire. We spent two-thirds of the time anchored in back of outer reef locations, sheltering at Lizard only when the trades piped up enough to wrap uncomfortable swells into the reef anchorages. In between boat chores and moves, Ryan and I got out snorkeling nearly every day, including a dip in the famed Cod Hole, a reef pass area frequented by numerous potato grouper (or "potato cod" as they're known locally) over 100 pounds. At six Ryan has been comfortable with fins, mask, and snorkel for some four years, and his free-diving is advancing rapidly. He would dive to the bottom in 12 feet of water and lie down on the sand, hands behind his head, and lounge among curious wrasses and damselfishes.

One week we went out on Nomad to photograph black marlin. The first bite was a vicious take of a 20-pound rigged narrow-barred mackerel (locally called "Spaniards") by an estimated 950-pound black, so massive that Ryan involuntarily leaped back in surprise. That fish jumped vertically once, like an immense submarine, and threw the hook. The next day we soon hooked a "small" black of "only" 350 pounds, and the angler had the fish boatside in short order. Tim Baker and I jumped overboard to get some underwater photos. I was blazing away with the camera when Tim tapped my shoulder and pointed down in to the inky blue gloom. Three 10-foot bronze whalers were angling lazily upward and it seemed like a good idea to put the photography on hold and swim back to the boat. There's always that last moment when your head is out of the water at the transom and you're making your move to clamber aboard, and you can't look behind you. Damon said we looked like penguins hopping out onto an ice floe as we jostled past the marlin and slithered back aboard. Ryan was mad that he wasn't allowed in to dive.

	Ryan's cruising background has made him extremely comfortable in the water. Here he's free-diving at Ribbon Reef No. 5 on the outer Great Barrier Reef. Notice his stinger suit and hood, designed to reduce the possible consequences of an encounter with the deadly box jelly. Photo by William De Peralta.

Before we knew it the month of charters was complete and the bow of Odyssey 2 was once more pointed south with Nomad in tow. We spent a few days in Cairns, where Wendy joined us and then departed for home in Mooloolaba with Ryan. One of the last things he said to me was "Dad, I've got enough stories from this month to tell for a year. I just can't wait to come back in our own boat so you don't have to work so much and we can be on our own schedule."

I hated to see them go, but this next month offshore in the Coral Sea promises to be a challenge, with my responsibilities once more shifting to working aboard charter fishing boats during the day, and a week-long job for the company filming episodes for an outdoor show. The routine of ferrying customers by seaplane to these outer reef locations has never been done before, and as I write this we are passing through the Whitsunday Islands with the two fully-rigged offshore game boats in tow and three custom skiffs loaded on the upper deck. We've got 4,000 liters of jet fuel so we can re-fuel the seaplane at the reefs. We top off with gas and diesel in Mackay tomorrow and then we're off. We're fully booked for the duration. Wendy, on the other hand, has strict orders to take it very easy on land through the end of the year. Ryan will catch up with school and taekwondo, and then we'll all be together again for the holidays before a two-week southern Great Barrier Reef diving job involving all of us aboard Odyssey 2 to kick off the new year. We're anxious to get Ryan back out sailing aboard Elan, but in the meantime he's still getting some good licks in for a six-year-old.