Snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef with Quicksilver

These notes are intended to guide wheelchair users interested in snorkeling on the GBR.  They reflect my personal experience only and represent just one day - do your research if you plan to try this experience, and if you a in north east Australia you really really must try this experience! It's worth pushing yourself out of your comfort zone for.

After doing a little online research and exchanging emails with a few people I felt that Quicksilver (http://www.quicksilver-cruises.com/) gave me the most confidence in their familiarity with and ability to accommodate wheelchairs so we went with them. I travelled with my wife and two very young children (6 and 7 years old) and three adult friends. I am a T4 complete paraplegic, with a rigid light manual chair. I can swim but I had no previous experience of snorkeling.

Quicksilver offer a range of reef trips, but the one you need to take is to go to the Agincourt reef platform as this is the only one with good wheelchair access. The boats to the reef depart from Port Douglas and they have two large boats with wheelchair access. Embarkation from the port was easy, a member of staff helped push me up the fairly gently sloping gangway.  There was a steep sloped ledge at the end. On board there was a table (conveniently located near the bar!) reserved for wheelchair access, with the seats removed on one side of it. A bench seat beside the table offered the opportunity to get out of your chair if you prefer although it faces away from the windows and view.  The staff were very attentive and reassured me greatly as I tried not to show my nerves. There is an accessible toilet although you have to negotiate a lip from the salon to get outside. The staff offered a ramp to assist with this but I was able to just "curb hop" it. 

Upon arrival at the platform after about 90 minutes journey, you disembark onto the platform itself.  Access to the lounge and main platform is via three very steep ramps.  You will need assistance going up and down - I don't think anyone could manually push themselves up them unless they are extremely athletic.

The staff provide masks, snorkels and buoyancy jackets.  Although I can swim I decided to take a buoyancy jacket for stability and I am very glad I did. On this experience you really need to great yourself into as comfortable a position as possible so thAt you can focus on the wonderful marine sights. There isn't much point in getting fins if you can't move your legs. I would recommend swim shoes though just to provide protection for your feet. I didn't have any but would have had greater peace of mind if I had.

Once the main rush of people getting into the water had abated, and I had applied sun screen etc. I told the staff I was ready. They really want to see you go in with a buddy. Since my wife was fully preoccupied in the water with  the kids I was very glad to have an adult friend (and experienced snorkeller) with me. 

The platform has a chair lift. You perform a 70 or 90 degree transfer from your wheelchair onto the chair lift. Staff will assist you a little but are not trained to perform lifting and so on so if you need that level of assistance you need to bring some helpers with you. Once on the chair lift, they strap you in and lower you very slowly into the water - about a meter below. Once in the water they pull you to the swim platform where you an finalize your preparation, affix your mask and snorkel and prepare for something wonderful.

Once you slide into the water there are lines with bouys that you can use to provide both stability and confidence. I stayed very close to these for the first ten minutes but once I got confidence I let go and was able to drift and swim with the fishes.

I found it was very easy to get into a horizontal "viewing position" face down in the water simply by moving my head forwards. Getting back up into a vertical position where I could remove the snorkel and breathe normally was a bit more problematic. I achieved it by flapping my arms wildly to try to raise my torso out of the water. Initially several people thought I was drowning so I had to work on my technique to look more like an intentional move and less like a scrabbling kitten.

I stayed in the water for about 45 minutes (you can get up to 3 hours or so in the water if you are prepared to skip lunch) until I began to get quite cold (it was July - mid-winter). During that time I views an astonishing vista of incredibly beautiful fish and coral, up close and far away. At points I was just a few feet from the coral and at other points fish came right up and stared into my mask. What a truly remarkable experience, and it is imperative that we take every measure necessary to protect and enlarge the GBR to preserve it for our own and future generations.

There are no accessible changing rooms - I just put on a dry shirt and stayed in my wet swimming trunks and sat in the sun until they dried out.

The platform has other viewing opportunities such as a semi-submersible boat and observation platforms below the sea level. However none of these are accessible unless you can walk down a few steps. I was completely satisfied with the snorkeling experience so did not miss these at all.

The platform also offers diving but unless you are experienced or really determined to dive I think the experience you get snorkeling is as good as it gets. The variety of life and the colors are greatest near the water's surface.

The return to shore was uneventful with easy boarding once you got up the three ferociously steep ramps on the platform.

Snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef is one of those things I thought would never be part of my experience once an accident put me in a wheelchair for life. Well, I was wrong and if time and money allow it, you should try it. Disability is the last excuse you should use!