playing eco-tourist
greetings from cairns (pronounced "cans" by the locals), australia, kids. we took the ocean spirit catamaran out to the great barrier reef today and went snorkeling and scuba diving. i have gotten motion sickness on swings, bicycles, cars, trucks, buses, trains, aeroplanes...and now swimming. at the end of our thirty minute amazing dive, i thought i was going to lose my continental australian breakfast. but the reef (the largest living organism) is just amazing. fish of all different colors and shapes and sizes and clams -- HUGE ones -- and sea slugs and conch and turtles and ... wow. it's like swimming in the baltimore aquarium. tourism is an interesting though. cairns depends on it for 70 percent or something of its economy. and the catamaran tour operators (ocean spirit) were very careful to take precautions to be as eco-friendly as possible. yet, people still stood on the reef when they weren't supposed to. it's a tough one. we want people to enjoy nature so they can go out and help the cause, right? but then if too many people enjoy something, it can be detrimental. alas.

anyway, this is just the start of the trip. there are more great things to come. i think tomorrow we are going up to a rainforest. drop me an email if you want. (helloooo out there?) i hope to check my email with some regularity. bye.