This next post starts with a ‘health’ warning. ⛔️ I’m about to explain what happened when we got in the water on the Great Barrier Reef but I have to warn you that it was not pleasant as Jane became very unwell. The good news is that 13 days later, she is out of hospital and doing much better. But if you don’t want to know the detail then maybe don’t read this post. Thankyou.

We had been in the water for only about 5 mins and were swimming across to the reef face, over the rope, as we’d been told to do. The water was very murky with lots of bits in it rather than the clarity you might expect. I could see the reef and the staghorn coral and there were a few smallish fish to be seen through the murk.

As always, I kept a close eye on Jane to make sure she is ok but she bobbed up and said that she was struggling to breathe. I said ok let’s just swim back to the pontoon (5 metres away) but Jane started to swim in completely the wrong direction and was clearly disorientated.

I called to Aaron (the Heli Pilot) as he was watching us to make sure we were safe. He came down to where we’d literally just put our flippers on and helped Jane get on there and sit down. By now, however, she was really struggling and coughing up something that didn’t look good at all. We sat for a while and then Aaron somehow helped Jane get up the steps. He sat her down on a plastic chair and helped Jane remove her life rest. Now she looked really ill, no colour at all. Thinking that she was having a severe asthma attack, Jane asked Aaron to get her Ventolin puffer which he did, but Jane didn’t have the breath to inhale it. Despite all this, Jane kept encouraging me to carry on snorkelling……..er…..no…I don’t think so.

Next thing was that Regan, Jacob and Shelly came into action. They are part of the crew based on Reefworld and they’re just kids under 30. But boy they were totally in control of the situation. They immediately put Jane on oxygen and started to monitor her blood pressure and heart rate. They were on the phone to medics back on the mainland and recorded absolutely everything that happened and divided up their roles. It was really very impressive as meanwhile I was in a bit of a state of shock. Aaron started puffing Jane’s Ventolin to her via the oxygen mask.

Elsewhere, the overnight guests who stay on Reefworld, were wanting to go on their guided snorkel and one woman was complaining that she didn’t have enough shampoo in her room. Poor things.

It became obvious that although Jane had stabilised, she was still struggling to breathe and she was getting more and more tired as she was closing her eyes. We all kept talking to her trying to keep her awake. Jane was going to need to be evacuated and the only transport there was the Helicopter we’d arrived on. However, Aaron wasn’t equipped to support Jane or to take the oxygen so this was a non- starter. The medics on the other end of the phone, were in fact from the Helicopter Rescue Service and it was decided that they’d be coming out to get Jane. This could take another 2 hours and when they arrived they wouldn’t be able to take me.

I was given a choice of either waiting with Jane and then having to stay on Reefworld overnight but then having problems getting to Jane in the morning. Or I could leave Jane and go back in our helicopter with Aaron. To start with I said no way was I leaving Jane but then they said that the rescue helicopter would be there in about 25 mins. The trouble was it was getting dark and Aaron had to leave NOW. It was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make but Aaron was very clear in his recommendation that I go with him. I checked in with Jane and she agreed that this was the best thing as then I could get back to her quicker the next morning.

So off Aaron and I flew, back to Hamilton Island. It should have been a lovely sunset ride back for me and Jane but now it wasn’t any fun at all.

I’ll let Jane tell you what happened next after I left……..

Guest Blogger: Jane

Hey everyone Jane here, writing this two days after being discharged from hospital, having made sufficient a recovery from my Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy heart failure, I no longer required a hospital bed anymore hurrah!

This is what I remember of what happened next. Julie left to go back to Hamilton island and I was sitting on a chair in only my new swimming costume, with an oxygen mask on taking very shallow breaths and wanting to go to sleep. The people looking after me had the job of keeping me awake and monitoring my vitals until my rescue helicopter arrived to take me to the mainland and an ambulance that would transport me to a hospital in Queensland.

They moved me to a tender (like a floating platform) and all three of them got on with me and my oxygen tank. On the pontoon the “black noddy” sea birds were gathering (too many at one time to be honest), the staff hated them, they poo over everything and it’s their job to clean it up. To ensure they didn’t poo over me, Shelly armed herself with a noodle (yes the flotation device type) and was swiping at them as they flew past.

The birds fly very close to the water and then circle back and land on the railings of the pontoon to have a poo. Presumably they are looking for food. Imagine my surprise when there was an almighty splash next to the tender and the bird was gone, apparently the giant trevally we had seen through the under water chamber earlier, leapt out and caught one for their tea! It was like I was in my own episode of the “Blue Planet”!

Well that passed the time till the rescue helicopter arrived. Shelly was very excited. It was too big and too heavy to set down on the little pontoon that Aaron had used, so they were going to have to hover over it. I was told they would lower someone down who would get me ready to be air lifted up to the helicopter 😱

The Helicopter got into position and I could see a rope drop down to the pontoon. Then out of the Helicopter came my “Knight in shining armour”, that was Shelly’s description! “Here he comes” she said, “your knight in shining armour”. Once safely down, the Reefworld team took the tender to the pontoon and I was helped across by my ‘Knight in Shining armour’ – Ashleigh (a girl) – imagine my delight! It was her job to get me into a hoist like a nappy that went up between my legs, then secured me with big metal clips to her and for us both to go up to the helicopter together. Fancy a girl being qualified to do that Shelly 🤣

Needless to say my heart rate may have gone up a bit at that point! Well once on board, the medics gave me something to help my breathing and they kept me calm whilst they took me to Mackay in Queensland! The rest is the boring hospital bit, so that’s all for now folks!

After our koala experience it was still only early in the day and we were happy to go back to the house for a chill. However, we were looking at the weather for our trip the next day and it didn’t look too promising…perhaps a little bit too windy. We decided to take a chance and see if we could change our trip to that afternoon instead as we really didn’t want to miss out. Luckily for us, they had space.

We had our lunch at the apartment and then at 12:45 we were checked in for our ‘Best of Both Worlds’ helicopter flight with Hamilton Air. This really was going to be a trip of a lifetime and I was incredibly excited to be doing it. We met our helicopter pilot , Aaron, and after we were weighed, he took us out to the micro helicopter that was waiting for us on the tarmac. It was indeed micro and we agreed that Jane would sit upfront with Aaron and I’d be in the back.

We set off and were soon flying over the sandy bays, forested hillsides and sparkling sea. It had turned into a rather lovely, hot sunny afternoon.

Soon we were flying right along Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island. This is the place I’ve wanted to see for such a long time as it often features in the lists of best beaches in the world etc. It is much longer than I’d expected at 7kms and is famous for its dazzling white 98% pure silica sand and turquoise waters. Lots of boat trips visit the beach and in fact we’d be doing one of these the day after next. But for now Aaron promised to land us where there’d be no one else around. Well, this was almost true…although to start with there was another helicopter landed right near us. Once we landed, Aaron helped us get out and set up a picnic mat and umbrella for us. He even offered us some bubbles, but we declined and just had water! The silica sand is incredibly bright but it doesn’t actually get hot on your feet so it was lovely to walk around and then have a paddle. We had about 45 mins here and Aaron encouraged us to have a swim. I was a little bit nervous of the stingers but after a while I decided to go for it and had a tiny dip, just so I could say I did! The water was lovely and warm and ‘sans’ (without) Jellyfish!

Jane meanwhile took lots of photos as the light kept changing with the sun coming in and out of the clouds. It really is the most beautiful place although how exactly we were going to fill a day here in 2 days time, I wasn’t sure.

Next we were back in the helicopter and now we flew over the other famous view of Hill Inlet. Here the silica sand swirls about in the mouth of the inlet and it is a spectacular sight.

Now Aaron said it would be about a 25 mins flight until we reached our next stop which was Hardy Reef on the Outer Great Barrier Reef. In the meantime we flew over the incredible reefs for miles admiring the colours and patterns below. He pointed out Hook Reef and the Instagram Favourite ‘Heart Reef’ which we circled twice. Some parts of the reef are exposed whereas in other places the water can be up to 60metres deep.

Eventually, we could see the pontoon of Reefworld at Hardy Reef and we landed onto a separate floating platform and waited whilst the big boat full of day trippers packed up and left. Thank goodness, it had 240 people on board and looked a bit hectic. Once they’d gone we were picked up by Regan on a tender and taken the short distance over to the pontoon. The only people remaining at Reefworld were us and the handful of folk who’d be staying overnight! Whilst Aaron got things organised we had a look through the windows of the underwater chamber and then it was time to get into our Stinger suits. These are basically a one piece blue suit that covers you from head to toe and protects you from Jellyfish stings. They insist that everyone wears them out here and we looked like a very attractive couple of Smurfs. We got our masks, snorkels, life vests, cameras and fins ready and Aaron gave us the instructions on where to swim etc. Let the adventures begin….this was where Jane had first learned that she could snorkel but now would be my first opportunity to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef.