Audible

One of the most important lessons we have learned in our past travels is to think like a quarterback and know when to call an audible. Sometimes it becomes obvious that things are not going to work out well and evasive action is required.

Flashback to spring of 2004. We went to Honolulu to attend the wedding of a friend and spent a week on Oahu. We both had arranged to take the next week off as well and because both of us had been to Hawaii before, we chose to spend some time on an island that neither of us or many other people had been to... Molokai. To make a long story short, this was not a good decision. Within 24 hours of arrival we had:
1. Seen a dead mouse in our condo.
2. Noticed that we had no AC.
3. Watched a column of ants snake along our ceiling.
4. Found out that "the beach" at our resort was nothing more that a mud pit with lots of crabs running around on it.
5. Discovered that the largest beach in Hawaii was on the opposite side of the island except that dangerous undertows made swimming life-threatening.
6. Heard that the only golf course on the island was being redone and was unplayable.
7. Found out that there was a pretty trail through the woods to an old leper colony except that it was covered in donkey excrement.
8. Learned about good snorkeling within a short drive however while you snorkeled your car would likely be broken into by meth-crazed locals
9. Essentially been laughed at by the tourist coordinator when he found out we were staying for 5 days.
10. Driven to the airport, returned our rental car, and hopped on a plane to Maui.

We vowed never to make the same mistake again and had successfully accomplished this until yesterday. As mentioned earlier, we had booked a four day trip to Heron Island a world class diving destination. There was one concern about this, there was a two hour ferry ride to the island and Katherine becomes easily seasick. We had spoken with the staff and booking company about this multiple times and they assured us that the ride was not that rough and that motion sickness medicine was provided on board. They also assured us that there was diving right off of the shore or via very short boat trips in the calm surrounding waters once we got to the island. Regardless, we both maintained a certain degree of anxiety. This anxiety only mushroomed when we arrived in Gladstone (the city where the ferry departs) last night. It was very windy and the radio kept talking about 3-4 meter swells (uh-oh). The clerk at our hotel in Gladstone made several comments with a smirk such as "you're going to Heron? Enjoy the boat ride." (oh-no). He then mentioned something almost as disturbing, "I hope you like birds." (What??? see earlier posting on Scary Birds).

Now Katherine's anxiety was spiraling out of control and I was also reaching panic mode, what was going on here, none of this was mentioned on the website or in our many conversations with the staff. I placed another call to Heron, this time I heard that "the boat ride today was really rough and similar conditions were forecast for tomorrow, also several dives had been canceled due to chop." (Crap!!!). They also informed me that for an additional $500 I could charter a helicopter to the island and avoid the ferry ride (Thanks). I hung up and immediately consulted my trusted friend Dr. Google, who spit out several websites which I had somehow not seen before. I didn't think it could get worse, but I was very wrong. I quickly learned that it was bird nesting season on Heron and that the stink, bird poo, and noise from the innumerable birds was absolutely overpowering. It was nearly impossible to walk outside without being targeted multiple times by the avian neighbors. In fact, some guests used umbrellas when outside of their room (I'm not kidding). It was also impossible to sleep at night from ceaseless bird screeches even with the earplugs (again not kidding) that were provided to each guest. To top it all off, the food was supposedly marginal to bad. The diving and snorkeling remained top notch and turtle hatchlings were also a unique site. After quickly assesing the situation I knew it was time to call my audible.

I began intensely researching lodging options at Noosa, a really nice beach town which we had driven through about five hours back. I found a room in a well rated hotel right on the beach. After one last slap in my face the next morning (there was a 30cm crack in the windshield of my rental car which had formed overnight, apparently the result of a small pebble impact on the drive up) we had cancelled our trip to Heron and were on the road to Noosa where we will stay for the next three nights.

-AA

Please note, I have heard that Heron is very nice at other times of the year, but I would definitely avoid it in February. The rental car agent at the airport told me that desperate guests had been chartering the helicopter to get them off of the island. Luckily for us, we never arrived.