STUNNING!!!

An even earlier early morning for us today. After breakfast we headed out to the marina in Cairns to join our boat out to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR)

The journey out to the reef was about 2 hours, with a brief stop at a holiday resort on Fitzroy Island. The crossing was far smoother than the one to Magnetic Island the other day, however the number of white bags in use was considerable!!!

I had signed up for a scuba trip and went off for my briefing en-route to the reef. It turned out that I was the only English speaker doing a dive today so I was paired up with a Spanish dive instructor! Paulo was a great instructor, had a MSc in marine biology, was fluent in a number languages including English, Italian, Portuguese, Hindi and Chinese. My dive time was set for 1400 so that would allow Lyn and I to get some snorkeling in together before lunch.

At the reef there was a very large pontoon that we moored up against, this was the “wet” area with aluminium seats and benches, changing rooms etc.

Time to get wet. The water was crystal clear, full of coral and tropical fish. I had a few technical issues with my underwater camera, but still got some shots in as well as some videos.

I’ll put some pictures at the end.

After our first snorkel there was a good buffet lunch available (free, as was tea and coffee throughout the trip), there was a plentiful supply of fresh prawns as well.

After lunch we did a little more snorkeling, then I left Lyn on her own as I went off to prepare for the dive. All kitted up we descended into the warm (28C) water and headed down to clear the ears. Finally I have mastered this art, I clear my ears every 18″ or so on descent whether there is any discomfort or not. I had absolutely no ear problems.

We swam around for about 30 minutes varying the depth from a couple of metres down to 10 metres. Fish of nearly every colour were all over the place and the varieties of coral were amazing. While I was doing this Lyn was either snorkeling or riding in the glass bottom boat.

All too soon it came to an end, and we headed back towards Cairns. About 15 minutes out we spotted some thick black smoke on the water. It turns out that a motorboat had caught fire, all 4 people were saved by a passing tour boat.

Pictures:

Although a number of the pictures a quite good, I had issues in taking the shots as the camera would go into snooze mode after about a minute, I didn’t realise this until later as it was difficult to see the screen in the bright sunlight. Unfortunately the cameras instructions are in pretty poor Chinglish (sorry Catriona!!) and mention none of the issues I was having. 30ft down in the Pacific was not the best place to trouble-shoot.

If you ever get the chance to go to the GBR, don’t hesitate….. JUST DO IT