Great Barrier Reef, Cairns, Australia

We had envisioned beautiful sunny skies when we snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef. We didn't really get what we hoped, but had a great experience anyway. We encountered a storm while crossing the Tasman Sea to Sydney which just followed us up the coast of Australia. When we arrived in Cairns, it was pouring. Mel had arranged a snorkel tour months ago, so we just got umbrellas from the ship and took off for the Reef Pier.

Cairns is a major center for tours of the Great Barrier Reef, so they are very well organized. They had a terminal much like an airport terminal with different counters for the different reef companies. We were the last of 30 to check into our boat. It was a catamaran, with 30 passengers and about 10 crew. They told us up front that it would be rough going to the reef and best to take sea sickness medicine before one got sick, after is too late. They sold it for $3. I don't remember seeing many buying it.

 

Once we left the protection of the harbor, the seas picked up. One by one, people were grabbing bags and heading out to the back of the boat. I thought it was rough on our ride in Port Arthur. This was even rougher! That boat was bobbing in all directions, people laying all over the place feeling ill or trying to feel better. Mel even had a moment where he wasn't sure how he felt, but getting some fresh air made him better. I think at least half of the passengers were sick. During this it was a down pour. We were wondering how much we would see in such conditions.

 

It was a 2 hour ride to the reef. I didn't know it was that far out. Our ship had sailed up inside the reef, so it's quite deep too. We anchored just off a barrier island of sand and birds. They had a smaller boat which would take you to the beach but Mel and I opted to jump off the boat and swim to shore. It was fairly deep when we first got in the water, then we started to see the coral. WOW!!! The visibility wasn't as good as it could have been with no sun, but the coral was beautiful. There were so many varieties, it was impossible to count. And the giant clams were amazing! I'd seen pictures of those huge shells before, but don't remember seeing the colors! The edges are a bright blue, really beautiful. There were some fish, but that wasn't the main attraction. The attraction was the coral, so many sizes, shapes and colors. It really was amazing.

 

When we hit the beach we started walking to where the rest of the people were. A guy started yelling at us to get off the beach. Apparently the entire area is a marine reserve and we were only allowed to be onshore between some ropes. We'd arrived in a non-roped area. It was covered with birds, the noise was incredible. We walked over to the proper beach then went into the water again. It wasn't raining in this area, which was amazing, and it was a lot lighter than it had been on the way out, still no sun though. I dove down to take many close ups of the coral. Unfortunately the colors didn't show up as bright as they were for lack of light, but I still got quite a few good pictures. We snorkeled in that area for about an hour then swam back to the boat.

 

We were served a very good buffet lunch while the boat moved to a different location. We'd been told earlier that we wouldn't make it to the second location because of the rough seas, but guess the conditions changed while we were on the beach. We anchored not that far from where we'd been before, but in deeper water. The coral there was enormous, but deeper down so I had to really dive to get any close up pictures. The water was warm enough, but next to the coral it was like bath water. There were high waves though so we were bobbing around quite a bit. At one point I'd come up to look for Mel and all I saw was water. I'd have to wait to look between waves to see anyone else at all. We stayed in that location for about an hour then headed back to port.

 

On the way back they put up the sail so we could experience sailing in for a while. They said we could go out on deck to see the sail and we all looked at each other like, "I don't think so!" It was a deluge again. We were back on the pier at 5.

 

Our ship wasn't scheduled to sail until 2 a.m. so we had all evening to explore the city of Cairns. We were berthed right next to town, so a short walk to the main shopping area. We had heard about the night market, so headed there for dinner after showering and drying up. We wore shorts since we knew we would be soaked again by the end of the evening. We walked down the main street which we thought was the night market. We found a restaurant where we had a nice dinner then headed back to shop in some of the stores we'd passed. Another couple from the ship came along saying they were looking for the night market. We thought we were in it! I asked in a store and it turned out that the Night Market is actually an indoor area with stalls, like a market. DUH! By this time I was feeling dizzy and sick. I think it was an after affect of the rough seas, who knows. But we went thru the Night Market and did a bit of shopping anyway. I had some Australian $$ to spend. (Today in a port lecture we were told that Australian $ are accepted in Papua New Guinea also, guess Mel wasn't listening the last time she'd told us that. LOL) We did a slow walk back to the ship in the pouring rain and flooded streets. We did stop in to look at the casino, but didn't do any gambling. We were back onboard by 8. It was a long, but good day.

 

In the Capt's daily announcement today he said he'd never seen that much rain fall in one day! I guess that down pour was continuous all day in town. Glad it was clearer out on the reef so we had fairly good snorkeling.