Great Barrier Reef and Whitsunday Islands

---

After Sydney, I flew up the Northeast coast to Cairns. This is the main jump of spot for the diving on the Great Barrier Reef. I signed up for a 5 day dive trip to the Great Barrier Reef and some outer reefs. During this trip I saw all kinds of beautiful coral, giant clams the size of a large barrel, tons of fish, eels, turtles and sharks. Grouper between 300 and 400 lbs and the sharks ranged from 1 to 3 meters. Large enough to be quite intimidating, especially during the shark feeding we witnessed. Just check out the pictures to see what I mean.

I then had a few days to burn before I headed down south with some friends I met to dive a famous wreck, the Yongala. I rented a car and headed north to Cape Tribulation. This is where the rain forest meets the water. There are waterfalls and a couple of gorges you can swim in. Most of the areas around here you cannot swim because they have many crocodiles.

The Yongola dive was a decent dive with quite a bit of marine life, yet it was very rough and we only had about 15 meters of visibility.

Next stop south was Airly beach. Here I got a last minute rate for a boat going out that day. I though it would be nice, yet it exceeded all of my expectations. We had a beautiful 33 meter timber sailboat and only 12 people on the charter. I had a cabin to myself, ate like a king, kayaked in the morning, snorkeled several times a day and swung from the rope swing tied to the mast. All while sailing around beautiful beaches and hanging out with a great group of guest and crew. Thanks to the crew of Pacific Sunrise!

Cut and paste this link to see my pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/csdyer2020/GreatBarrierReefAndWhitsundayIslands#

---