Advertisement
Published: December 24th 2005
Leaving Sydney… Dejana dropped us off at the airport at 7:00 pm, and we were a little concerned that we would miss our flight (at 7:35 pm). We were rushed through priority check-in though and were waiting at our gate at 7:15 pm. However, an announcement came on and said that our flight would be delayed by an hour and a half (which turned out to be two hours). We found out that our plane got hit by lightning en route from Brisbane and they had to check it out to make sure everything was okay to fly again. Very reassuring.
We arrived in Cairns at midnight. We were dead tired by this point, but we still had an hour trip to Port Douglas to get to our accommodations. I could hardly keep my eyes open, but as soon as we began our trip north I couldn’t take my eyes off the scenery. Even though it was midnight, the ocean and the trees were lit up by the moon, and it was absolutely gorgeous. We arrived at our hotel at 1:15 am, and the woman I had spoken to on the phone (the manager) left me an envelope at the
reception desk with our keys and a letter welcoming us. The letter was also surrounded by flowers, which I thought was a nice little touch. We stayed at a place called Martinique on Macrossan, and it was absolutely perfect. It is an apartment-style room with a kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom and patio in the back. It is literally a one minute walk to Four Mile Beach and a couple of minutes to any shops and restaurants.
Since we arrived so late, we didn’t get much sleep before we had to be up at 7:30 am to get ready for our scuba diving trip on the Great Barrier Reef! We were picked up from our hotel and driven to the marina. We got on board our boat, Poseidon III, and everyone was given pills for sea sickness because the ocean was very choppy. On the way to the outer reef (Agincourt Reef) we were briefed on the dive sites and the equipment by two dive masters. We were given one-piece Lycra stinger suits to wear to protect us from the coral and anything that might sting us (though to be honest, I can’t see how the thin layer of
Erin & Tasha
On board Poseidon III, getting ready for our second diveLycra would really protect us from anything, but I wore it anyway). Tasha wasn’t too pleased, she said it was her worst nightmare to be wearing a one-piece Lycra skin tight suit!! Hahaha. The water was 29 degrees… what a difference from Gulliver’s Lake in Ontario! The diving was absolutely incredible… I don’t think I can do it justice to describe it. The colours, the coral, swimming with sting rays and all different kinds of fish… clown fish (Nemo) as well as neon coloured fish, striped fish, and one huge blue fish that was literally the same size as me! Everywhere you looked there was something amazing to see… there were schools of fish everywhere, and tiny fish weaving through the coral. Even though I was diving with a group of 5, at times I felt like I was the only one seeing certain things, because everyone was looking around at different coral formations or swimming around with the fish. We did three dives of about 45 minutes each. They were all amazing and I couldn’t get enough of it. Tasha and I spent the rest of the night talking about how incredible and breathtaking the sights were. I have
Clam
Even clams are beautiful on the Great Barrier Reef! to say it is one of the best things I have ever done in my life, and I would absolutely 100% recommend it to anyone.
It was another choppy ride back to Port Douglas, it felt like a roller coaster ride at times! But we arrived back safely and got some dinner at a local pub, then went to bed at about 9:00 pm. It’s amazing how diving can tire you out!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.1s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 13; qc: 50; dbt: 0.0429s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Julie
non-member comment
Just wondering...
Erin-sounds so amazing! Question: did you take those pics??? If you did, that's unbelievable and I am living vicariously through you. It reminds me of Zanzibar. I can never "describe" how unbelievably beautiful it was. You truly nave to experience it first hand. So proud of you Erin! Merry Christmas Nerlin! Love Julie xo