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Published: April 14th 2008
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Wow. After 18 months of living over here, I've finally made it up to the Reef....the Great Barrier Reef that is.
A weekend out of the City was well overdue and after not much thought and a little inspiration, Cairns was the destination. Cairns is a 3 hour direct flight from Sydney, and handily has a 7:30pm flight which means that although you arrive late, you don't have to get up very early the next morning, or spend half a morning on a plane. So, I booked the Friday off work and headed up on the Thursday night, arriving at 10:30pm. I'd booked myself into a hotel in the City and crashed for the night, waking with the sun filtering through my curtains the following morning. Having got a cab to the hotel in the dark, the City in the morning sunlight is a very different scene - the hotel looked out over the Coral Sea, stretching as far as the eye can see. And, being as autumn is well and truely setting in, the warmth was a welcome feeling.
Most of Friday was spent wandering around the City and seeing the limited sights that Cairns has to offer.
They have a 'lagoon' in on the foreshore, which is man-made and a really nice idea - Cairns has no beaches, so when the sun comes out people flock to the lagoon - its a bit like the Serpentine in Hyde Park, but warmer and in all likelihood, cleaner! So, rather than lying on the beach, people lie on the grass around this pool. Its a great idea and really makes the heart of the City.
Friday afternoon I booked a diving trip for the following day and then went and relaxed with an hour massage. Mmmmm......
Saturday, although I was technically on holiday, I was up at 6am....dressed, breakfast and picked up at 6:50am for a little over an hour's drive north to Port Douglas. The drive up the coast was stunning - some beautiful coastal scenery and the driver of the shuttle bus was enthusiastic enough to share some of the more interesting points with us, but at 7:30am also realised that most of us were still half asleep!
Port Douglas was originally a mining port with a population of not very many. However, with the onset of tourism and development, a developer decided to
build a resort up there. Despite being told it would never work, Port Douglas is now home to 3000 residents and 14000 tourists! Anyway, I wasn't spending much time in Port Douglas as the catamaran was sailing at 8:30am.
I'd booked my day trip with a company called Poseidon. I'd heard stories about such trips being filled to the rafters with people - groups of divers with 8/10 to a leader and was adamant that I wanted to avoid that, however I was lucky. I'd asked my travel rep, Emma, to check the numbers booked and when I heard there were only 1/4 people booked, it was a definite. Arriving on board, there were a bunch of snorkellers, some trial divers, and only 4 of us who were certified divers. So 4 for one dive leader. Bingo. The boat crew were all friendly, knowledgeable and heaps of fun - they even set our tanks up for us (which kinda took some of the fun out of it for us certified divers, but was a pleasant change!) and not only was there a continual supply of coffee, but also biscuits and fresh fruit.
The trip out to the reef
was 90 minutes and a little bouncy in places for non-sailors (yes, like me), but once there and anchored, was just stunning. We dived 3 locations on a part of the reef called Agincourt Ribbon Reef - turtles, dolphins, white tipped reef sharks, cuttlefish were all present. Agincourt, mainly because of its location is a little quieter than the reef that boats sailing from Cairns use so it feels like you have the ocean floor to yourself.
The coral was obviously seriously damaged in places, but other areas gave some great hope that it will survive. Some were even showing signs of new growth. There is nothing that can compare with diving on the reef.....it is exactly like you'd imagine (but a bit chilly at this time of year - wetsuits needed hey Jeff!). The water is a clear blue colour, and even jumping from the side of the boat, simply by putting your head down you can see the sandy bottom and fish swimming around your fins. Descending is amazing - the visability (at least on the day I dived) was around 15/20m and in the shallower waters (up to 15m down) the colours of the fish and
the coral were simply amazing - pinks, blues, greens, yellows....take a look at the photos to see for yourself!
The crew of the Poseidon are hugely safety conscious and they log you out as you jump, and once you've hauled yourself back up the ladder, they take the readings from the computer (depth, time, air left) and make you sign back in again. Before they leave a dive site, they do a head count check - twice. These guys won't be having a movie made about them leaving someone on the reef! Between dives they also supply drinks and food - a snack between dive 1 and 2, and a huge buffet lunch between 2 and 3 - pasta, prawns, meats, salads. Even after the third 45 min dive they have chocolate cake - yum!
Three dives were just amazing - it certainly helped that there were only 4 divers and we were all pretty competent and my buddy, Jeff, was a top guy and we'll be diving in Sydney once it warms up again! It was a long day though and I didn't get back to Cairns until gone 6pm, so by the time I'd dropped the
camera off I was just a little sleepy, and after lying down for a little nap, it was 3am! Oops.
Sunday was chilled....breakfast and coffee in the morning sun, picking up my photos from the camera shop (Wet Rez just opposite McDonalds on the Esplanade - HUGELY recommended for underwater camera hire and great, friendly service), and then a couple of hours in the local pub, chatting, laughing and generally enjoying the beautiful weather and surroundings. I'm definitely going back!
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