Blogs from open water, Cairns, Queensland, Australia, Oceania - page 8

OK, I made it. Finally after dreaming of a trip to dive the GBR (Great Barrier Reef) for years, I have landed in Sydney. After 20 hours of travel with one more flight to Cairns, the GBR is right around the corner. I think my curent via from the Qantas lounge is downtown Sydney. Sorry, no picture as the fog has not burned off however I will have Mimosa for you. I hope to keep up with this blog, but who knows. I will be on a live aboard for the next 5 days, so no postings until Sept. 6th. ... read more

we hebben gedoken. wel drie keer, en het was allejezus koud. zelfs voor de haaien want die waren allemaal verstopt. gelukkig waren er wel grote garnalen. en die heb ik allemaal opgegeten. en de meloenen ook. ... aldus Sylvia, en nu weten jullie waarom ik haar nooit deze blogjes laat typen. Ok, in hoofdlijnen klopt het wel, want we hebben inderdaad drie keer gedoken, het was inderdaad verdomde koud en de lunch aan boord van de boot bestond inderdaad uit (onder andere) garnalen en meloen. Maar zo'n samenvatting is wel erg karig, dus bij deze mijn verhaal. We stonden erg vroeg op, want we werden om 7.30 verwacht in de Terminal van de haven. Gelukkig was het maar tien minuten rijden met de camper naar de haven. De boot waarmee we naar het rif gingen was ... read more

Flew Bali - Singapore and spent nearly 24 hours stopover ( we watched 3 films in the private lounge and slept on the spa treatment rooms - but v boring to the extent that Carol was induced to buy a bottle of mango flavoured vodka!!) - then flew Singapore Brisbane (heavy rain) then connecting flight to Cairns - a weird way to go and taking 2 days but arrived safe and well in Australia at last. We then went straight to a campervan hire place and drove off up the coast to Far North Queensland within an hour of landing. All of our preconceptions have been blown away - Aussies polite and have a great and justifiable pride in their country and a desire to keep it clean and organised. Everyone is really helpful. The only ... read more

To find words to describe my diving experience over the past two days may be difficult. Exceptional, outstanding, awesome just seem inadequate. Everyone must go diving or snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef, it should be compulsory! Far and away the best thing I have ever ever done. Please forgive the typos, the screen is swaying around a bit, feels like I'm still at sea. After a smooth hotel pickup at 07:45, I climbed aboard the ferry-like vessel at Cairns marina, pier B. Quite a luxurious affair, much nicer than the ferries used in Auckland harbour. I was surprised at how far away the reef was from Cairns - the journey on the boat took about 1 1/2 hours to reach the dive site. On board there were a mixture of day trippers who were either ... read more

It's hard to find the words to describe the Great Barrier Reef. To say it is a natural wonder of the world just doesn't seem enough. So you will have to bear in mind that as I am writing this every adjective I use to describe it feels like an understatement. It is the largest living thing on earth, can be see from outer space, and home to: more than 1,500 species of fish, as well as dolphins, stingray, jelly fish, sea snakes, molluscs and more. Many of them are endangered. Also several species of sea turtles come to the reef to breed. The conflicting thing about going to see it, even though nothing would have stopped me, was that I was absolutely terrified. My biggest fear is open water, specifically being abandoned in it. It's ... read more