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Published: November 3rd 2014
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Today was my first Cairns excursion and I was heading to sea and snorkel the Great Barrier Reef. I'd checked where the meeting point was and how long it would take to get there with the hostel reception last night and I had all my stuff prepared so that I wouldn't disturb my roomies when I left (I wish others were as considerate!)
It turns out that I needed a kitchen pack (cutlery and crockery etc) which I didn't know about until after reception closed the night before so I was going to borrow the stuff from my roomies and put it back before they got up, however the kitchen doesn't open until 7.30am so my plan A didn't work. Plan B McDonald's lol.
I was up early so had plenty of time to walk down to the harbour and grab breakfast on the way. It rained last night, the first time since I arrived in Oz! So it was a little over cast but still warm on my morning stroll. Plenty of people were up and about, mostly joggers and gym junkies.
I walked down to the harbour where lots of
passenger boats were docked and near by was the ticket office where we had to go and register. I was a little early so had to wait a while before the check in desk opened. I got my name ticked off the list, was given a medical form to fill in and my passenger number - come in number 75 your time is up lol :-)
I walked down the jetty as per the instructions and found the boat ready and waiting but couldn't board immediately so me and a few others just hung around until we were called aboard. It was a bigger boat ( catamaran) than the one we had sailing around the Whitsunday islands. There were 74 passengers in total - I know this from the head count they did and there were around 8 - 10 crew members too.
We were given the usual welcome talk, filled in the forms and then relaxed for an hour and a half until we got to our first dive site. Some people were scuba diving whilst the rest of us snorkelled. Our first site was just off a bird sanctuary where various turns
were starting to nest. Basically it was a big sand bank in the seat. There were hundreds of birds flying on and if the island and part of it had been roped off so tourists could go and see them but avoid walking around the nesting sites.
We donned our wet suits, snorkels and flippers and some of us took the glass bottomed boat to the island. I didn't fancy jumping off the boat as I was still finding my snorkelling legs and the sea conditions were choppier than they had been in the Whitsunday islands. So I hit the water from dry land to get my confidence up. I had also hired an underwater camera for the day as I had missed out on photo opportunities last time.
I have to say I was disappointed with the dive site, there weren't as many fish or varieties of fish here. However I tried to take some photos but I have no idea if they are any good yet as I need to view them properly but need an SD card reader so I guess I will have to wait until I get back to
the UK.
The current was pretty strong and even with flippers on it was hard going in places so I came back to dry land for a rest and then went back out again. Once I'd had enough I headed back to the boat and took off my snorkelling kit and put my wet suit on the rails to dry.
Lunch was served at 12 and there was plenty of food to go round and more so no one left the table hungry lol. After lunch it too about half an hour to get to our next destination for more diving. Apparently only our bit has permission to go to that reef so we were the only boat around. The waters were a little more choppy here and allegedly the coral and the fish were more colourful than at the first dive site. So I headed off into the sea off the back of the boat this time but struggled with the current so I popped back on board and got a bout acne belt which helped.
I got back in the water and had a swim around taking more photos
and looking at the fish and coral. Personally I referred the first dive site, and I fact the dive sites off around the Whitsunday's were better. So I was a little disappointed with my second snorkelling experience.
After we were all back on board and the head count was complete we headed back to shore. It was a longer boat ride getting back as we had moved locations. On the way back we were served with tea and coffee, cheese and biscuits and fruit so we were not left feeling hungry.
We got back around 5pm and I nipped into the tourist info to get some info about what is going on in Cairns and also what else I could do to fill my time in between my trips. I also headed for Woolworth's supermarket to get some supplies and then back to the hostel the 3 miserable boys were still in the dorm so I was in for another scintillating night of conversation and laughter not! I cooked tea, had a shower and chilled out and got ready for my next trip.
Xxx
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