Blogs from Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia, Oceania - page 4

All I can say is today was AMAZING. One of the guys warned us that it wouldn't look as bright as you see in pictures due to the lack of red light or something but it was still breath takingly colourful. Hard to describe. We saw so many fish (although no Nemo fish, turtles or Reef Sharks, only disappointment) and corals that were just beautiful. We just snorkelled but because its so shallow your still in amongst it all. I tried to dive but due to my annoyingly "precious" ears I couldn't. The pressure was too bad, they wouldn't equalize/pop and I couldn't ignore it, felt like something might burst. So only slight gutting thing. Chloe couldn't dive either as she ticked that she's had asthma so atleast we were in the same boat. I really ... read more

Last full day in Port Douglas today :( I've absolutely loved it here - what a great place.... Yesterday we went out to the great barrier reef and I went snorkling! Which is something of an achievement for me as a non-swimmer.. It was fantastic and I loved the snorkling - must learn to swim when I get home. Got a bit too much sun though, as the factor 30 kept waching off in the sea, so I'm a bit red today! I'm just on here while I'm waiting for a bus to pick us up to go to Kuranda. I am taking the sky train up the mountain (Vikki can't do that bit!) then exploring up there and taking atrain down again. Should be some fab views. Tomorrow we fly to Brisbane - last stop ... read more

Today started with a 6:30 AM dive just as the sun was coming up. Can’t say getting into cold wet wetsuits was what we wanted to do that time of day but we were determined that it would be worth it during the dive. We did this dive on our own and the visibility was a bit better than the previous afternoon. But still a bit disappointing for the Great Barrier Reef. Chester was getting better with each dive and Kirsten realized if she let Chester suck off her tank for 5-10 min we could dive longer. After this dive we had a big breakfast and headed back to our room for a nap. The next dive was at 8:30 but as there is 6 dives in a day and you can only do 5, we ... read more

Traveling with the Passions of Paradise in their sailboat/catamaran out to Michaelmas Cay, a bird sancturary and to Paradise Reef today. The day is just beautiful! A perfect day for snorkeling. On the water for about 30 minutes when whale spouts are spotted but too far away. Then a few minutes later we finally get to see a humpback whale emerge from the water several times and we get a good look at it. Awesome! Standing at the railing I talk with the young man standing next to me, sounds American and I ask where he's from, can you believe Cincinnati!! So we talk a little bit about OSU and Tressel. He's here on holiday with his Dad after spending a year in China, teaching Englisih and learning Chinese. After 10 days touring with Dad he ... read more

We have had the most wonderful time in Northern Queensland but our everlasting memory will be when we were in the Atherton Tableland, sat around a campfire with wood we had collected ourselves from the surrounding bush, when we were joined by the cute Rock Wallabies. They sat around the camp fire with us and their little faces shining in the firelight was just incredible......We were hoping the cruise around the Great Barrier Reef would be equally delightful. We had booked the Coral Princess II for a 7 night cruise around the Great Barrier Reef, which was actually two mini cruises, one of 4 days and one of 3 days, which was going to be one of the highlight of our visit to Australia. The first leg of the cruise was leaving Cairns on 21st June ... read more