Great Barrier Reef Tuesday 11th February

Posted byvwhitesidePosted inUncategorized
An early short walk to the Catamaran Magic Reef 111 for our day on the Great Barrier Reef.
All aboard.

On the top deck ready for the one and a half hour cruise out to the reef. I had taken a Stugeron by this point.
Leaving Cairns
And on our way.

It was very hot.
Unusually, there was quite a swell due to North West winds. Apparently this only happens on about 14 days a year.
Patricia wasn’t allowed to do her chosen helmet dive due to her bad ear. She was able to sit on this platform in the water and enjoy the view.

I was considered fit enough for a 30 minute snorkelling experience in the sea viewing the reef. We all wore Lycra Stinger suits which covered us from hood to toe including mittens. It is still jellyfish season. There are no photos of me in my Lycra. I chose not to wear a life jacket.

This is the sort of photo that should exist of me with this very friendly big fish.

I got gradually sicker in the big swell on the way out to the reef. As we prepared to tie up next to the two storey pontoon where we were to spend the day, the swell was tremendous and it seemed to take hours to tie up. The end result was predictable.

By the time I got in the sea, fully togged up, I was really not well. Four of us were holding on to a life belt while Daniel, marine biologist, swam us around the reef. It was quite amazing with occasional brilliant colours. So many different textures and types of coral, huge variety of little fish, some tiny but brilliantly coloured, a small shark and a turtle. We were sometimes within inches of the reef.

I didn’t like having a snorkel in my mouth and my nose blocked up but I managed very well for 20 of the 30 minute session. Just at the time I should have posed for a photo underwater I had had to raise my head and remove the snorkel fearing I was about to be sick. So no photo I’m afraid.

Fish feeding time. This guy is standing in the water on the platform where we were taught how to snorkel before our trip.
Sadly I didn’t last long after getting out of the water before my breakfast and I parted company.
This is what everyone else was doing while I recovered.

Lunch was provided but I gave it a miss. I gave the semi-submersible ride and the glass bottomed boat a miss as well. By this time I had had 2 Stugeron and a ginger tablet. I managed a bottle of ginger ale but that was all.

Back in Cairns. we disembarked at around 5:30pm after a unique and memorable day.
I have snorkelled in the Coral Sea at the Great Barrier Reef!
You may not be able to see them in this photo, but every evening at 7pm thousands of quite large bats fly in to Cairns
To roost in these trees and others around the waterfront: it is quite a spectacle.
After seeing the bats we walked to an Italian restaurant near our hotel.
I had finally regained my appetite; we enjoyed a good meal.

We shared starter, main course and dessert and had plenty of eat. The warm blood orange and almond cake with blood orange sorbet was the best pudding I’ve tasted in a long time.

While we were eating there was a tremendous storm with torrential rain and endless sheet lightening. The rain had stopped when we came out though the lightening was still going strong. Another fine spectacle.

We go on a tour to Kuranda tomorrow. It involves coach, gondola and train. I will be on the Stugeron again!

Leave a comment

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started