Great Barrier Reef

Well the day had arrived, the main reason for me being in Cairns, in fact the only reason for me being in cairns. I was up at 6am as had to be at the boat for 7am zzzzzz. Well I was up had packed the night before and went to get breakfast which I had in the kitchen, only to find out the kitchen is not open till 7am! Bugger!

So I set of on the 30 min walk to get to the marina. On the way I stopped of and looked for something for breakfast the easiest option was Oreos and only $1 so headed on towards the marina and remembered that Mc Donalds was close by, as much as I hate it I thought i need something more than Oreos. Well some Asian couple were taking there time getting all there cards declined before opting for cash and there was a substantial queue so decided sod this and headed for the boat. I got there and it turns out I could have spent another 15 mins at least waiting at Mc D’s as they were taking their time to get everyone on the boat.

So on the boat and we were of to Fraizer Island first and then from there out to the outer reef. I was quite excited and had found myself a buddy to dive with. Charles from Singapore 🙂 We were also sat next to an Ozzy couple from Sydney they were quite a laugh. The chap was in the Australian Navy and quite high up on one of the ships, was also not overly impressed with the crews skills with tying up. We got to Milln reef and next to the overnight boat they have there for longer stays.

So we got suited up in out short wet suits. First we went snorkelling and I took some pictures with my camera. I don’t really enjoy snorkelling, to much effort compared to diving and to duck dive is hard and then I would get 5m down and have to equalise my ears and then would run out of breath from that so have to surface again.  The first dive we were guided and it all cost an extra $11 per person. It was an Ok dive we saw 2 sharks and some barracuda and the coral was colourful but it was a very short dive around 30 mins.  I surfaced with 50Bar left and then as we took our fins off some stupid woman knocked Charles hire camera and one of his fins into the water. So he borrowed some fins and we told the guys we were just popping back down to collect it. So straight down found the fin no problem and then had a look around for the camera but we couldn’t find it and I was on 30Bar so called time and we went up. The crew put some kit on and went looking for the camera and eventually found it floating under the boat.

We then had lunch on-board and were expecting to go of to another dive site called ‘3 sisters’ which is supposed to be even better that Miln Reef but after lunch because the other boat had divers in the water they wouldn’t leave and told us we would do our second dive at the same site. Five of us decide the second dive we would go unguided. We were told 30 mins to dive as we all entered the water we all agreed 50 Bar and surface and stuff the time 😛 . So we all got down and started to swim around the reef  and found that this area of the reef was very badly damaged and it was all broken off. Its not how you would imagine the reef to look. We could still see wildlife but It was interesting to see the state of the reef. We had a good dive and were down for around 40mins surfacing on 50bar.

All left now was the 2hr boat ride home, oh and the 30min walk. So great day enjoyed the dives, even though I expected more from ‘The Great Barrier Reef’, I would do it again and would see if I could do it in a smaller trip and there were a lot of people in the water. still would recommend it to anyone.

Oh, I sun creamed up but forgot the backs of my legs they got a little cooked but there not so bad today 😀