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Gorgeous Great Barrier Reef
Entry 52 of 100 | show all | print this entry |
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Another early start for us again, having to be at the marina by 7:30 a.m. for sign in, why does every tour seem to go so early in the morning?
Anyway, we managed to make the sign-in and actually looked in considerably better condition than most people there, who were either suffering from hangovers or still drunk. We also saw Frances and Katie from the Whitsunday's cruise at the marina, but they were heading out on a different boat for the day called "Passions", a bit of a crap name for a boat really. We were going out to the reef on Osprey V, a much more manly named boat, which would get us to the reef faster as it was the only boat not using sails and was also one of the cheaper options, being $100 for Maud to go snorkeling with lunch and $150 for me to do two dives with lunch as well. That's pretty good value if you ask me!!
When we boarded the boat it was a bit crammed with not much deck space, but we had figured this would be the case for the price and as it was only a day trip we agreed it was better to save money than splurge more cash just to be a bit more comfortable. In fact that was really the only downside, the crew we're really nice, including the entertainer/marine biologist called Elvis, the boat was fast to get us out to the reef in just over an hour and even though there were 80 people on board, most were amiable and chatty enough to not worry about the lack of space.
As we approached the first reef we would be diving I was given the introductory course lowdown on the basics of diving and what to do. Having already dived before it was fairly routine stuff, but good to go over the basics again before going in the water. There was also a helicopter guy trying to sell scenic flights and also flights back to Cairns to miss the hour and a half return on the boat but they seemed to be fairly pricey at the time.
Going to the lower deck to have a snorkel before my dive group was due to go, I noticed Helen was already in the water, so swam over to join her.
She'd been swimming with a turtle for the past 20 minutes or so and decided that they were the coolest thing on the reef. We spent an hour floating over the reef checking out all the fish and corals which were very beautiful, we even spotted some clown fish (Nemo's) hiding in the anemones.
By the time we got out lunch was being served, which was quite handy as Helen grabbed hers whilst I went out on my first dive. For your first dive (if you are not licensed) you have to be able to prove you can clear your mask underwater and also take the regulator out of your mouth and replace it before they will take you down. Three of us had no issues doing these steps but a young girl from Manchester was really struggling with her mask clearing and after 3 attempts we had to leave her behind and continue with our dives.
It was great to be diving again, I had forgot how much fun it can be, you don't see a great deal more than if you were snorkeling because the depth isn't too great here, but it means you can look at things more thoroughly and obviously stay down longer. I won't go into great detail on what we saw, partly because I can't remember all the names of the fish but secondly because I had an underwater camera and hopefully I can get the film developed and post the pictures on the blog which will be much more impressive than my detailed descriptions.
All in all though, it was some of the best snorkeling we had done and the best diving I had ever done, so pretty good then!! Got to take this chance to say thank mum for the Birthday Cash, I used it to do the diving and am even considering doing my PADI now in either Asia or Mauritius, what a great pressie !!!.
After surfacing and grabbing some lunch myself, the boat set off to another reef location for some more snorkeling and diving. On the way to the next site the helicopter man came to see me again, he could see that we had been interested in the return flight (basically so we didn't have the long return journey) and proposed a knockdown price $70 less than he had first quoted.
Being a bit more reasonable in cost and a once in a lifetime opportunity, we decided we would take the scenic helicopter flight home. So another thanks, this time to my in-laws David & Rita - that's what we spent our Christmas present on !
As we would be departing early this meant I had to go out on one of the first dive groups at the new reef site. This was sorted out with little fuss, but the Manchester lass I mentioned earlier tried to do the same and they didn't have the spaces. I felt quite sorry for her at this point as she'd missed out on her first dive and couldn't take the chopper back to Cairns either, but in the end it all worked out for her as she took a scenic flight round the reefs and the pilot offered her a free trip the following day as he had to take the heli for some maintenance work and she could go along for the ride for free, not bad.
The second dive was a bit longer than the first as we didn't have to do the two test exercises and our breathing was a bit more regular now. Again the reef was spectacular and I just hope the pictures come out alright from the waterproof camera so that you can appreciate it as well. This time around we also swam through some caves, passed around a sea cucumber with some obvious charade play and stroked giant clams that would snap shut on contact.
After resurfacing I had about 5 minutes to dry down and sort out my kit until we were transported to the floating helicopter pad for the flight home.
There were only three of us and the pilot in the chopper, so it was a fairly small one, but it did have big windows and even ports you could poke the camera out of, so visibility was brilliant.
As we took off we did a couple of fly-by's over the boat and then climbed to a higher altitude at which point we were really blown away by the views from the chopper. Again, words really can't do justice to the views we were taking in, so take a look at the pictures instead, what I will say though is being up there you realize how huge this reef system is, no wonder you can see it from space.
The pilot took 40 minutes to take us back to Cairns, hovering over reef where you could spot turtles from above,
flying by little sand islands where they had apparently filmed some movies and you can get married, until finally dropping us into the airport after an exhilarating ride. It must be one of the best jobs in the world, especially when we found out he was semi-retired and this was basically just a hobby for him, what a great way to make a living !!
So after some great diving and snorkeling and a helicopter ride back, basically for the same cost that some of the other boat trips were costing, we picked up the van and set about packing up all our stuff ready for the flight to Ayers Rock the next day. We had learned from our NZ campervan experience that on the last day it's easier to get a room somewhere to sort out all the bags and empty the van so you can clean it up and be ready for the flight the next day. So that night we had booked into a rather low key motel room just to make life easier for packing up both the van and our bags. Finally with the van cleared of 4 weeks of our accumulated junk and the bags packed, we took the X-Men for a car wash and vacuum, so it would be passed onto its new occupants in reasonably good condition, we hope they have as much fun in it as we did.
After a pretty hectic day we capped it all off with a few drinks with Daan and Pascale back at PJ's in the town centre. It had been really nice to spend time with some likeminded people in Australia, and we were quite sorry we had to say goodbye and go our separate ways. We hope that they have a safe journey home and are able to come to a decision on whether they will emigrate to Australia or not. Either way, I am sure we will try to meet in Rotterdam or England at some point when we get home.
We were totally knackered and after a few pints called it a night, ready for another early start the next day for our flight to Uluru.
P.S. I will try to post the diving pictures once I have got the film developed, until then you'll just have to make do with those from the chopper. No biggie !!
Latest Comments (3)
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Whirlybirds (reply)
May 5, 2008 14:13 EST by therickards
Another wonderful episode on your little trip.
Delighted you invested in the Chopper trip,you would have kicked yourselves if you hadn't done it .
Dad.
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Phew!!!!!!!! (reply)
Apr 28, 2008 19:04 EST by sparklybarkly
Now I know why my cousin raved about being on a boat for six months on the barrier reef. It looks fantastic and I'm very jealous. Diving in a swimming pool doesn't really cut the mustard does it? My cousin Elaine's son has his own diving gear and goes to Sharm El Sheik quite a lot maybe you could get together when you return? Great to continue reading the blogs. Long may they continue. Love to you... show all
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I told you so! (reply)
Apr 28, 2008 17:30 EST by grayanddan
I told you diving was fun, just a shame you did'nt pull your finger out and get your diving qualifications when I was in Bermuda....you could of had rooty as your diving buddy!!
Have fun you two x
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