Cairns Day 3

Today was absolutely magical 🤩!

We were up and out even earlier than yesterday to get to the pier for our trip out to the Great Barrier Reef. To say I was excited was an understatement!

We walked the boardwalk most of the way. The tide was in this morning, which was nice to see the difference from last night. It was also already so warm, so a day out on the water was sounding really good. The check in office was right at the end of the boardwalk and we got checked in quickly and easily, and got our safety numbers, before making our way down to the boat. It was much bigger than I expected with 3 levels. We entered the boat on the bottom deck (bottom for us, the boat went down at least one more level) and we were assigned seats. The assigned seats thing was a bit weird, but maybe they're just trying to keep things orderly.

Once everyone was onboard, we got a short safety briefing and some information about our day. We also went up a deck to get our snorkel and fins. It was then an hour or so before we got to the first reef, Saxon Reef. We waited for the big crowd to disperse before we went out to get in the water. For the first time the whole trip, the water was super warm! It made it so much nicer to swim around.

Immediately after sticking my face in the water, I saw so many colorful fish. There were big ones, small, and everything in between. The reef where we first jumped in had some colorful spots, but as we swam across to the other side of our area, it got super colorful. I particularly loved the blue staghorn coral and a small neon purple coral. The fish were also so colorful which makes sense to blend in with colorful coral, but I'd never considered that before. Obviously, not all fish and coral were bright, but the bright stuff was eye catching and unique.

They were also so many different shapes. Some corals were super pointy, others looked soft and squishy. Some had tiny little bits stuck to it that moved in open and close motions, others flowed with the water. While we were swimming at Saxon reef, all of a sudden a bunch of jellyfish started swimming through the area. We had stinger suits on to protect us, but it was still a little nerve wracking, but at the same time super cool to see them swimming. They looked see through and were shaped like an upside down bowl.

After snorkeling here for about an hour and a half, we got out to have some lunch. There was a small buffet with cold salads, bread, grilled fish, steak, and prawns. We filled up our plates and enjoyed the meal after our time in the water. While we finished the meal, everyone got back on the boat and we moved to a second location.

Our second location was Hastings Reef. Before we got our things on to snorkel, we got ready for our helicopter ride. We were one of the first groups for the ride which was great because we could then get straight into the water. We got a short boat over to the helipad, got life jackets on, and got in the helicopter for our 10 minutes in the sky.

The ride was pretty spectacular. From above, all the colors of the reef and varying depths of water created a collage of blues and greens. We also saw some sharks and turtles swimming around the reefs, which surprised me that they were so visible from up high! It was a smooth ride, and the weather was perfect to see everything. I can see why my dad loved flying! It's definitely an experience we'd like to do again.

Back on the helipad after our flight, we watched some big fish and saw some manta rays while we waited to head back to our bigger boat. As soon as we got back on the boat, we got our stinger suits on and jumped in for a snorkel. The reef was much shallower here and much more colorful than the first reef. I couldn't believe all the colors we saw here. And because it was so shallow, we were really close to the coral and could see it up close. I wish we had more time at this reef because the snorkeling here to see the corals was really special. It almost looked like a blue light was being shone underwater because of how neon some of the sections were.

Sadly, we didn't have as long to snorkel here as the other location, so after about 45 minutes we were called back in and on our way back to Cairns. We took our complimentary glass of wine and sat out on the sundeck to dry off a bit. The sun wasn't too strong (neither was the UV) and there was a nice breeze, so it was quite pleasant up there. Allan stayed up until we were docking back in Cairns, but I came back down after about half an hour.

Once back on solid ground, we walked to the grocery store for some dinner and headed back to the hotel. The biggest highlight for me was seeing all the colorful coral, and Allan really loved the helicopter ride (I did too, but it wasn't the top highlight, second place for me probably).

It has been an incredible two days in Cairns doing Australian things 🐨🦘🐟🐠🐡🪼🪸Read more