The Great Barrier Reef

Today was the first day of the trip I was actually underwhelmed. The weather forecast had been awful for a day out on the Reef, and I was thinking about changing to the Waterfall Wanderers Tour. However, when you're in Australia, you kinda have to go there, especially as a travel agent.
So, I took a Vomex after breakfast and embraced myself for the worst.
The way there was actually quite alright. The Vomex did its job perfectly well and I was sitting at the sundeck next to Lisa and Kasper. Whilst the water was splashing in my face and I had a sideway shower, I laughed toward the rough wind. I thought it was funny how wet I was getting because of the waves that were crashing down on the boat.
But when we arrived at the plotoon, I wasn't so happy about it anymore. I didn't feel seasick (thanks to Vomex), but I just thought it would be an awful day to go snorkeling. The waves were super high and I could feel the current against my body already.
However, I put on a very sexy wetsuit, fins and snorkeling gear, and jumped in the water. I was looking forward to using my DJI Osmo Action cam in its usual habitat. I would get upset pretty soon, as it wouldn't work at all. Was it broken? Low on battery? I hoped for the latter, as I couldn't afford another DJI cam and honestly didn't want it to be broken. I only used it like 3 times.
Luckily, Michelle, our guide for today, told me I could rent a camera and get the photos afterwards for free. So I took on the opportunity and went back into water. It really was that choppy and I couldn't relax at all. I was constantly watching either my flowing direction, other people (there were like 100 other people on the Katamaran, all going into the water) or fish getting too close to my comfort zone. I also had to chuck out the salt water from my snorkel every other minute as it kept on flowing into it. And to be quite real: The Great Barrier Reef wasn't that great after all. Because of the weather, the water wasn't as clear and I couldn't really see many interesting fish. I was just so stressed from the whole experience that I took a bunch of random photos, hoped that at least some of them were alright, and went out the water for good. I was so cold and my dress was still wet from the way to the plotoon that I shivered. Hopefully, I wouldn't get a cold because of that. I got rid of the wetsuit and bathing suit, and put on my dry underwear. On top of it, a towel and I could grab some lunch, waiting for my dress to dry off.
After lunch, we went to see the fish got fed at the underwater observatory, which again, I found rather boring. Then we went upstairs to the lab and learned a bit about the coral protection programs. I knew all about that already, though.
When all the others left for either a second dive or a guided snorkeling tour, I instead went on a quick trip on the Glass Bottom Boat. Again, a lot of disappointment there, as there were no interesting fish to see.
Yes, the Great Barrier Reef is a bit more colourful and it has a lot of fish there, but to be quite frank: I'd always prefer the Maldives reefs over it. Not many people, lots of interesting (and also for snorkelers) accessible fish and under water wildlife, and the currents aren't an issue there (obv. always depending on where you stay there). I guess, it's way better when there is good weather, but I still think there would be too many people at one place and it just wouldn't be as chill to watch fish because you just don't have the time to watch individual fish interacting. Well, I can tick it off my bucket list anyway.
After everyone came back, we could finally go back to Cairns which took about 1h 45min and was much dryer than the way out to the Reef as we stayed inside this time. I was very happy to wash all the salt water off of me and dress in dry clothes again.
This evening we went to Crystalbrook Raileys to have a little site inspection and than a rather huge dinner that took about 2,5hrs with 4 servings. The best one was obviously dessert (as usual). Their brownies were just mesmerising. The other Asian food was alright but not the whole "only little portions at a time" kind of serving. I'll never be a gourmet.
We came back home at 10pm and I had to pack all my stuff back into the tiny backpack (9kg for 4 weeks and 3 different climates). Tomorrow would be an early rise at 5.20am...Read more