3rd July 2012

 

Now, this is what I’ve been wanting to do since arriving in Cairns 20 days ago! Thanks to my stupid Tonsillitis ravaging my throat leaving my voice changed to become a lot weaker, I couldn’t snorkel without wanting to sneeze and cough. But friends, my time is finally here. It’s REEF TIME!

 

Armed with a towel, my sexy shorts, and warm clothing, Smera, Elsie and I walked up to the Reef Terminal to find our boat, Compass, waiting for us. We were greeted on board by a laughing and joking crew and I knew I would enjoy the day.

 

With a fairly sized group of people on board on this slow boat, we headed out on a 2hr trip to the Great Barrier Reef. Meanwhile, we were summoned on top of the deck to listen to the health and safety briefing, probably one of the funniest I’ve ever seen. With a commentary from the captain, the crew acted out the do’s and Don’ts.ey couldn’t stop laughing themselves! A personal favourite of mine was what NOT to do when a man is overboard. Take photos, laugh, try and jump in after him or steal his stuff. Etc.

 

Immediately afterwards, one of the crew piped up that she’s a a marine biologist that if anyone would like to hear her presentation on the reef wildlife, please join her in 15 mins below deck. Of course I would be interested! I got to hear everything about e different kinds of Coral, turtles, fish, mammals, and many interesting facts. But the corals proved fascinating to me!

 

At the end of the presentation, I chatted to a guy joined at our table, Phil, who studied zoology at university and I headed outside to partake in some whale watching. Sadly I didn’t see any.

 

But my disappointment was blown away when I was dragged to a scuba diving course. Bemused, I answered a lot of questions correctly and when I didn’t put my hand up for which diving group I wanted to be in, the instructor was amazed that I was so well versed in the knowledge of diving and thought I would be doing some.

 

Unfortunately guys, I cannot scuba dive at all. My cochlear implant would probably explode from the water pressure…and that’s not a good thing is it?! I thought I could do a few metres but even just diving in the swimming pool from the surface is enough to make me since with pain. But I’m not too fussed, I knew I’d have a great time snorkelling.

 

Finally, we arrived at the reef. I can’t describe to you how absolutely amazing it was to snorkel at one of the natural wonders of the world but I think e photos taken by our boat photographer on the day will put my feelings into pictures. I’m gonna try and post them on here later.

 

 

And guess what? I found Nemo and his dad! It was so funny watching them from their home. They even did the ..’now we go out and then back in….go out and then back in!‘

 

Elsie found a Turtle during her scuba dive and I also found Dory as well!

 

Unfortunately, as they say, all good things must come to an end. We had to get back on the boat to get back to Cairns before dark. As I warmed up with the complimentary cheese and wine…and also chatting up the marine biologist, the adventures of the day brought me a lot of peace and good tiredness as I observed the sunset settling across the horizon as the waves lapped up against the boat.

 

The crew gave us a final cheer as we disembarked with high fives and I truly looked forward to the possibility of travelling with them again to the reef.

 

It had been a good day.