February 24th, 2024

The weather in Cairns was very overcast and rain showers on and off. We had signed up to go snorkeling on the great barrier reef through Tripadvisor and we had to check in by 9:30. Luckily it was a short walk from the boat to the checkin place. Cairns is mainly known for being the gateway to the great barrier reef but it is still a long boat ride to get there. They load you up on big 3 level boats and you can sit outside or inside in the air conditioning.

Weather when we sailed into Cairns

There are 2 stops on our tour and one was to Green Island where they dropped off day trippers to enjoy the beach and the water and then another 50 minute ride to the platform over the reef. They have a great system to let you enjoy the reef including a submersible, a glass bottom boat and an underwater observation deck. They also offered helmet diving, snorkel instructions and tours and introduction to diving. They had bins of flippers and full body skins to protect you from the sun and of course masks and snorkels. They had platforms down to the water to make it easy to get in and the swimming area was roped off so you could not venture too far. They also had bouts tied on the water for you to use and resting places. Lifeguards were positioned on the platform to make sure you stayed in the swimming area and to help anyone in distress. They served a hot buffet lunch from 1 to 2 and the boat we rode over in stays tied up to the platform sine the bathrooms were on the boat along with air conditioning.

Kathy and I snorkeled for about an hour and it was amazing how well kept the reef is. You would think with 100s of people swimming on it everyday it would be hard to maintain. There was some bleaching of the coral but on the whole it looked great.

Little blue fish hiding in the coral

After lunch I went back out and Kathy stayed on the platform. I took a ton of video with the go pro and then picked out some stills. Sorry for all the photos but I liked so many of them.

We even saw a shark in deeper water.

I got a little artistic with the water

We loaded back up on the boat at 3:30 and headed back to Cairns.

The platform which had 3 levels The water color over the reef

We got back to Cairns around 5:30 and walked around town for awhile

We found this lagoon in town that was right off the ocean and it was a fresh water pool.

We ate in a Chinese restaurant and went to the grocery store to look around and we were back on the boat by 7:30 and all on board was at 8.

Our boat in front of the cruise ship terminal

Next day is at sea on our way to our last stop in Australia.