Swimming with the Fish

Day 2: Snorkeling @ the Great Barrier Reef
This was such an amazing day! We had to wake up so bloody early and walk to the marina though. The harbour was gorgeous in the morning. There were yachts, catamarans, and Japanese tourists galore. Nothing quite says Australia like a bunch of Japanese tourists.

Anyway, “Passions of Paradise” was the name of our catamaran that would be taking us to the reef. We boarded the boat and set sail into paradise. We kept an eye on the water for the entire duration of our ride. It was cool how the water was almost brown near the dock, but as we approached the Great Barrier Reef, the water progressively got bluer. By the time we reached our dive site, I kid you not, the water was turquoise.

Blue eh?

Before we were allowed to go snorkeling, the crew had to go through a safety training session with us. They filled us in on how to use the equipment and what to do when you see a shark. Uh huh. I’m pretty sure we all know what to do when we see a shark. Push the smallest, weakest, most fleshy person in front of it and haul ass out of the water. They informed us that there were only small reef sharks around that don’t attack humans. So after that was all said and done, we were free to snorkel around.

That's Ash is full snorkel gear.....and my finger.

Before we set off, Ash and I signed up for a ride around a glassbottom boat to see what was swimming around down there. We saw tons of fish, coral, and this huge clam. It was about 2 metres in length! That’s one big bowl of chowder! Finally, we plunged into the water for a little snorkeling. I’m proud of Ashleigh for doing this. I know she’s not that comfortable in the water, but she adjusted quickly and became a snorkeling pro by the end of the day. It was perfect. We were swimming with the fish in the Great Barrier Reef! It’s still mind-boggling.

We took a break for lunch back on the catamaran. That’s when we found out that the sea had taken its first couple of victims….there were a few people who became seasick. Poor guys.

That's me chasing a fish for a photo.

After lunch, we sailed to another dive location. This time it was in Michaelmas Cay, where there is an island that is protected by the government. It is a certified bird sanctuary. These endangered birds only come here to mate and there is only a small portion of the island that humans can walk on. If one was to walk past the roped off area, it would be an automatic $250 000 fine. Guess who almost stepped past? Yours truly. We snorkeled up to this island and I wasn’t really looking at where I was floating. I almost floated onto the protected part of the shore, but Ash was quick enough to grab me. Close call seeing that I only had $100 000 in my pocket. Once we got on the island, one of the crew members took a few pics of us, only to charge us a fin and a flipper for them later.

That's us on the Bird Sanctuary Island with our boat in the background. Look at our snazzy outfits.

As we were swimming back to the boat, we saw a woman in the distance flailing her arms. The captain jumped into the little dingy and raced over to get her. We all assumed that she was having trouble swimming, but we were wrong. Apparently, she had encountered one of those reef sharks. It was head-butting her. Riiiight.

That was our cue to board the boat.

Soft Coral & Big Fish/ Us & The Skipper/Proof of Stone Masons?

Then we set sail back to Cairns. We tanned, spoke to other tourists, and soaked in the fact that we were just snorkeling in the one of the first World Heritage Sites. It’s hard to wrap your mind around. I loved every moment of it.

The rest of the night was free for us. We decided to eat at this Italian Restaurant. The food was superb, but it was the dessert that blew our minds. It was a sticky date pudding with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream. It came highly recommended by our waiter. Boy, was he ever right! I must say it was orgasmic (please excuse my language, but no other word adequately describes it). Enough said.

There you have it, our second day. Time to tackle the third.

Jess

Amount of salt water swallowed: too much

Number of seasick people: 5 (none of which were us, thank you very much)