ingridandleotravels

February 24, 2019

Day 36 – At sea after Cairns on the way to Darwin

Day 34 was a tremendous day in Cairns and on the Great Barrier Reef. It began with a short walk along the peer to the catamaran, which would take us the 60 km to the reef. Ingrid and I commuted out to the reef – about a 60km ride and started the day by snorkeling. Since there were 132 passengers on the catamaran and only about 10 certified divers, the majority of the people were all snorkeling around the boat. Amazing to look down into the waters of the GBR, teaming with life, but kind of elbow to elbow snorkeling with 120 of your best friends. So when Ingrid and I went down for the first dive it was not only beautiful, but it was a relief to be in that peaceful world of bubbles and amazing fish and far fewer people. I was greeted on the first dive by this terrifying-looking fish that seemed to welcome me to the GBR with his fangs. After a couple minutes down at about 25 feet it became apparent why so many people love this natural wonder. Although some of the coral had been “bleached” many organisms were still wonderfully colorful and the fish were abundant, varied and vibrantly colored. Ingrid loved the first dive so much that we signed up for a second dive at the next reef the catamaran took us to. I was able to fulfill a 25 year wish to get a selfie with a giant clam. 25 years ago, with working for NASA out of Townsville I dove the GBR and a friend, Jim Horvat, took a neat underwater photo with me by one of the giant clams. I was lucky enough to be able to spot a giant clam and then switched the GoPro camera around and “hopefully” get the shot. It was not until I got the camera back to the ship that I found out it actually came out great. I even was able to get another shot I wanted, a selfie with a green turtle. Pretty cool to see these beautiful creatures gliding over the coral. Our new friends, Natalie and Rob, gave us the contact info to sign up for this package deal which included the ride to the reef, the snorkeling, a sub ride, and A HELICOPTER ride over the reef! Well – thanks Natalie and Rob for the suggestion for what a way to end the day than by having our female helicopter pilot glide is over the beautiful reef that we had just dove. I will try to post some of the screen shots from my GoPro videos to give you an idea of how vast and wonderful this underwater paradise is.

The small boat that took us, (Ingrid, Me, George and Dave – from our ship), detoured on the way to the helicopter pad and we could not tell why it was not heading toward the helicopter. Well – Natalie and Rob had decided to also do the submarine ride and we were stopping at the submarine to pick them up to take them to the helicopter ride. So they can now tell the story of how they were picked up at their submarine to be taken to their helicopter! So it was the 6 of us from the Pacific Princess that ended our GBR experience by filming the ship and platform from the air. We all had on headsets with open mics so we could discuss this uplifting experience. Rob and Natalie were in the front seats and Natalie screamed with delight as we lifted off. Everyone had a great view of the natural wonder before us and at the end of the 15 minute ride we had a great appreciation of this vast paradise.

After returning to the Pacific Princess on a picture-perfect day, we dropped our gear, and still had time to walk along the shoreline and find a restaurant for dinner. Jan, George, Ingrid and I found the perfect place to end the day in Cairns. Our walk included watching the thousands of bats (large as eagles) filling the sky at dusk. What a sight along with the serenades from the thousands of parrots in the trees along the boardwalk. I even tried the “Taste of Cairns” for dinner which included Prawn, Barramundi and Kangaroo! Very tasty and I even let Ingrid, George and Jan try it.