Written by Kim – we’re a bit behind so don’t miss Day 36 if you haven’t read it yet
It was a big day today but we have limited pictures because we don’t have an underwater camera (guess we should have bought that go pro). We were up early for our snorkeling tour at the a Great Barrier Reef. We scheduled a tour with Ocean Free and there were 11 guest and 3 crew on our sailboat. It took us 2 hours using the boats motor not sails to get our to the reef. The captain told us the the seas were quite rough so he recommended we all take motion sickness meds to prevent a difficult day. We all complied. In retrospect not sure we needed it but a good $3 insurance policy. They served tea, coffee, fruit and pastries on the way out to the reef. When we got to the reef we all got our fins, masks and got in the water. As usual, I was a bit nervous so waited till last to go in. The water was a bit rough so Coletta, the skipper, offered to pull me around with me holding a ring so I could stay in the calmer waters. Alex was off exploring on his own but continued to check in on me. The coral was beautiful – so many different shapes, colors and sizes. Lots of fish too. Coletta dove to the bottom and pulled up some sea cucumbers (like slugs) for us to see. I expected all the colors to be vibrant but they weren’t. There were some red or pink corals and maybe one blue but most were beige or gray. Paul, our captain, explained that coral turn the color based on plants they eat so that’s why
We had a nice lunch of prawns, chicken and salads. It was delicious (especially the sweet potato salad I need to try to make). After lunch Paul took us to a nearby island, Green Island. It was very pretty but loaded with Asian tourists so we took a bit of a walk and headed back to the boat.
On the way back, Paul put up the sails to take us back in. It was so relaxing just sailing along enjoying some fruit and wine. Yum! After heading back to the apartment to clean up we set out for dinner at The Boathouse down at the marina. Food was ok. We were hoping to hit happy hour but got there 10 minutes after it ended. Ugh!
When we returned to the apartment we finally met Sally, our host, at the apartment. She told us she kept looking for us but we were out before she went to work and home after she was done for the night. We told her we were all about making the most of our time there. If anyone travels to Cairns we highly recommend Sally’s studio apartment it was just perfect for us .
