Cairns; Saturday, November 04.
An early start again. Australians seem to be stuck on early starts. Our trip to Green Island & the Great Barrier reef was scheduled to depart at 8:30 am. Yet everyone was on board and the Catamaran disembarked at 8:20.
The weather was sunny (very warm) but with a nice breeze once we got going. We stopped at Green Island, itself a coral island, for two hours and walked around the entire island. Tropical rain forest surrounded by white sand beaches. We both had an extended paddle in the warm waters of the Coral Sea. This had special significance for Eileen as now Canadian author, Jeanette Turner Hospital, used to take a trip to the quiet of Green Island when all the cowboys from the outback came to town on the annual stock drive to the coast.
The catamaran then took us to a "Pontoon", (a small artificial island), moored on the outside of the Great Barrier Reef.
First I went snorkeling (Yes, my first time) which after a few moments of sheer panic went really well and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
It was really cool to drift along and observe the marine life underwater. We then took the semi-submersible (a glass bottomed boat) out around the reef for another view of the underwater flora & fauna.
Finally we went to the under water observatory which is part of the Pontoon for yet another view.
Ended up with a couple of cold ones to chill out after the days adventures while we waited for the catamaran to head back on the hour and 40 minutes trip to Cairns. Truly a memorable day.
The weather was sunny (very warm) but with a nice breeze once we got going. We stopped at Green Island, itself a coral island, for two hours and walked around the entire island. Tropical rain forest surrounded by white sand beaches. We both had an extended paddle in the warm waters of the Coral Sea. This had special significance for Eileen as now Canadian author, Jeanette Turner Hospital, used to take a trip to the quiet of Green Island when all the cowboys from the outback came to town on the annual stock drive to the coast.
The catamaran then took us to a "Pontoon", (a small artificial island), moored on the outside of the Great Barrier Reef.
First I went snorkeling (Yes, my first time) which after a few moments of sheer panic went really well and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
It was really cool to drift along and observe the marine life underwater. We then took the semi-submersible (a glass bottomed boat) out around the reef for another view of the underwater flora & fauna.
Finally we went to the under water observatory which is part of the Pontoon for yet another view.
Ended up with a couple of cold ones to chill out after the days adventures while we waited for the catamaran to head back on the hour and 40 minutes trip to Cairns. Truly a memorable day.
posted by Seán at 11/05/2006 05:05:00 AM
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