2023 Alaska, Asia, Australia, Arabian Peninsula Trip
Day 73/105 - Cairns, Australia - Great Barrier Reef snorkeling
Welcome to Cairns! We arrived this morning around 8 a.m. as we docked in Cairns. Our tour today was the optional Snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef. Shortly after docking, we met in the Star Theater and were escorted to our waiting bus. We made the five-minute ride to the boat launch where our ride for the day, Evolution, was waiting for us.
The boat had a capacity of about 150. We had somewhere around 80 passengers on the boat today, so there was plenty of room. We headed out for the 60km journey from Cairns to the reef. To understand the enormity of the Great Barrier Reef, you need to understand the scale. This is a 2,000km living structure. If you moved it to the southern US, the Great Barrier Reef would fill half of Texas. Wow!
We arrived at our snorkeling venue after about 90 minutes of smooth cruising. They tied off the ship and we donned our gear and headed into the water.
They supplied masks, but we brought our own. They also supplied flippers and stinger suits - full-body thick Lycra suits designed to prevent scratches or stings from coral or jellies. We really didn't need them today as there were no jellies and the reef was below us enough that contact would have taken a lot of effort.
I had intended to present a bunch of amusing underwater photos from the Insta360 with the invisible dive case, but...
I opted to shoot video with the intent of pulling stills from the video. I've done it on land and it works very well. I found out today that it does not do that well underwater. Therefore, all I have are a couple of modestly bad photos, but they will have to do. What I do have are videos and those are fine. But, with Viking's unbelievably outdated and slow internet service, I have no idea when, or if I will get them all uploaded. So, for now, this is it. I will update this post with videos whenever I can get them to upload. It might take to Sydney, but I'm hoping I'll get more to load overnight.
 |
| View 360-degree image |
Here are a couple of images from their underwater photographer.
 |
| She had a whole professional underwater rig complete with flash |
 |
| The sign is proof we were here |
We snorkeled for more than an hour, enjoying the sights. The weather and water were perfect and we only had a modest current to deal with. After snorkeling, we got back on the ship where they had lunch prepared, Fish, steak, salads, and two included drinks (pop, beer, wine, coolers, etc) were available with a cash bar beyond that.
They offered glass-bottom boat tours and we took advantage of that. Getting photos was tough given the reflection on the glass, but here are a few of the views we got. Sorry about the reflections - there was no way around it.
 |
| The diversity of shapes of coral when it all is essentially the same material is incredible |
 |
| The color comes from pigment in the polyps that live in and create the coral |
 |
| If you look toward both the top and bottom, you can see two giant clams - the round hole is in the middle of the opening in their shell |
 |
| Another pair of giant clams |
 |
| A better view of Evolution |
Back on board, we started our 90-minute ride back to Cairns. I've been documenting weird chips. Today I tried some - chicken-flavored potato chips.
 |
| They tasted like chips that had been dipped into chicken bouillon |
 |
| Our view as we approached Cairns - two other cruise ships were in port today from P&O and Carnival |
We got back to the ship and headed to get a drink and then dinner after washing the salt water off with a nice shower. I have videos set to try and load overnight, so check this page again in a day or so if the missing videos message is still there.
We're sailing tonight to Townsville where we will spend tomorrow. We're heading to Billabong Sanctuary and are hoping to see some fun wildlife.
No comments:
Post a Comment