Early on the morning of December 15th, we woke and readied ourselves for what I imagined would be an amazing next two days.
A taxi took us to the Reef Pier in Cairns, Queensland Australia. Each of us had our small day pack on our back with a swimsuit, towel, overnight necessities and sunscreen loaded inside. Our adventure was about to begin, but not before signing a release of responsibility. The 50’ sailboat, The Rum Runner, set off under motor out of the harbor shortly before 8:00 am. Unsure of how I would do with the motion of the boat, I took ¼ of a tab of sturgeon forte pill (thanks Bob for the tip). Wow, it is beautiful as we move further and further away from land. I am not sure I feel great, but I certainly don’t feel bad. The orientation for snorkeling gave me a good distraction and before I knew it (3 hours later) we were on the reef.
A total of 16 people were on our boat including the crew of four. Seven others were divers and the rest of us were snorkelers (5), which was great because we were not crowded on the reef. The four of us snorkeled straight away. The color of the reef was amazing. We were able to see so many fish that I have seen before in fish tanks at the doctor & dentist offices (we found your fish Steve). There were times where we were completely surrounded by little fish, but I was on a mission to find Nemo (Dory had guided us out to the reef) so it was time to move on. I searched and searched until I finally found him. Nemo and two of his buddies were hanging out on the edge of the reef, darting in, out and around corals and sea anemones. We spent about 1 hour in the water before being called back to the boat for a nice lunch.
After lunch they moved the boat to another spot on the outer reef where we were able to once again explore. One reason we took the 2 day trip was to be given the opportunity to do a “introductory dive”. This is a dive for uncertified divers with all the gear, but you don’t go deeper than 20 meters and you stay with the instructor the whole time. Jeff is a certified diver, but chose to do the introductory dive with us. Tim was eager and couldn’t wait to get in and go down to the bottom. I made an attempt, but was unable to clear my ears, so was not successful (I snorkeled at this spot though). Jess opted not to give it a try.
We were able to explore the reef a total of 5 times over 2 days, plus a night dive for Jeff. Tim and Jeff decided to dive three more times as well. Jeff and I went snorkeling together and came quite close to a shark. The shark was a black tip reef shark and was about the size of me. I am very glad he didn’t seem hungry as he was probably no more than 10 feet from us. Yes I was scared!!
The time we spent on the Great Barrier Reef was fabulous, but I could have stayed out much longer. I guess this means I am okay with being out on a boat, even spending the night (look out Bob).
~Karen~
I thoroughly enjoyed watching my family experience the Great Barrier Reef. I was a little worried when we arrived and one of the boat captains reminded me of Captain Ron from the movie. Luckily we got Richie as our Captain and the trip was wonderful.
I was very proud of Tim. He took to the diving like a fish. They showed him how to use the equipment, strapped it on him, had him walk to the side of the boat and then told him to step out. No hesitation, he stepped off for the 5 foot drop. Once in the water, he was over to the bar for the check out and went straight down just like they talked about in the training session. First thing out of his mouth when he came out of the water was, “when can we go back in?”
My wife was amazing again. She is not fond of boats, does not like being on the water, not overly thrilled with snorkeling and has never been around sharks. She took everything head on. Turns out, she now likes boats and is comfortable with multi day trips. She tried diving and given time to practice clearing her ears (we didn’t have any because it was a big group) she would have no problem doing it. She handled being inspected by a shark without much of a flinch. We saw him on the reef about 100 feet away and then he proceeded to swim right towards us until he got about 5 feet away and then he turned. I got a photo at about 15 feet, but couldn’t get a shot when he got close because the camera wouldn’t focus. I thought Karen might walk on water back to the boat, instead she turned and faced the shark and then kept right on snorkeling after he left. On the way back to the boat we saw a barracuda as well.
The snorkeling and diving on the reef was wonderful. I saw tons of fish. Quite often I couldn’t see another person while we were on the reef and you felt like you were the only one that had been there. I got my first night dive which was cool. I saw a 6 foot Moray Eel, some sharks and sleeping Parrot fish (the sleep on the reef in a sack of vomit). They look dead, but aren’t.
Great time and well worth the money. I especially enjoyed meeting the other passengers. Two lovely couples that it turned out were both getting married a day apart in August, Allan from Shanghai, Jaunte from England, Meaghan from Canada and Isabelle from Germany. Some great conversations.
~Jeff~
A taxi took us to the Reef Pier in Cairns, Queensland Australia. Each of us had our small day pack on our back with a swimsuit, towel, overnight necessities and sunscreen loaded inside. Our adventure was about to begin, but not before signing a release of responsibility. The 50’ sailboat, The Rum Runner, set off under motor out of the harbor shortly before 8:00 am. Unsure of how I would do with the motion of the boat, I took ¼ of a tab of sturgeon forte pill (thanks Bob for the tip). Wow, it is beautiful as we move further and further away from land. I am not sure I feel great, but I certainly don’t feel bad. The orientation for snorkeling gave me a good distraction and before I knew it (3 hours later) we were on the reef.
A total of 16 people were on our boat including the crew of four. Seven others were divers and the rest of us were snorkelers (5), which was great because we were not crowded on the reef. The four of us snorkeled straight away. The color of the reef was amazing. We were able to see so many fish that I have seen before in fish tanks at the doctor & dentist offices (we found your fish Steve). There were times where we were completely surrounded by little fish, but I was on a mission to find Nemo (Dory had guided us out to the reef) so it was time to move on. I searched and searched until I finally found him. Nemo and two of his buddies were hanging out on the edge of the reef, darting in, out and around corals and sea anemones. We spent about 1 hour in the water before being called back to the boat for a nice lunch.
After lunch they moved the boat to another spot on the outer reef where we were able to once again explore. One reason we took the 2 day trip was to be given the opportunity to do a “introductory dive”. This is a dive for uncertified divers with all the gear, but you don’t go deeper than 20 meters and you stay with the instructor the whole time. Jeff is a certified diver, but chose to do the introductory dive with us. Tim was eager and couldn’t wait to get in and go down to the bottom. I made an attempt, but was unable to clear my ears, so was not successful (I snorkeled at this spot though). Jess opted not to give it a try.
We were able to explore the reef a total of 5 times over 2 days, plus a night dive for Jeff. Tim and Jeff decided to dive three more times as well. Jeff and I went snorkeling together and came quite close to a shark. The shark was a black tip reef shark and was about the size of me. I am very glad he didn’t seem hungry as he was probably no more than 10 feet from us. Yes I was scared!!
The time we spent on the Great Barrier Reef was fabulous, but I could have stayed out much longer. I guess this means I am okay with being out on a boat, even spending the night (look out Bob).
~Karen~
I thoroughly enjoyed watching my family experience the Great Barrier Reef. I was a little worried when we arrived and one of the boat captains reminded me of Captain Ron from the movie. Luckily we got Richie as our Captain and the trip was wonderful.
I was very proud of Tim. He took to the diving like a fish. They showed him how to use the equipment, strapped it on him, had him walk to the side of the boat and then told him to step out. No hesitation, he stepped off for the 5 foot drop. Once in the water, he was over to the bar for the check out and went straight down just like they talked about in the training session. First thing out of his mouth when he came out of the water was, “when can we go back in?”
My wife was amazing again. She is not fond of boats, does not like being on the water, not overly thrilled with snorkeling and has never been around sharks. She took everything head on. Turns out, she now likes boats and is comfortable with multi day trips. She tried diving and given time to practice clearing her ears (we didn’t have any because it was a big group) she would have no problem doing it. She handled being inspected by a shark without much of a flinch. We saw him on the reef about 100 feet away and then he proceeded to swim right towards us until he got about 5 feet away and then he turned. I got a photo at about 15 feet, but couldn’t get a shot when he got close because the camera wouldn’t focus. I thought Karen might walk on water back to the boat, instead she turned and faced the shark and then kept right on snorkeling after he left. On the way back to the boat we saw a barracuda as well.
The snorkeling and diving on the reef was wonderful. I saw tons of fish. Quite often I couldn’t see another person while we were on the reef and you felt like you were the only one that had been there. I got my first night dive which was cool. I saw a 6 foot Moray Eel, some sharks and sleeping Parrot fish (the sleep on the reef in a sack of vomit). They look dead, but aren’t.
Great time and well worth the money. I especially enjoyed meeting the other passengers. Two lovely couples that it turned out were both getting married a day apart in August, Allan from Shanghai, Jaunte from England, Meaghan from Canada and Isabelle from Germany. Some great conversations.
~Jeff~
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