Cairns, Australia
16° 54' S 145° 45' E
Jul 20, 2004 03:35
Distance 37km

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Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef

Text written in: English

After leaving Mareeba we made our way towards Cairns. Unfortunately all the water sports at the lakes were closed for the Winter and so we ended up in Cairns a day earlier than planned. This meant the we could book a dive boat to the Great Barrier reef - which we did.
We set sail really early on Tuesday morning on board the Reef Quest. We dived twice during the day on to coral reef which was frankly quite dull and not very colourful. There were a few fish (including a reef shark) but nowhere near the numbers we have seen in other locations. The boat trip was great, we were fed well and, although there were nearly 100 divers on the boat, we didn't feel cramped as the dive team were well organised.

>Patience writes...Yesterday, we had another splash out, and went diving on the Great Barrier Reef. The day out was good, and, given that there were around eighty divers and snorkellers on the boat, highly well organised. However, the diving was somewhat disappointing. The reef was very damaged and the coral unremarkable and not very colourful. Also, there was not a great variety of marine life. We did, however, see several large barracuda, and Dave spotted a small shark. That's another two dives under our belts though, so good for experience.

Today, we cleaned out and returned the camper van, and now we are without wheels. Tomorrow, Dave and I bid farewell to Mark (which we will be very sorry to do - it's been great travelling with him this month) and fly up to Darwin. Mark flies to Sydney on Saturday and then home to England, via Tokyo, on Sunday. At the end of next week, we begin our journey to Bolivia and a whole new continent. So, now I must do what I intended to do an hour and a half ago - find us some accommodation in Darwin!


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