Here's a cool video of my dad and I diving the Great Barrier Reef:
On Tuesday, September 27th my family and I woke up early, went to the airport, and jumped on a plane. A few hours later we arrived in Cairns, which is part of “Tropical North Queensland”. Cairns is over 1,600 kilometers north of the Sunshine Coast, and if you would drive it would take around 20 hours (just to give you an idea of how far away it is). We decided to travel to Cairns so we could dive the Great Barrier Reef! The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometers over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometers. The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world’s biggest single structure made by living organisms. Some of the best diving on the Great Barrier Reef occurs off the coast of Cairns and Port Douglas. It was very exciting to fly up the coast of Queensland because when you looked out of your window you could see the Reef; it was so incredible to see. It was absolutely beautiful and a dream come true to be able to see one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Just knowing that I would soon be under water and diving on the Great Barrier Reef made me even more anxious for the following day.
 |
| Flying over some of the reefs! |
When we arrived at Cairns, we had a shuttle bus pick us up and drive us to our Resort in Palm Cove – a small village right on the water a little north of Cairns. On our drive up we went by some rainforests and sugar cane fields. It’s always so cool to see new Australian landscapes, because they are always so beautiful. Palm Cove was absolutely fantastic. It is just a small village with a brick road, a few restaurants and resorts, a super market that was just a little bit bigger than my bedroom at my apartment, and a beautiful beach. Since Australia is in the Southern hemisphere, the further north you travel – the warmer it gets. So Palm Cove was a little warmer and more tropical than the Sunshine Coast – which means more crazy animals! We were greeted at the beach with signs warning us of deadly jellyfish or marine stingers, and salt water crocodiles. Luckily, it is not the jellyfish season yet so we didn’t really have to worry. The Resort we stayed at was absolutely fantastic. It was so beautiful and fancy, and it was definitely the nicest place I have ever stayed. Our room had a nice size kitchen and family room, two separate bedrooms, two full bathrooms, a laundry room, three balconies, and a Jacuzzi spa on one of the balconies. The Resort had three pools – a heated pool with a waterfall and hot tub, a lagoon pool that looked like a little beach with actual sand around and leading into the pool and a tiki-bar that you could swim up to in the water, and a rainforest pool that was secluded under palm trees and other plants that kept it shaded most of the day. Needless to say, the Resort was so nice that for our last two days in Palm Cove we just relaxed at the Resort by one of three pools and beach right across the street. It was perfect paradise.
 |
| Our Resort |
 |
| Beach Signs |
But before relaxing, our first full two days involved driving even further north to Port Douglas where we took boats out to go to the Great Barrier Reef. The drive from Palm Cove to Port Douglas was unbelievable. We were right along a cliff that led straight down into the Pacific Ocean. We followed the cliff the entire way, with a view that just took your breath away. So, on our first full day – Wednesday – we arrived at a marina in Port Douglas early in the morning where we boarded a big catamaran boat and took off for the Outer Reef. After about 90 minutes of cruising we reached the Agincourt Reefs which are on the very outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef along the Continental Shelf, and about 65 kilometers away from the marina we left in Port Douglas. Once we arrived to the Reefs, our boat was tied up to a big activity platform. On the platform there was snorkel platforms, underwater observatories, diving platforms, semi-submersible boats, sun decks, a buffet lunch, tables, chairs, changing rooms, showers, bathrooms, and everything else you needed while being out on the Reef. We were able to partake in any activity we wanted and just have a day filled of fun. There were lifeguards on duty and you were allowed to snorkel out as far as you wanted to view the beautiful reefs, fish, and coral beneath the crystal clear water. My dad and I signed up to go diving, so right when we arrived we went to the diving platform to get our gear and get ready. While we dived, my mom and brother enjoyed taking a ride on the semi-submersible boat and snorkeling.
 |
| Platform overlooking the reefs |
 |
| Activity platform |
When we finished getting our diving gear on, we walked onto the platform and before we went under our dive guide reminded us to keep breathing and remember that we’re under water. He said that it is so clear down there that it’s easy to forget you’re so far under water. As soon as I was under water, I was astonished. Right away there were fish swimming all around us and you could see the coral below that we would soon be swimming right up too. I’ve never been diving in the ocean and this was definitely the best way to start the new experience. The coral was so beautiful and so colorful – pinks, purples, yellows, greens, blues, just so many bright colors! Their different shapes were so amazing also, it was a natural master piece. The fish were amazing also. So many shapes, sizes, and colors from small baby blue fish to huge purple fish and everything in-between. Our dive guide led us to a couple pieces of coral that we could touch, some were slimy some were hard – it was amazing to feel the differences. We even found Nemo! A couple of Nemos actually! The dive guide let us touch the anemone that the clownfish live in. The anemone felt like it was grabbing and sticking to your finger when you touched it. The dive guide later told us that the anemone was actually firing small barbs at us. These barbs will hurt other fish and keep them away from it, clownfish are immune to the barbs and the barbs are way too small to hurt us. He said that if we had a cut on our hand then the barbs might have stung a little but nothing too painful. After finding Nemo, we continued on our dive and found so many more beautiful fish. We even saw a Queensland Grouper, which is one of Queensland’s largest fish. It was HUGE! Way bigger than me! After 33 minutes of being under water, we had to return to the surface since we were running low on air. As soon as we reached the surface, I could not stop smiling at the entire diving experience I just had.
 |
| Nemo! |
Next, I ate lunch as quick as I could and then went snorkeling with the family for a little while. You couldn’t keep me out of this water. It was too amazing to not be in it. After snorkeling for a bit, I decided that I wanted to go diving again. I was the only one who wanted to go on a second dive, so this time it was only myself and the dive guide. I left the family snorkeling, and went back to the dive platform. This time the guide took me to some other bunches of corals along the reef. I saw more beautiful fish and coral and other organisms. We found and picked up a live Conch Shell and some Starfish and Urchins. We even found a Giant Clam. The clam was at least three feet wide. When I touched the inside of the clam it slammed shut thinking I was some kind of food. It was so cool to see! This time the dive lasted 32 minutes and it was just as amazing as the first time. Diving the Great Barrier Reef was a dream come true and I was able to see things that the majority of the human population will never see unless they see it in an Aquarium or something. It was truly amazing. Unfortunately, when I came up to the surface this time I only had a couple minutes before the boat was leaving so I had to get out of my dive gear and change and then jump back on the boat and head back to Port Douglas.
The next day, we drove back up to Port Douglas and this time we jumped on a huge sailboat catamaran. We were headed to Low Isles, a small coral island located on the Great Barrier Reef. It took about an hour to get to the Island and when we arrived we jumped onto a glass bottom boat that took us to shore. Once we were on shore, we all slipped on our snorkeling gear and headed into the water. Once again the view was magnificent. We were swimming right on top of a garden of coral. Low Isles is known to be a breeding ground for turtles, and we soon found our first turtle of the day. It was so gorgeous to be able to swim right above the large turtle that was swimming over the beautiful colored corals. It literally looked like a picture right out of a wildlife book. We saw three turtles throughout the day and every time it was still extremely exciting. I also saw a blue spotted stingray which was also so gorgeous. Then I found a stonefish, which is extremely poisonous, so I told my family to stay away from that sucker. I was excited to find a stonefish because they are hard to see because they camouflage extremely well, but I was also a little scared. We also saw two black tip reef sharks, we weren't in the water when we saw them, but we could safely see them swimming around right beside us when we were in a glass bottom boat headed back to the big sailboat for lunch. It was so cool! I found so many cool and beautiful fish, I literally didn’t want to ever leave the water. But eventually the life guards rode out in a small boat and told us we had to get out of the water because the sailboat was about to leave. On our way back to Port Douglas we sat out front on the boat and listened to a guy sing and play guitar. It was definitely another perfect day out on the reef.
 |
| Sailing there... |
 |
| Low Isles |
 |
| Going snorkeling... |
As I said before, our next two days in Palm Cove we spent relaxing at our Resort. We went out to some nice dinners where one night I dined on a Kangaroo dinner. The kangaroo turned out to be a very good meal, but I don’t know if I’ll ever get it again because they are too cute to eat. But I’ve been told that I have to try kangaroo before I leave Australia, so that’s what I did. I would have to say that this vacation was definitely the best vacation ever. The location, the activities, everything was amazing. But this vacation was the best mainly because I got to see my family that I haven’t seen in three months. It was a perfect holiday.
 |
| Kangaroo Dinner! |
No comments:
Post a Comment