After an extra day in Sydney we headed up to Cairns - just north of where the cyclone hit. There was still a lot of water in the streets/parks, but for the most part they were back to business as usual. The Great Barrier Reef is at one of its closest points to land so many tours leave from there.
We boarded a decent sized boat which took us out to a platform moored at the beach where we spent our day. Due to the cyclone it was still rather windy and the seas were rough making for a not so fun 90min trip out to the platform - but I got my sea legs once we got there and spent the day doing two reef dives with lots of snorkeling in between. This is the most boring pic you are about to see - me (in the neon yellow/green fins) getting my diving refresher course!
Leslie and Ryanne did the helmet walk - here they are preparing!
I snorkeled around where they were walking and got some pics of them feeding the fish
And now on to the diving shots! Clownfish (Nemo!) in the anemone -
Parrotfish -
Angelfish - loved them!
More fish...
This leopard mollusk would shoot out white sticky strands as defense....they are poison to fish and get stuck in their gills.
I have no idea what this thing is...but we got to hold it and it was super squishy...
We found a sea turtle feeding and gave him a little pet!
While all of the above was amazing...I was most fascinated with all the coral...
They were feeding the fish again when i surfaced - see of fish and bubbles!
Happy girls on the ride home!
Amazing day :-)
We boarded a decent sized boat which took us out to a platform moored at the beach where we spent our day. Due to the cyclone it was still rather windy and the seas were rough making for a not so fun 90min trip out to the platform - but I got my sea legs once we got there and spent the day doing two reef dives with lots of snorkeling in between. This is the most boring pic you are about to see - me (in the neon yellow/green fins) getting my diving refresher course!
Leslie and Ryanne did the helmet walk - here they are preparing!
I snorkeled around where they were walking and got some pics of them feeding the fish
And now on to the diving shots! Clownfish (Nemo!) in the anemone -
Parrotfish -
Angelfish - loved them!
More fish...
This leopard mollusk would shoot out white sticky strands as defense....they are poison to fish and get stuck in their gills.
I have no idea what this thing is...but we got to hold it and it was super squishy...
We found a sea turtle feeding and gave him a little pet!
While all of the above was amazing...I was most fascinated with all the coral...
They were feeding the fish again when i surfaced - see of fish and bubbles!
Happy girls on the ride home!
Amazing day :-)
1 comment:
That looks gorgeous! I don't understand the helmet walk thing.
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