I got up early and changed rooms as I have now booked a few more nights here and my room is already booked out. I walk down to the pier and get on the Noahs Ark boat. I saw Kris onboard who was also doing the cruise;what a coincidence! Anyway we set off after a welcome from our humourous captain. It took 2 hours to reach the first reef (Hastings Reef). The waves were a bit choppy and a Japanese girl became sea-sick, spewing off the side of the boat! We snorkelled before our dive and immediatly realised we were surrounded by jellyfish. I freaked out a little but our captain shouted from the boat they only give you a sting that lasts for a few minutes and as long as you pat them on the head not tentacles you don't get stung! I only got a few stings on my arm accidently. It's amazing being surrounded by curious fish and coral (although it wasn't as colourful as I imagined because my captain told me only some light rays make it that deep so unless you have a torch you cannot see how bright it really is!) It felt a bit surreal stroking a jellyfish :) Later we got equipped for our 30 min dive and were given a 10 minute talk. The main rules are: always breathe in and out(never stop or your lungs will collapse) tap your mask, look up and breathe out through your nose to get rid of water in mask and finally slowly swim deeper, holding your nose and trying to breathe out through your nose to make your ears pop whenever they get sore due to pressurisation. We got in with our weights, oxygen tank and mask. Our instructor made sure we were ok as we descended deeper into the reef. It was incredible! There were huge clams (the size of a child) coral in various weird shapes and colours and different fishes including Nemo!! 30 minutes felt like 30 seconds! I was a little light-headed when I eventually got back on the boat. The "lavish lunch" promised consisted of a cold chicken thigh, suspicious potato salad and limp lettuce. I didn't eat the chicken or the lettuce, needless to say I was starving!! We sailed further out to Michaelmas Cay and this was a much better reef with sharks!! I was swimming quite happily alongside two white-tipped sharks (only 2 metres long). Also I saw from underwater the Japanese girl's lunch being eaten by the fishes as she was spewing again! Kris kept getting chatted up by this really creepy old guy from the Gold Coast. I felt so sorry for her she couldn't escape him. It's hard when your on a small boat 60km away from land!! On our way back to Cairns dolphins swam alongside the boat and started jumping through the waves! I returned to my hostel exhausted and was going to stay up and watch the Old Firm match at 10.30pm in an Irish bar but I drifted off to sleep at 10pm and woke up at 6am when 2 Japanese guys left to go on a tour.