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We are all completely bone weary and exhausted, but in a good way... It's 7 o'clock, Jeremy is in bed, and Dylan's not far from it. We won't be long either...
Today, we spent a magical 8 hours on the water, of which 5 were spent on the outer reef snorkelling. It was the picture perfect day we'd hoped for, which we missed on our last attempt to visit the reef. We hopped on board Reef Magic at 8am, for our 9am departure to the Reef Magic pontoon, permanently moored alongside Moore Reef, 50km off the coastline. It was an hour and a half to the reef, and an hour and a half back, with 5 hours on the pontoon. The sun was out, in full force, with no clouds to interupt the view of the beautiful blue sky. The wind was up, as it always is on the outer reef, but only measuring 10-15 knotts instead of the 15-20 knotts it has been blowing the last week or so. The water temperature is 24 degrees, and they gave us wetsuits, so we could stay in the water longer, without getting too chilly too soon. The pontoon is a large double storey structure which the boat pulls up alongside, and stays attached to for the whole day. The pontoon has a lower floor, and a top floor, which is an open sunbaking deck. The wetsuits, lycra suits, masks, snorkels, flippers and diving gear are stored on the pontoon permanently, and the glass bottom boat and semi submersible boat are moored there permanently as well. It's a brilliant set up, totally professional and well planned, from beginning to end.
Jeremy was first in the water as usual. Straight over to the snorkelling equipment, got himself kitted out and organised and straight into the wet stuff. No mucking about, no waiting for anyone else, just in case all the fish were going to disappear in the next ten minutes... The rest of us took a little longer, but not too long, and we were all swimming with the fish. It's a totally different experience to our trip to the Low Isles, and it's what we brought the boys to see. Easily 10m of visibility, the coral and fish were bright and distinctive and clear, and absolutely beautiful. All the colours of the rainbow, and when you drifted off an edge, the coral and fish disappeared into the depths, as far as you could see. It's genuinely the only time I've ever been tempted to have a go at diving. Everybody's seen 'Finding Nemo' right? Well, it's exactly like that, and we met nearly all of them today... Well, not Bruce...or crush...or dory...or the whale, or Nemo for that matter... Ok, we didn't meet any of them, but what we saw looked just like them. We did meet Wally. He's a large Maori Rass (I think that's what they're called), and he lives at Moore Reef, and is very accustomed to snorkellers and divers visiting him every day of the year, and he likes to be included. He has no problems swimming alongside you, and letting you pat him, and he just loves posing for cameras. Without a word of a lie, point a camera at him, and he sits still and stares straight at it, until you've got your photo. He's the friendliest fish I've ever met (I haven't met many fish though, I don't get out much...) We swam with him for ages, until he'd had enough, and moved off to find other entertainment, but he was definitely the highlight of everyone's day... Dylan and Jo hopped out of the water after a while. Dylan started shivering and going blue, which is a fair sign that he's over-aclimatised to his environment, but Jeremy and I kept going, until the call went out for lunch. We ate lunch on the pontoon, a very nice spread of hot and cold selections, buffet style, and Jeremy and I returned to the water. I didn't stay as long this time, as the water became colder much quicker the second time around, so while the three of us were warming up on the sun deck, Jeremy snorkelled and paddled on his own for hours. We did the semi submersible tour around another reef in the afternoon, and Jeremy went back in the water again. This time, Wally returned, much to his delight. Dylan wanted to go snorkelling again later in the day, but there was only an hour or so till our departure, and it wasn't worth him getting changed, kitted up, and wet and cold all over again for such a short time, and we convinced him not to. (Otherwise I would have had to go as well). The ride home was a bit rougher than the ride out, as the wind and swell had picked up, but nothing that was uncomfortable, and none of us felt seasick.
This has been the perfect day for a visit to the reef. We weren't crowded, or overrun with other tourists, and although there were about 100 of us, the pontoon is large enough, with enough activities going on, that we all just disappeared. There was plenty of space, and in the water, it was as though we had the reef to ourselves. We spent the day with Reef Magic, the only family run, locally owned reef tour in Cairns, and they came highly recommended from Geoff and Jenny who own Cairns Coconut. I have no hesitation passing that recommendation on, it was a most amazing and wonderful day... Check out the photos, there's some good ones there, that will make you want to do it too...
Everyone is now in bed, and either asleep or very close to it. I haven't had dinner yet, I don't think I'll bother. I think I'll go join them...
- comments
Teaghan I'm exhausted after catching up on over a weeks worth of blogs whilst we were in Fiji (and in trouble from Rog and the kids!). Your adventures still sound amazing and so tiring (I don't know how you fit so much in a day). I don't want your holiday to end as its better than reading a book! Hopefully Darren & Michelle will keep a blog too. Keep travelling safe. Love Teags