Cairns (the Great Barrier Reef)

I arrived in Cairns Wednesday around noon, but didn't really do much that day except hang out with Redbird and Cameron, who I was staying with. How I came to stay with them is kind of a random story, I have a friend Liz who lives in San Francisco, but we met when we were 15 and our families were on vacation in Boston. We've kept in touch over the years, and when I told her that I was going to Australia she put me in touch with Redbird who is her husband's sister. They were gracious enough to invite me to stay at their house and I attribute my amazing experience in Cairns mostly to the fact that I got to stay with them!

The only thing that I actually had planned for my four days in Cairns was a boat trip out to the great barrier reef. I booked the tour at the same time as I got my plane ticket, and when I got to Cairns was happy to have Cameron tell me that I had booked with the best company to go out with.


We stopped at two different spots for the day. The first place was Michalmas Cay, where there was an actual island coming up out of the reef. The second spot was just a random mooring in the middle of the reef, but actually had far better diving because the reef went down much deeper there.


Initially when I booked the tour I said that I only wanted to snorkel. The idea of scuba diving has always kind of freaked me out and I wasn't really interested in trying it. However when I got on the boat they told us that if we wanted we could try diving for 10 minutes, and then if we were ok with it we could do an introductory dive. As they were giving the intro talk on the way out to the reef I knew I had to at least try it. How could I be at the number one destination for diving and not try it? I will admit that I was a little anxious for both of the dives (we did two 30 min dives) but looking back I think it was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had!


Note the little clown fish hiding in the anemone above
And below: a close up of clown fish


This is on my first dive, with my trusty dive instructor Mel. She held my hand when I was freaking out, which somehow made everything ok =)


The fish were amazing...tons of them everywhere and so colorful!



I think the giant clams were actually one of my favorite things to see. They had the most amazing colors inside of them!

All in all it was a fantastic day! Even though I was a bit scared about diving I think I might look into getting my certification so that if I go somewhere warm again I can do some more diving.