cairns - day 2 - great barrier reef

Gathering for the tour started at 7:30, boat took off from Marlin Marina finger A at 8am.

The Great Barrier Reef is 2700km long reaching north to south right by Cairns. It is formed of batches of corals, which need shallow salt water and lots of sun to grow. There are various different types of corals (~400 types) and lots of sea animals (~4000 species of mollusks) and fish (~1500 different types) living alongside of it. We were warned many times not to touch the coral. Apparently it is not the crowds of tourists or global warming that is dangerous, but the touching - we wear lots of sunscreen and if that gets on a coral by our fingers, it dies :(

Our first snorkeling stop was about 1h boat ride away, called "Wonder Wall" located on the outer edge of Upolu Reef. It is just like a wall in the ocean - on one side is the coral and on the other side the wall goes into depth of the ocean. It is nothing compared to what I saw in Hawaii on Molokini island. Everything is much closer here, there are more different kinds of fish and the water is clearer. We are also allowed to swim around more freely, which I like :)

Once everybody gathered back on the boat the crew held a guided tour on a glass bottom boat. This way they were able to tell us all about the marine life and forming of coral reef. For an example I found out that even the corals sleep :) Right, they have feeding time when they are moving about with water, just like tall grass is moving in different directions with the wind, once the coral goes to sleep, it gets leathery look and is not moving around any longer. We were also explained of why coral dies and how dying coral helps to reproduce for the living coral.

Second snorkeling sight was by Upolu Cay, located about 30km from Cairns - a sand patch that rises out of the sea once the tide goes down. This we did after lunch as before lunch it was still under water :) That was my favourite! Little sand hills in a bright blue sea next to dark coral patches all around. As the sand was piled up there was very shallow water for about 50m down the stream, in shallow areas the water was extremely warm - I just laid there and did not wanna leave, ever :)

While snorkeling I saw nemo fish, turtle (from a distance this time), many different kinds of other fish (some were huuuge and some were tiny, some where plain and some were bright blue, like a colorful fish tank), saw a huge stingray (probably about 1.2m long) and a shark (can't remember what it was called, could it be black shark perhaps? it was also a bit over a meter long i'd say). Stingray and shark were hiding under a huge coral - one on one side and the other one on the other side, apparently they like to hang out together usually :) And of course many many different kinds of corals - some shaped like huge plates, some like fingers, some like cabbage. Corals were in many different colors and with lots of different types of fish swimming all around and inside of it. Snorkeling and staring at the complicated coral/fish/mollusk setting was like staring at an always moving art piece - you just stare and you are not able to take your eyes off as with every second the art piece changes.

On the way back we were served more food, cheese, fruit, snacks and cake. I happened to chat with couple of Germans - it is always my favourite part :) Also the crew was great! There was 6 of them total, two had worked on the boat just for 4 months, one moved here from London and the other one from Canada. Both of them said they got enough of the cold weather :) One of them expressed it in this format: it is 29C, water is 25C and it is WINTER at the moment!

After the trip I got back to the hotel, idea was to take a quick shower and quick nap, then head to town for dinner and a concert - nope that did not happen. I kept pressing snooze for about 20 minutes after that I gave up, had a quick snack and headed to bed for good :) Apparently adjusting and catching up on sleep takes a bit more than one 13h sleep ;)