5/20 - Chelsea and I woke up bright and early to walk to the marina to meet our sailing catamaran, Passions of Paradise, for a daytrip to the Great Barrier Reef. We boarded Passions at 8:30am and were soon on our way to the reef, enjoying complimentary coffee and chocolate muffins and listening to a diving debrief. After two hours of motoring, we pulled up to our first stop, Upolu Cay, a small island of sand formed on top of the coral reefs. We did our first dive here, which was every bit as amazing as I had heard. There were only 3 other certified divers on board, so we went down in a small group, and while Dutchie, my partner, was chasing after an adorable sea turtle, I turned around and spotted my first shark, a small reef shark, but a shark nonetheless. I didn’t feel scared like I thought I would, just fascinated by the creature that had inspired so much fear. I tried to signal Dutchie with the jaws sign against my forehead, but he thought I meant I needed to go to the surface and started to make his way up, and missed the shark all together. He was so upset.
After lunch, a delicious seafood buffet, we headed to our second destination, Paradise Reef, where Passions had a private mooring. This dive was the stuff of postcards and Discovery Channel specials. The coral glistened in every vibrant color and shape imaginable, as did the thousands of tropical fish that swam all around us. When we got to the bottom of the reef, a shallow 13 meters, my dive instructor, Nanako, picked up a large sea slug and floated him over to me, which started an impromptu game of sea slug catch. My favorite moment was “finding Nemo,” my first, adorably shy clown fish encounter. Nanako pointed him out to me, living in a small sea anemone with his friends. Clown fish rarely stray further than six inches from their home, and when I approached him, he cautiously poked his head out at me, disappearing back into the anemone when I brushed my fingers against the silky soft tentacles. These guys are definitely the cutest creatures in the sea.
Once the two dives were complete, we raised the sails and cruised back to Cairns in the warm afternoon sun. Back at the harbor, Chelsea and I made our way over to Pier bar to take advantage of the 2 for 1 happy hour special, treating ourselves to ice-cold Coronas to celebrate the end of a fantastic day.
After lunch, a delicious seafood buffet, we headed to our second destination, Paradise Reef, where Passions had a private mooring. This dive was the stuff of postcards and Discovery Channel specials. The coral glistened in every vibrant color and shape imaginable, as did the thousands of tropical fish that swam all around us. When we got to the bottom of the reef, a shallow 13 meters, my dive instructor, Nanako, picked up a large sea slug and floated him over to me, which started an impromptu game of sea slug catch. My favorite moment was “finding Nemo,” my first, adorably shy clown fish encounter. Nanako pointed him out to me, living in a small sea anemone with his friends. Clown fish rarely stray further than six inches from their home, and when I approached him, he cautiously poked his head out at me, disappearing back into the anemone when I brushed my fingers against the silky soft tentacles. These guys are definitely the cutest creatures in the sea.
Once the two dives were complete, we raised the sails and cruised back to Cairns in the warm afternoon sun. Back at the harbor, Chelsea and I made our way over to Pier bar to take advantage of the 2 for 1 happy hour special, treating ourselves to ice-cold Coronas to celebrate the end of a fantastic day.
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