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While we were up in Cairns, Ruth and I did a day trip out to the Great Barrier Reef with Reef Quest. Four years ago I visited the Whitsunday Islands and was blown away by the coral and sea life. I was hoping for more of the same, unfortunately it was not to be............
Most of the boat trips seem to be to the outer reef which is about 60km off shore. To get there and back inside a day the boats have to surge out to the reef at incredible speed. Bouncing across the waves was even more nausea inducing than the American women who sat down next to us and tried to engage us in conversation.
We snorkeled at the first dive site and sadly the marine life wasn't as vibrant as that I remembered from the Whitsundays. The coral was largely brown (not exclusively, but a sign it is often dead) and there wasn't an abundance of fish.
As the sea sickness set in we didn't manage lunch, the second snorkeling session and the journey back to shore was excruciating.
My Tokyo t-shirt caused lots of exclamation from the Japanese tourists. However, even a Japanese girl called Mii trying to chat me up couldn't rescue the day.
It's a pity the reef wasn't as vibrant as you hoped for. I can't help wondering whether all the tourist boats charging around might have anything to do with it?
ReplyDeleteI think the large number of tourists probably has a lot to do with it. Some friends went to Port Douglas, just up the coast, and had a great experience.
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