12 March 2016:-AUSTRALIA & NZ :- Cairns and Diving at the Great Barrier Reef

AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND :- Cairns and Diving at the Great Barrier Reef

7th Day  : 12.03.2016 

Because of the delayed flight we arrived at the Cairns airport around 01:00 o’clock early in the morning. A taxi took me to the Hotel “Queens Court Cairns” at the Sheridan Street 167.

Since the reception was closed, I acted according to the instructions they had sent me 1 month ago. I opened the safe box outside the entrance. Entering the digital key code they had given to me some time ago, I took the envelope consisting of the my room key and schematic description how to get to the room.

As the first thing in the room, I arranged my bag for diving tour which was scheduled for today. The shuttle should come and pick me up early morning. I commenced to sleep.After a short sleep, I woke up around 06:50 and went downstairs around 07:10 and waited for the shuttle which is going to get me to the pier where diving tour departs. At the agreed time the shuttle came and took me and the English guy to the bus. We collected some others from various hotels. After the bus driver has completed pick-up of the guests then he drove us to the “Reef Fleet Terminal”. Very similar to the flight check-in system, the people have arranged a check-in hall and to every guest who is going to participate in a tour is given voucher with the name of the boat. Then at 08:00 o ‘clock starts boarding.

Boarding on the diving boat "Silverswift".

There are the crew and diving team of the boat standing at the boat entrance and checking the guests and documents are signed for the risks in relation to diving, snorkeling or etc.

They took us to the boat. The front area was allocated to the scuba diving people. There we have filled some other documents and dive masters came and checked the diving licenses.

Our dive master Jef briefed the group about the diving plan. Until lunch time we have been planned to make two dives and after the lunch we ain ‘t to make our third dive which is final.

Meanwhile they served café and tasty cakes as a morning welcome. I appreciated it very much because I haven‘t got any breakfast at the hotel.

At 08:30 our boat “Silverswift”,a catamaran of length around 25 meter and of beam 10-12 meter, departed from the pier. We were altogether 80-90 people on board ( I do not know exactly but the captain and the crew knows it very precisely).The sea was almost calm. Still there were waves of

1-1,5 meter high. The weather was cloudy but warm. Even it was early morning, the temperature was around 29-30 deg C. The reef is far away from the coast. Some people had got sea sickness. They mostly went to the rear deck in order to ventilate themselves in the open air. Many of them throwing out because of the sea sickness. The crew is very well trained and helpful. This means “service quality”. 3-4 members of the crew were waiting and watching the people with attention in order to provide bags and icy water in paper glasses right at the moment (?). We have reached after one and half hour to a place where the waves were showing their “white” We were just on the Great Barrier Reef.

Cairns to the Flynn Reef on the map.

My diving buddy was Greg from NZ. He is a specialist in physiotherapy and working in alittle town on the west side of the Queensland. He is good and experienced guy in diving. The tour company gives us all the gear. They had provided also a thin diving suit which is like body glove and for this area it is more than enough. Our first dive started at 10:09 and came up to the surface at 11:02.The max. depth was 23 meters. A few hundred meters away, our boat stopped and we made the second dive at 11:47. This one has been finished at 12:57 and the max. depth is 16.5 meters.

In the beginning of the second dive we met a friendly turtle at the reef. It was trying to collect  some eatable plants to eat. At the last half of the second dive I was swimming at the rear of the group. I saw a little shark swimming around me. It was a grey shark having a length of 1,3 meters roughly. It swam around me but little bit deeper and went away after 1-2 minutes.

The lunch was very tasty and there were food from various kitchens. Vegetable, salad, chicken, bacon, pasta, fruit etc. We need energy !! After a pause of 2 hours we have been taken to another location at the Great Barrier Reef. The name of this location is “Tracy’s”. Our dive started at 13:45 and we came out to the surface at 14:40. The max. depth was 18 meters.

After that we changed and the crew started to prepare for return to Cairns. Crew always counts the people onboard. It could be a disaster in case someone stays unattended in the sea.

The captain took us to the same point at the Cairns Port in two hours. We stepped to the land at around 17:15. Greg took some pictures of mine at the boat.

Our dive master Jef

Picture taken by Greg just after the landing at Cairns

The whole tour was under a very experienced and professional control. The arrangements were very punctual and has been safely realized. There was also a tiny young lady photographer on the boat and she took pictures onboard and underwater as well. At the end, she sells them to those who are willing to buy pictures. One picture costs 18.-AUD. I selected 4 pictures and she gave me also a CD as free. It is worth to pay 240.-AUD for three dives at the Great Barrier Reef. Our shuttle to the hotel was waiting for us at the port exit. Our bus driver took me to my Hotel in 10 minutes.

Diving at the Great Barrier Reef, Cairns

Diving at the Great Barrier Reef, Cairns

I took a shower in the Hotel. I have had a room with shared bathroom. But there was no hassle in relation to the bathroom and WC. At 18:30 I went out in order to take my rental car from the East Coast Car Rental. This was suggested to me by the Hotel Queens Court. The pick-up center is a few hundred meters away from my Hotel. I walked there and took my Suzuki Swift for the next day plan.

Cairns by night:

I drove first to the Italian Restaurant “Little Ricardo’s” on the 191 Sheridon Street. 400 meter away from my Hotel. I ate nice food there. The service was also very fast and friendly. I can recommend to those who are interested.

Garlic Bread at the Pizzeria Little Ricardo's

Tasty pizza at the Restaurant Little Ricardo 's

After the dinner I drove to the center of the city. Cairns is a little city and mostly doing good job on touristic affairs. I parked the car at the Esplanade (they call the coastal strip approx. 700 meters long). There are a lot of restaurants, bars, cafés, shops etc. There is no parking problem at all. On weekends all parking lots are free. I left the car there and looked around. I saw a big shop for the Aboriginal Indigenous Artwork. I went in and looked around. There are boomerangs, paintings, clothes etc. All are hand crafted. I bought 4 boomerangs with the written “returning back” guarantee. Because almost 90 % of the boomerangs are only for decoration purpose..

I stopped in a Café and got Cafe Latte. Then I continued to walk. There were a lot of people around. Since I was tired and had got short sleep last night I drove to the hotel and started to sleep

around 11:30. Tomorrow will be another great day.

Good night to everybody!