Thursday, May 5, 2016

May 4 Cairns

This was our scheduled day in Cairns, and we're going to the Great Barrier Reef on the Sunlover.

This is what the catamaran looks like.  I just happened to take a picture of it the night before as we were coming into Cairns.  Didn't know then that this would be our boat to the Reef.

We had the local rather than express catamaran.  It stopped at Fitzroy Island, which has a resort, lighthouse and a big mountain.  Picked up about 10 people for the trip out.

When you arrive at the Reef, there's floating platform that the catamaran ties up to.  The platform provides lots of room for people's activities, including eating lunch.

We both went snorkeling immediately, and the coral reef was spectacular.







 Yellow tailed fusiliers

 Inside the platform are changing rooms, picnic tables, and all the supplies for snorkeling.  They also have a glass bottom boat and a semi-submersible for your reef viewing pleasure.  We just snorkeled.
 We had to walk the 800 meters from the catamaran back to the ship along the Cairns Esplenade. 

Technical note:  All of today's pictures were taken with a Nikon AW130 underwater camera.  Underwater, unable to wear my glasses, it's more of a "point & pray" than "point & shoot".  Color balance is difficult underwater, and I corrected some of the pictures where I thought it made sense.  Overall, I was impressed  with the results.



2 comments:

Sarah said...

Fish pics are amazing. I'm assuming you put some red back into them. They look great!

Erin said...

Hubby in particular has been waiting to see what the pontoon experience was like; thanks for sharing.